Let's get one thing straight right from the jump: I have not read the manga or watched the anime. I'm not saying I couldn't catch up—I'm a Doctor Who and PreCure fan, so I can do long-haul shows. In terms of what anime and manga I'm attempting to catch up on, it is definitely a choice not to pursue this. I look at how huge it is, I acknowledge that it's long-lived and much-loved for a reason, and I'm well aware I am highly unlikely to see a marathon of it through.

The only reason I'm laying this out is because I cannot, despite being an anime journalist by trade, compare this to the anime or manga. We all have our skillsets. It's why I'm talking about it here on my blog and not on Otaku USA. The journalist's approach belongs to a religious viewer; this is just between us friends.

First and foremost, this has Shonen Jump in its DNA. That seems like an obvious thing to say, but it's interesting to look at how long One Piece has been going and think about how formative works of the past couple decades have been re: what we think of as "Shonen Jump" now. It feels reductive to say "enthusiastic oddball with an unconventional form of strength and a lot of heart wants to be top of his game," but that's kind of the central formula of a SJ Big Three in this day and age.

Luffy is fun to follow because he is, in a lot of ways, Bugs Bunny punching seemingly above his weight. For plot-reasons (i.e. Devil Fruit), he does have a legitimately Looney Tunes anatomy. This is the main reason I considered One Piece a weird get for live action. So much of Eiichiro Oda's work is batshit insane and I couldn't imagine it working well, even with what effects can do nowadays.

But with a few kinda understandable exceptions, it looks like the creators just went for it and did all the weird stuff with no holding back.

Iñaki Godoy absolutely swung for the fences as Luffy. And it's not an easy role to play. You have to be fully goofy on main, but also able to swivel when a friend is hurt. But also able to yell out some frankly ludicrous attacks and make it sound like you mean it. I enjoyed his performance all the way through. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates (all of them were fab), but I don't have as much to go on re: how well they embodied their characters. For example, Nami seems a lot more toned down than the rest of the crew (excluding Zoro), but I don't know whether she's like that in the manga and anime or if she got a Hollywood Tough Girl makeover. Again, this is why these thoughts are on my blog and not somewhere more professional.

However, one good thing about having no idea what was going on was that I got to be constantly surprised. Zeff and Sanji's backstory absolutely punched me in the gut. Nami's whole deal hit me hard, even though I know her character type and figured something along those lines had to be happening. But the one who really through me for a loop was Vice-Admiral Garp.

Vincent Regan (whom I've seen in several things without realizing it) did so much with this character. As I kept telling my housemate, I'm never sure whether I'm meant to love him or hate him. Every time he's swayed me over to thinking he's pretty cool, he swats me back over the line. Every time I think I'd happily do time to put him in the ground, he makes me like him again. The final episode of the season locked him in as a fave, though.

Watching a version of One Piece also helped it hit home for me why the Shonen Jump formula is a formula that works. Especially these days. Chasing your dreams is hard. It can seem too big and daunting, or too small and silly, or selfish and unproductive against the backdrop of current events. But having someone who believes in that dream and is willing to defend it—no matter how impossible or inconsequential it may seem—is huge. The power to chase a dream is one thing; having the support system to see it through is something else entirely.

In short? I can't say whether One Piece lives up to the original manga or anime. Consult fans of the manga and anime about it. But as someone coming in from outside, I can safely say the live-action adaptation has shown me why it's as loved and enduring as it is.