In a very unusual interview, Eiichiro Oda discusses the factors that led him to believe that his manga adaptation of the global phenomenon ‘Shaolin Soccer’ could be successful in places where prior manga adaptations had not been. He adds that technological advancements and the show encouraged him to have this optimism.
Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece and an executive producer on the planned adaptation of the manga by Netflix, has stated that he changed his mind about whether or not his long-running manga could get a live-action adaptation after viewing Shaolin Soccer and the advancements in technology that have occurred since then.
In a very rare interview with The New York Times, the Japanese artist who is responsible for the best-selling manga in history discusses how Stephen Chow’s 2001 Hong Kong sports comedy inspired the live-action take and how he ensured that his upcoming series, which follows a stream of live-action manga adaptation misses, would be satisfactory to fans. He also discusses how he made sure that his upcoming series would follow in the footsteps of a stream of live-action manga adaptation misses.
“When I first started, I didn’t think there was any point in drawing a manga that could be remade in live-action,” Oda said. “But now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense.” “But when I saw the movie Chow’s, it felt like a manga-esque world brought to life,” the author of this review said.
According to him, it was at that point that he had a change of heart, with a little help from the breakthroughs in technical innovation. “I became aware that things had progressed to the point where there was now technology that could facilitate the production of a live-action One Piece. After that, my focus moved to locating the ideal collaborator to bring the manga to life.
After consuming a Devil Fruit, the protagonist of One Piece, Monkey D. Luffy, finds that his body takes on the characteristics of rubber, and he becomes a pirate. He hunts the world with the assistance of the Straw Hat Pirates for a treasure known as the “One Piece,” with the goal of becoming the next Pirate King.
It was first published in the Weekly Shonen Jump anthology magazine in 1997, and the following year, in 1999, it was adapted into a long-running anime television series. In addition to being turned into video games, the plot has also been adapted for the big screen, with the most recent adaptation being the One Piece Film: Red. However, Netflix’s live-action adaptation is the first of its kind; previous attempts, such as Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, and Death Note, were received with a reception that was less than favorable.
For Oda, the “history of failure” raised problems for him, and as a result, he functioned as a “guard dog” over the IP as the streamer and its showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda brought it to screen. Steven Maeda and Matt Owens were responsible for bringing it to screen.
“There had been a number of live-action adaptations of manga, but they had all been unsuccessful; nobody in Japan could think of an example of one that had been successful. Would readers of “One Piece” enjoy it, even if they weren’t familiar with the manga? That was the question he posed to the Times. “Thank goodness, Netflix agreed that they wouldn’t release the show until I gave my stamp of approval that it met my expectations. I made sure the material was converted accurately by reading the scripts, providing feedback on them, and generally acting as a watchdog over the process.
In an earlier message to fans, Oda stated that he made “no compromises” on the program, despite the fact that it was in production for seven years. And while he is certain that some fans will be vocal about adjustments made in the show’s efforts to depict “things in a way that can only be done in live action,” he refers to the crew working on the show as “pros” and refers to followers of One Piece as “superfans.”
“Even after the shoot was over, there were numerous scenes the production agreed to reshoot because I felt they weren’t good enough to put out into the world,” he wrote. “It was my opinion that they weren’t good enough to put out into the world.” On the other side, there were sentences that I felt didn’t feel like Luffy when they were written down…However, after viewing the shot portions, I said to myself, “It works when it’s Iaki [Godoy] performing it as Luffy.”
“There were so many things that had to be done in order to keep things from looking too unnatural in live-action,” he noted. “[T]here were so many things that had to be done.”
The Netflix series has not yet received any reviews, but Oda’s approach to One Piece’s live-action adaptation is by all accounts careful. This is especially true in regard to how it conveys what fans love about the characters to the screen. According to him, this is one of the most important aspects of a good live-action manga adaptation.
“A live-action adaptation of a manga doesn’t simply re-enact the source material on a one-to-one basis,” he explained to the New York Times. “It involves really thinking about what fans love about the characters, the dynamics among them,” he added. “And it involves being faithful to those elements.” It’s not necessary for a decent live-action adaptation to make a significant amount of plot adjustments. The most crucial issue to consider is whether or not the actors can accurately portray the characters in a way that will meet the expectations of those who have read the manga. We put a lot of effort into it, and I believe it will be warmly received by the public.
