Netflix's One Piece Looks Like Fan Cosplay, But It's The Best Thing We're Getting

Along with Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bleach, and Naruto, One Piece is one of Japan's most famous IPs, and it continues to delight the audience with its colorful and life-affirming story, spawning an entire franchise that consists of Eiichiro Oda's original manga, an animated series, feature films, and even video games. Now it's time for live action!

While some of Netflix's live-action adaptations of Japanese originals are pretty solid (The Ingenuity of the Househusband, for example), American shows based on Death Note and Cowboy Bebop have proven disappointing, to say the least. However, now that Netflix has released a behind-the-scenes clip of One Piece, the majority of the fandom is convinced — even if it looks like live fan cosplay, the upcoming live-action show is the best we can get.

One Piece is a story about pirates who inhabit a world made up mostly of seas and oceans. The plot centers around the Straw Hat Pirates crew, led by tireless and optimistic Monkey D. Luffy. Eiichiro Oda's manga debuted in 1997, followed by an anime two years later, and both are still being released today.

Netflix is obviously trying to grab a slice of the commercial success the One Piece franchise has been enjoying for a quarter of a century now. On August 21, the streaming service released a short clip titled 'Inside the Story,' in which the cast and producers share their thoughts on the upcoming show.

Everyone on the team is clearly excited to be part of the live-action adaptation, but fans are a little concerned that the show looks more like fan cosplay than a full-blown Netflix project. But on the other hand, that might not be such a bad thing.

'This looks like high-quality, passionate fan cosplay. Which is probably as good as we're gonna get with a live-action OP without limitless budget and heavy use of CG,' a fan wrote on Reddit.

Other people are rightfully worried that One Piece may repeat the mistake of Cowboy Bebop, another live-action adaptation of a cult anime. The actors and writers working on the series were also excited about bringing the iconic story to life, but the result failed to capture the essence of the anime, which skillfully maneuvered between cyberpunk and noir.

Luckily, the upcoming Netflix show may be in a more advantageous position since the team has been advised by the All-Father of One Piece himself.

'I hope existing One Piece fans see the love that went into this,' executive producer Matt Owens said. 'Oda Sensei and his team have been with us the entire time.'

The show will premiere on Netflix on August 31.

Source: Reddit.