I started watching One Piece about 3 years ago and ever since then I've been in love with it. I watched it every day, binged episode after episode and finally, 2 years later I caught up to it. It has a very special place in my heart, One Piece has helped me go through some really tough times in my life. So when the live action was first announced, I was skeptical to say the least. As we all know, Netflix has a very bad reputation with live actions. We all know what they did with Cowboy Bebop recently.

But guess what, they finally did it. They made a good live action. I just finished watching it, and want to share my thoughts. And I'll be referring to One Piece Live Action as OPLA. Keep in mind that very minor spoilers are ahead.

The Cast

The cast of OPLA is surprisingly good, especially Luffy and Zoro.

I personally didn't think I was gonna like Sanji's casting but it was not bad either.

The straw hats aside, Mihawk's casting was way too good. Probably one of the best castings in the show. Just.. so majestic. Just like the original manga.

The plot

The show is not a one-to-one adaptation of the manga, but it is still faithful to the original work.

A live-action adaptation of a manga doesn’t simply re-enact the source material on a one-to-one basis: It involves really thinking about what fans love about the characters, the dynamics among them — and being faithful to those elements. - Eiichiro Oda, author of One Piece

There are many differences between OPLA and the manga, but I think it works for live action. And it keeps the show interesting to those who already either watched the anime or read the manga. I enjoyed most of it but was really bummed out that they didn't include this scene in the show:

But there's one scene that almost made me cry. Almost. As I mentioned earlier, One Piece has helped go through some tough times, and recently I've not been feeling that well mentally. A lot of things were troubling me, I was losing sight of what I wanted to do with my life, but this scene just made me realize why I love One Piece so much. It gave me the hope and courage that I very much needed at that moment. So, thanks OPLA. Here's a snapshot of the scene:

Conclusion

I'm not gonna spoil anything else for you. Watch it for yourself, and enjoy. If this is gonna be your first time experiencing One Piece, then I highly recommend you to watch the anime or read the manga afterwards.

Overall the live action was fantastic. Solid 9/10 in my book. I look forward to season 2, so many amazing characters are waiting.

See you next time and yes, Luffy will become the king of the pirates. Signing off.