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The number one peril that comes attached to any new Netflix original series is whether or not the streaming service will allow it to run past a single season, a fate to have befallen so many shows that subscribers now greet any expensive in-house episodic exclusive with at least some degree of suspicion.
With a $144 million price tag and its status as the latest addition to a genre that’s brought several high-profile failures in the past, it’s easy to see why One Piece has been greeted with as much trepidation as it has enthusiasm. That being said, an increasingly impressive opening weekend has seen it beat out two of the platform’s heaviest-ever hitters, so the signs are becoming increasingly positive.
Having debuted at the top of the TV charts in 59 countries around the world on Friday, One Piece improved exponentially by Saturday after rising to the summit in 84 nations worldwide, per FlixPatrol. For comparison, that’s higher than the first seasons of Stranger Things and Wednesday, which puts the manga and anime adaptation above some seriously esteemed company.
Of course, it won’t be worth a damn should Netflix shock everybody and end up pulling the plug on the project eight episodes in, but it’s starting to feel more and more unlikely that it’ll become the latest blockbuster-sized fantasy to be dragged around the back of company HQ and sent the way of Old Yeller.
It’s too early to become overconfident, but One Piece season 2 is at least feeling ever so slightly inevitable.