One Piece: producer reveals how they convinced Eiichiro Oda to adapt his manga and stay close to production

One Piece – 90% is a complete success and a couple of weeks after its premiere it maintains its place in the Top Ten of the most watched in the Netflix catalog. In fact, the company has already given the green light for new chapters, which for now keeps the creators’ plans active, who hope to reach at least 6 seasons. Manga and anime fans were especially pleased with this work, which is quite special because they always look at these adaptations ready to despise them and with good reason. Translating a work like this to live action always sounds ambitious and interesting, but it rarely gives good results, and that is why the creators either prefer not to hand over the rights or prefer to distance themselves from the production completely. Eiichiro Oda did just the opposite and one of the producers of the series revealed how they reached an agreement with him that ended up benefiting the adaptation.

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The adaptation of One Piece had everything against it

Eiichiro Oda He earned a great place in the world of anime and manga with One Piece, and his work became one of the most special adventure sagas in recent years. Considering the large number of creations that are released each year in Japan, for a title to truly establish itself with audiences worldwide is an incredible achievement. In the case of this story it is even more interesting because it has lasted several years and there is still more to go before it comes to an end. As the years go by, the interest aroused by the plot is increasing, which makes it possible to gather new fans from different generations, as series such as dragon ball, sailor Moon, Knights of the Zodiac And till naruto.

Just as it happens with superhero comics in the West, some believe that what is seen on paper is easy to transfer to the big screen and they assume that the product can be copied without much effort and thereby do justice to the work. The truth is that the adaptation process is quite complicated and in the case of One Piece It was even risky, since it clearly required many millions, an incredibly dedicated cast and great creators who understood the message of the story so as not to fail the fans; all this without leaving something secure for the production company that had already failed with Death Note – 40% and Cowboy Bebop – 67%.

The reveal of the cast and the behind-the-scenes footage seemed to indicate that the adaptation was on a good path visually, but everyone had many doubts about the narrative and how in 8 chapters they could advance the story. With the first advances, Netflix began to focus on the promotion of live action, doing everything possible to raise its premiere, something that worked very well because it mixed with the natural fandom of anime and manga that has grown in various parts of the world. But what really served to sell the idea to fans was the promise that Oda was involved in every step of the adaptation, and would stay that way if One Piece I was successful on the platform.

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In addition to helping choose the main actors, Oda also oversaw the changes to his story, and although there were some with which he did not agree at the beginning, he soon understood that he had to compromise in order to develop a quality series and not just an adaptation From his job. In this way, the conversations between the creator and the producers were essential to reach a successful conclusion and leave everyone satisfied, thus breaking a years-long curse on this type of work. In interview with deadline, Marty Adelstein talked about this connection and how they managed to convince Oda to hand over the rights and stay close to the production.

Adelstein explained his desire to adapt this manga as a television series:

Nic Louie, who was my assistant at the time, and I were very excited about the possibility because we had seen that a lot of these anime took 10 to 15 years to become movies and our opinion was that we could make them much faster as series. television and more people would watch them than movies. We hired two people in Japan who worked for us and facilitated relationships. We went three or four times a year and met with them. And finally we managed to break through.

The producer then explained how they managed to convince the creator, and everything indicates that it was easier when it was revealed that Oda was a fan of his work on a certain television series:

It was a lot of fun, Oda initially wasn’t going to do it but when he found out that I was involved in Prison Break, he was very excited, he let us get the rights. Especially in Asia and Japan, you can’t do anything over the phone. You have to show up in person face to face. It is very important for that culture.

The producer also recognized that the big mistake of other productions is not going to the original creator to establish a conversation about the work, since in many cases the writers willingly give up the rights but do not want to get involved with the vision of the adaptation. By giving him that possibility, Oda also learned how to work a live action series of those proportions, entering into a very positive dynamic for both parties that will surely gain more strength with the development of the second season.

Don’t leave without reading: One Piece: live action director talks about the difficulties of adapting Eiichiro Oda’s work