Netflix Live-Action One Piece Review: 7 Ups And 4 Downs
4. Up: It Captures The Anime’s Tone
If you can pinpoint the one thing that Netflix always seems to botch when adapting anime, it's the tone. Their Death Note series forgot all the dark brooding that made the original property so beloved. Plus, their take on Cowboy Bebop replaced the rustic and melancholic vibes with an in-your-face sci-fi style.
Many fans were worried that One Piece would track down this same road, especially after the initial trailers featured MCU-like bickering and wisecracks. Thankfully, the creators knew that messing this up would be a disaster. Thus, they stuck by the anime, and it paid off.
This is a goofy series with an irreverent tone and a clear self-awareness. It knows it's silly, and it doesn't care so long as the audience is having fun and going along with the adventure.
That approach is something many anime adaptations try to avoid as they attempt to make the series believable or realistic. But One Piece knows what it is and earnestly captures the spirit of the anime because of it.
As stated earlier, the cartoonish tone can undoubtedly be jarring. However, it's better to suffer from that than seeing the essence of the source material get left by the wayside.