It was during a long interview with Youtubeur Nux Taku that Matt Owens took the time to detail this “delicate” adaptation.
We have known it since 2020: a project to bring the adventures of Luffy and the Straw Hat crew is in preparation. Indeed, Netflix wanted to decline the manga and the anime of Eiichiro Oda in live action through one of its productions. The first ten episodes of the series are already “in the box”, but the broadcast date is yet to be determined. One of the showrunners, Matt Owens, was interviewed by a famous Youtuber and the angle of attack was merciless: the worst flops of this kind of anime adaptations on screen. We remember the attempts made with Bleach Where Death Note ; not really successes.
A true enthusiast
In a different genre, one could also cite the great success of The Sandman, adapted from the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman. In addition to a much larger budget than the previous ones, this project also offers other guarantees, which are rather reassuring. In the list of co-producers, we indeed find Shueisha alongside Tomorrow Studios, but also Eiichiro Oda himself as executive producer. Matt Owens made a true declaration of love to One Piece in this long interview, explaining that he would rather take the risk of failing himself than having seen someone else at work. Already at work on series such as Luke Cage Where Agents of SHIELDNor is Owens just an avid fan.
Promised surprises
In this interview, he shares some liberties taken in this adaptation, in particular on certain characters and their character. It also promises many references, easter eggs that fans of the original should have fun finding throughout this first season. Of course, besides the reveal of the cast and part of the sets, we are still waiting to see some complete sequences to get a better idea of the result. The transition to post-production suggests that it should not take too long.