One Piece: release date of 2023 Netflix live action show based on manga series, cast, and what do reviews say?

Epic manga series One Piece has been adapted into a live action Netflix series - a risky decision as the genre does not lend itself to a live action style - see the ill-fated The Last Airbender movie for a particularly egregious example of a botched adaptation.

One Piece has a long, long history, and there’s plenty of source material for the Netflix show to build from, but a lot could be lost in translation.

The series will follow young pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy as he sets off across a seafaring world in pursuit of a legendary treasure known as One Piece.

The live action adaptation comes from Matt Owens, who has worked on Marvel shows The Defenders, Luke Cage, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Steven Maeda, a producer on Lost, Lie to Me, and CSI: Miami.

Who is in the cast of One Piece?

• Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy
• Emily Rudd as Nami
• Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro
• Vincent Regan as Garp
• Morgan Davies as Koby
• Aidan Scott as Helmeppo
• Armand Aucamp as Bogard
• Jacob Romero as Usopp
• Jeff Ward as Buggy
• Taz Skylar as Sanji
• McKinley Belcher III as Arlong
• Craig Fairbrass as Chef Zeff
• Jandre le Roux as Kuroobi

Is One Piece based on a manga series?

Yes, the live action series is adapted from the manga series of the same name by author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda.

The series was first published in 1997 and is still going today, with more than 100 volumes, and it was the best selling manga every year from 2008-2018.  

One Piece follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young man who became made of rubber after eating a Devil Fruit, who is on an epic quest to travel across the oceans to find the dead King of the Pirates and his famous treasure, One Piece.

One Piece was first adapted into an anime series in 1999, with Mayumi Tanaka voicing Luffy. More than 1,000 episodes of the anime have been released to date, and it is slowly catching up the manga it is based on.

Oda expects to finish his sprawling story by the end of the decade, meaning that many more volumes will be published by then. As the Netflix series is only eight episodes long, it will be a very condensed adaptation of the manga.

What have reviewers said about One Piece on Netflix?

The reviews are in for One Piece, and they’re positive for the most part, though the show is not without its detractors. Rolling Stone called the series bloated, and complained of ‘overlong episodes and too much backstory’.

Variety was much more mixed, calling the series a faithful adaptation of the manga, but adding that the translation to live action was awkward, and didn’t add anything to more to the show that the original anime adaptation.

RadioTimes, on the other hand, sang the praises of the new show, stating ‘every character, design and plot decision elevates what people might already know about the world’, and celebrated the show’s heart and ‘meaty storytelling’.

When is One Piece on Netflix?

All eight episode of One Piece were released on Netflix on Thursday 31 August and are available to watch now.

The original anime series One Piece is available to watch for free on ad-supported streaming service Crunchyroll now.