One Thing Netflix's One Piece Somehow Did Even Better Than Anime & Manga
This take has too many fans agreeing with it to be hot.
Okay, look: it's not every day that anime and manga fans praise Netflix for the job they've done with adapting their favorite story for live-action. But having these fans praising a change that Netflix dared to make in the story? Absolutely unbelievable.
Yet this is exactly what happened. One Piece fans are flooding X (formerly Twitter) to express their fascination with the new live-action — even with the little tweaks it allowed itself to make. One such tweak is the story of Garp, the Marine Vice Admiral who poses himself against all pirates — thus against our main character, Monkey D. Luffy, as well.
Warning: spoilers for One Piece live-action ahead.
Garp soon turns out to be not just a relentless Marine who hates pirates, especially his grandson (yes, Luffy is his grandson, and live-action reveals it way earlier than the source material does) when he explicitly states his desire to become one.
In Netflix's live-action, it eventually turns out that Garp has been testing Luffy, because at the end of the first season, the Vice Admiral finally admits that his grandson is who he is, and the path he has chosen can't be changed.
It's not exactly clear whether Garp was "testing" him the entire time or just happened to change his mind after having talked to many clever people as he was chasing Luffy in the East Blue.
But that's exactly what fans enjoyed about this character arc — one can interpret it in many different ways.
"I like it because Garp starts out wanting to catch Luffy and bring him back before he gets in too much trouble, but over the season he's talked too by many people that eventually he changes his mind and instead tests to see Luffy's resolve and finally [lets] him go," X user Lordturtlemonk noted.
You don't need to be fond of the live-action character arc of Garp's to admit that the casting was perfect, as was the acting. Garp is portrayed by Vincent Regan, who you may know from Luther: The Fallen Sun or Before We Die.
Now that Luffy is apparently free to roam the seas (at least Garp made it clear he won't stand in the way), One Piece fans are looking forward to season 2. And the live-action's success proves their expectations right: we won't be too surprised to hear that Netflix picked One Piece up for a second chapter.
As of now, there has been no official statement on One Piece season 2 renewal. But you can definitely dive into the live-action's first season on Netflix right now!