The One Piece live-action series is currently one of the most anticipated shows on Netflix but there was a time when people were uncertain about the adaptation. Interestingly, even Eiichiro Oda was wary when showrunners Matt Owens and Steve Maeda proposed the project to him. Owens revealed that the mangaka was initially distrustful of the creative team and was reportedly "tough" on them.
One Piece has been around for a long time but despite its popularity and success, the manga and anime have not yet been given a live-action adaptation. One of the reasons might have been the difficulty in translating Eiichiro Oda's universe into a new medium. However, fans believe it had a lot to do with the mangaka being very protective of this creation.
So it's no surprise that Oda didn't trust the creative team of the live-action adaptation. Co-showrunner Matt Owens told SFX Magazine that the mangaka was very hard to please when they were developing the series (via GamesRadar).
"I’m not going to lie, he was tough in the beginning – this wasn’t the first attempt at a live-action One Piece, and we weren’t the first people to try to express it in a new way," Owens said. "But I think once he realised we were coming from the right place – trying to protect this series and create a new avenue for even more people to fall in love with it – he started to trust us."
It's no surprise that Oda made things difficult for the creative team. After all, the creator wanted to make sure that everything about the live-action series was to his liking and insisted that the show could not be released until he was satisfied with the results. Luckily, it all worked out and we'll finally get to see the Straw Hats in live-action later this month.
One Piece will feature Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, Mackenyu as Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji. The live-action series premieres on Netflix on August 31, 2023.
