The creator of the source material that inspired the hit Netflix series One Piece predicted fan outcry ahead of its release.
Earlier this week, the streaming service released a new season of the long-running Japanese manga’s live-action adaptation, which has shot to the top of its most-watched charts around the world.
Season two has been met with glowing reviews and, at the time of writing, holds a perfect score of 100 per cent on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.
This will come as a relief to Eiichiro Oda, the man behind the original manga, who once predicted certain dedicated fans would not be happy with Matt Owens and Steven Maeda’s live-action adaptation.
In an open letter shared before the series first premiered, Oda assured fans that there were “no compromises” when it came to making the One Piece adaptation.
“It’s absurd that the idea of adapting One Piece to a live-action was conceived seven years ago! How was it possible to transpose such a world into reality?” he wrote.
“It took a lot of work… the efforts of the actors, the reconstruction of buildings and costumes, realising the situations so that they could only work in live action, the dialogues… and the commitment of so many people who worked together was already in itself something beautiful.”
Oda acknowledged that, once the show arrived, he would be “sure that some will point the finger at that character that is missing, or that scene that was omitted, or the differences from the manga”, adding: “But I’m sure these criticisms will come from those who have love for One Piece.”
He also admitted that “there were some lines” that he thought the manga’s main character, Luffy, wouldn’t have said – but when he “saw the filmed scenes”, he believed they worked due to the performance of lead star Iñaki Godoy.
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He also said production agreed to re-shoot “numerous scenes” because he “felt they weren’t good enough to put out into the world”.
Since its release in 1997, One Piece has become the best-selling manga series in history. As of March 2026, it has sold over 600 million copies in 61 countries and regions worldwide.
Netflix’s live-action series stars Godoy as Monkey D Luffy, a character who goes on an expedition to locate lost treasure alongside a pirate crew that includes Roronoa Zoro (played by Mackenyu), Nami (played by Emilky Rudd), Usopp (played by Jacob Romero) and Sanji (played by Taz Skylar).
One Piece is available to stream on Netflix now.
