I’m going to start off by saying that I actually do recommend the show, because I have a feeling it’s going to seem like I didn’t enjoy it as I review. But I did. I enjoyed it far more than I expected.
You see, I took one look at the cast when it was announced and thought “they’ve lost their minds!” And honestly, I stand by that. The casting was bonkers. Kid versions of almost any character looked nothing like their grown counterparts and in many cases had wildly different accents. Which was actually fine by me because I was having a whale of a time (get it??) playing ‘What’s that accent?” throughout the whole show. But hey, in a show about adventure and traveling the world, a ton of accents isn’t really out of place. (Even if it’s not realistic to have a person change accents as they age.)
So, we’ve established a bonkers cast with a full orchestral range of accents…and we’ve established that I was there for it. The only problem that occasionally cropped up was that an accent here or there made the impact of some lines…umm…different. You see, the inflection and emphasis isn’t the same from language to language. “GUMMU GUMMU NO WHIP” becomes “GUUM GUUM WHEEEP” which lacks some of the flow and even power of the original. Again…I was totally okay with this by the end even if it did throw me off a little bit at first. Actually…I may or may not have memorized nearly every line Luffy says in this version because I’ve come to adore the way they are said. The issue of emphasis and impact is, quite frankly, unavoidable when you’re dealing with translations and accents…but I think it’s worth a warning so that no one is caught off guard.
Given all that I’ve already said, you’ll probably be surprised to hear that the cast, from a visual perspective, fit the characters very well. Other than a few instances that made me think “Oh no no. That’s not right,” it was visually not bad. Sanji’s backstory lost some of its visual impact because I’m guessing it was either not budgetarily possible to make that child and Chef Zeff look as emaciated as the original drawings. Either that or they decided it would be too brutal for something rated TV-14. Axe-hand Morgan’s jaw was off and it took me a full episode to realize that it wasn’t quite the shape I was expecting. Usopp’s and Arlong’s noses faced a reduction in the live version. I would guess that had more to do with the actor’s comfort than anything. Though, in Arlong’s case in particular it took a lot of the menace away from the character.
And that sums up the biggest issue the show had. It took away from the characters, mostly in subtle ways. Sanji was less flamboyantly adoring of women. Usopp was less outrageously untruthful. Nami was less sassy. Buggy…well, actually he gained creepiness, which I didn’t know was possible. All of these losses were small. For people that aren’t long-time fans of One Piece, I’m guessing the characters felt more real and down to earth for those changes.
For me, I could accept the small losses because I completely understand both budget and time restrictions…they only had 8 episodes and covered 45 episodes from the anime. That is A LOT of ground to cover and of course things needed to be trimmed.
However, I was very sad at the cuts made to the Big Bad Boss fights, particularly against Kuro and Arlong. To be frank, these fights were too easy. Luffy didn’t need to grow or learn or even stretch his limits to win these battles. He just had to think a little tiny bit about the enemy’s weakness and exploit it.
In the anime, the fight against Kuro is on a beach and every single member of the crew plays a role. Luffy pulls the figurehead and a decent portion of the keel off a ship just to keep up. There is an entire pirate crew and a hypnotist to deal with. It is HARD.
Then they move on to Arlong and he takes the battle to the ocean…where we all know Luffy can’t do much. It pulls the crew together to find a way around their own weaknesses. (And has probably my favorite use of Luffy’s powers…) The live action show kept the entire battle on land…in a building. Why would a fishman who’s adamant he is better than humans because of his prowess in the sea allow that to happen? Answer: he wouldn’t. And unfortunately, whatever the reason that the battle was cut the way it was, the result is that Luffy and crew lost an opportunity for character growth and team bonding.
In spite of my disappointment in that regard, Oda’s genius shines through. The world of One Piece is big and brash and varied. It stimulates the imagination and makes adventure seem like it could knock any day. It teaches us that dreaming big isn’t wrong as long as we remember to stick to kindness along the way.
