Netflix has been riding the crazy anime wave recently. They have been busy keenly adapting popular anime titles into live-action series, bringing back attention to some of the classics. After making headlines about the upcoming release of the live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, Netflix released the first teaser that sent fans buzzing with excitement and anticipation.
Recently, Netflix announced the live-action cast for the adaptation of the popular anime One-Piece.
Although the live-action series was announced way back and was supposed to be released sooner, creator Eiichiro Oda had said, “I know I announced the production of this back in 2017, but these things take time!”
Adapted from 99 published manga volumes and nearly 989 anime episodes, this 1999 shonen series revolves around the escapades of a young man named Monkey D. Luffy who gained inspiration from his childhood role model, the powerful and notorious pirate Red Haired Shanks and set out on a daunting journey across the East Blue Sea to find the titular and legendary treasure to become the King of Pirates.
With Steve Maeda as the showrunner working in close collaboration with Oda, the last Twitter update revealed the first of ten episodes to be titled “Romance Dawn”. More recently, the cast members have been announced.
Inaki Godoy who is known for his work in Go, Youth!, Who Killed Sara and more, is set to star as the protagonist Luffy. His formidable ragtag team will comprise Pacific Rim: Uprising’s Mackenyu as Zorro, the swordsman, Jacob Romero Gibson as the sniper Usopp, Taz Skylar as the chef Sanji and Emily Rudd playing the role of Nami the navigator.
Together, the entire team will assist Luffy in his daunting quest across the seas to locate the treasure.
The five cast members took to Twitter to announce their roles in a video and showed off a few t-shirts that featured Oda’s drawings of the main characters. While the casting seems pretty accurate, Oda posted a note to detail how hard it was to find the perfect fit for the characters.
Check out the video and Oda’s heartfelt note to fans: