{"id":28613,"date":"2023-08-31T20:51:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madhyapradeshhindiexpress.com\/?p=28613"},"modified":"2023-08-31T20:51:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:21:49","slug":"netflixs-live-action-one-piece-is-loyal-to-a-fault-tv-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madhyapradeshhindiexpress.com\/?p=28613","title":{"rendered":"Netflix\u2019s Live-Action \u2018One Piece\u2019 Is Loyal to a Fault: TV Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a school of adaptation, the live-action take on anime and manga is only slightly less cursed than the live-action series or film based on a video game. Yet remarkably, 2023 is set to be a banner year for both. In January, HBO premiered \u201cThe Last of Us,\u201d the hit drama that takes the same somber, character-driven approach to a zombie apocalypse as the 2013 game. With\u00a0rave reviews<\/a>,\u00a0major ratings<\/a>\u00a0and a\u00a0raft of Emmy nominations<\/a>, \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d successfully bucked a multi-decade trend. A few months later, \u201cThe Super Mario Bros.\u201d movie would repeat the feat\u00a0at the box office<\/a>, if not quite\u00a0with critics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Netflix may have eyed this trend with some interest as the global streaming service has prepared the launch of \u201cOne Piece<\/a>,\u201d a series adapted from the long-running manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. Similar undertakings have a checkered history, a fact Netflix itself knows well; in addition to notorious flops from outside studios like \u201cGhost in the Shell,\u201d starring Scarlett Johansson, and \u201cDragonball Evolution,\u201d Netflix has bankrolled projects from the\u00a0widely panned<\/a>\u00a0\u201cDeath Note\u201d to the\u00a0swiftly canceled<\/a>\u00a0\u201cCowboy Bebop.\u201d With its deep pockets and worldwide reach, Netflix is ideally positioned to reposition a cultural export like \u201cOne Piece\u201d for a new and far-flung audience \u2014 but from firsthand experience, it\u2019s aware of how intensely possessive fans,\u00a0wary stakeholders<\/a>\u00a0and the ineffable qualities of animation can make for a challenging ordeal. At least \u201cThe Last of Us\u201d now offers a best-case scenario to look toward.<\/p>\n

To that end, Netflix has come prepared. Oda has given his public blessing to the season, which co-showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda developed into eight hour-long episodes from the first 100 chapters of the manga; subscribers can either prepare or postgame with 15 seasons of the \u201cOne Piece\u201d anime already available to stream, capitalizing on the euphoric enthusiasm for the show and the cast at\u00a0this summer\u2019s Tudum fan event<\/a>. \u201cOne Piece\u201d seems all but guaranteed to be a commercial success, and to placate loyalists whose guiding light is fidelity to the source. But while this \u201cOne Piece\u201d is effective as both an homage and a primer for newcomers, it\u2019s still trapped by its futile effort to painstakingly recreate a world designed for two dimensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne Piece\u201d is a nautical fantasy that pits pirate crews on the hunt for a mythical treasure (hidden somewhere in \u2014\u00a0you guessed it \u2014\u00a0one piece) against marines who work to preserve law and order. Teenager Monkey D. Luffy (I\u00f1aki Godoy) dreams of becoming King of the Pirates, and over the course of the season, he secures a ship and assembles a crew with dreams of their own. Swordsman Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu) wants to become the greatest blade fighter in the world; thief Nami (Emily Rudd) wants to map the globe; chef Sanji (Taz Skyler) wants to find a legendary source of novel ingredients; and upbeat Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson) mostly wants to impress his crush. Luffy, as he\u2019s known, aims to be a different kind of pirate who encourages those around him to achieve their goals \u2014 even Koby (Morgan Davies), a fellow traveler who wants to enlist with the marines.<\/p>\n

The world this quest takes place in is, for lack of a better term, cartoonish. As a child, Luffy devoured a magical Gum Gum Fruit, giving the sailor his signature ability to stretch his body like rubber. In their travels, the Straw Hat Pirates \u2014\u00a0so named for Luffy\u2019s beloved, ever-present head gear \u2014\u00a0encounter fishmen, snail phones and a killer clown (Jeff Ward) who can break his body into component parts. Luffy\u2019s signature move is to whip back an extended, noodle-like limb while shouting \u201cGum Gum Pistol,\u201d and the ship he captains is adorned with a giant goat skull on the bow.<\/p>\n

Pilot director Marc Jobst, production designer Richard Bridgland, costume designer Diana Cilliers and legions of crew members make this visual chaos a deliberately discordant symphony of CGI and practical effects. Hand-to-hand combat scenes are impressively choreographed, while a prologue in which former Pirate King Gold Roger (Michael Dorman) sends a massive crowd awaiting his execution into a treasure-hungry frenzy conveys the story\u2019s epic scale. At its best, \u201cOne Piece\u201d is a candy-colored confection with a childish glee to match its straightforward coming-of-age arc.<\/p>\n

Just as often as these efforts transport the viewer, however, they also evoke the original medium of \u201cOne Piece\u201d and underscore what an awkward fit it can be for live action, no matter the expense. It\u2019s never going to look natural for a human-sawtooth shark hybrid in an open Hawaiian shirt to walk into a restaurant. Even among the regular cast, a stiff yet exuberant acting style prevails. Godoy is often charming, but when he cheers and throws up his fist in Luffy\u2019s trademark pose, it\u2019s held for a few beats too long \u2014\u00a0almost as if imitating a still image.\u00a0The effect is uncanny; more importantly, though, it begs a deeper question. If the best result one can hope for is an approximation of the original, close or far, what does this version of \u201cOne Piece\u201d provide that the original can\u2019t?<\/p>\n

As much as \u201cOne Piece\u201d recalls the spotty track record of anime adaptations past, it\u2019s also in the veim of some of Netflix\u2019s biggest success stories: \u201cWednesday,\u201d \u201cThe Witcher,\u201d \u201cThe Sandman,\u201d \u201cThe Umbrella Academy\u201d and other genre series riffing on intellectual property. These shows are both wildly popular and, \u201cWednesday\u201d dance aside, culturally slight. There\u2019s a frictionless quality to them that\u2019s friendly to a binge, unchallenging to the audience, and antithetical to achieving true novelty. Then again, novelty was never the goal here. Preservation is \u2014\u00a0and Luffy would tell us that all goals are valid, so long as we never give up on them.<\/p>\n

All eight episodes of \u201cOne Piece\u201d are now streaming on Netflix.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Netflix\u2019s
Netflix\u2019s Live-Action \u2018One Piece\u2019 Is Loyal to a Fault: TV Review<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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