One Piece – Picture: Toei Animation
Netflix has developed a bit of a rocky reputation when it comes to its anime to live-action adaptations. Netflix’s biggest upcoming live-action adaptation is One Piece and thanks to a new survey, we know what they’re looking for in the upcoming series.
The survey was put together by an extremely active fan account for the show which in its two years on Twitter has amassed a following of over 30,000 followers and is behind a bustling Discord server too.
We’ve spoken to the owner of the account (who resides in India but asked to not be identified) who told us the idea behind the survey is “To understand what the One Piece community as a whole think and expect from the live-action [series].”
They also told us that it “Would be cool if the live-action team get to see the results. It might not have an impact…as the production has already begun but at least give them a general idea of what fans think.”
In case you didn’t know, Netflix is set to adapt the renowned manga and anime series One Piece that was created by Eiichiro Oda. Filming got underway on the series in January 2022 after numerous delays.
Since March 2nd, the survey has amassed over 10,000 responses and we’re thrilled to be able to share some of the results (you can find more on their Twitter feed) with you below.
So let’s dig in with the questions and most importantly, the answers. You can find a full list of questions and answers here but we’ve condensed some of the most interesting responses below.
Should the show have a darker tone than the source material in order to satisfy the TV medium?
- 37% said yes by a little bit
- 28% said no but with minor exceptions allowed
- 23% said the tone should be the same as the anime
- 8% said yes by a large amount
Which arc(s) are you most excited to see in Season 1?
Overwhelmingly winning the vote here is the Arlong Park (Netflix just recently cast McKinley Belcher III in the role) arc which is reportedly going to be covered in the first season with Baratie and Loguetown coming in at second and third respectively.
Which antagonist(s) are you most excited to see in Season 1?
When it comes to which antagonists people are most excited to seeing in season 1 of Netflix’s One Piece there are three overwhelmingly popular choices in the form of Arlong, Smoker, and Buggy (set to be played by Jeff Ward).
Are you hoping to hear some anime OSTs in the Live Action?
Fans overwhelmingly want the series to incorporate the anime OST into the live-action in some form. 78% of respondents said that the anime OST should be included in some form with only 9% saying that it shouldn’t.
How manga-accurate should the show be?
The best set of questions with interesting results came when it came to asking about how manga-accurate the show should be.
Starting off with the Straw Hat outfits, with a weighted average of 3.31, the majority of respondents did want the series to be faithful to the original manga the anime and live-action are based on. Likewise, they did hope that other character outfits were faithful too.
Respondents were less bothered about the show being faithful to the heights of the characters with a weighted average of 2.46.
Where fans wanted the series to be most faithful to the source material is with the pirate ships. The overwhelming majority of respondents wanted faithful designs to those seen in the anime and manga.
Other Interesting Tidbits from the One Piece Live-action Series
Among the other questions asked included whether Buggy should have a red nose to which 88% responded with “yes”. 75% of respondents said they wanted to see Pandaman in season 1 and most questions asking about easter eggs of foreshadowing future seasons were overwhelmingly positive.
Other results include:
- Over 50% of the respondents wanting fight sequences shorter than the anime while 34% didn’t.
- 65% of respondents wanted to see the cover stories adapted into the live-action series.
Finally, they asked a question that is often the subject for debate for every Netflix Original and that’s the old weekly vs binge debacle. Their results are just as inconclusive as most debates on the issue.
43% of respondents said they wanted all 10 episodes at once (which to our knowledge is the case for One Piece season 1) and 40% said they wanted the show to drop weekly. 17% said they wanted a batched released approach like we’ve seen with Ozark or Lucifer for example.
Most of the other results basically concluded that fans seem to want a faithful adaptation to the source material.
How would you like to see Netflix tackle its live-action adaptation of One Piece? Let us know in the comments.