Season 2 of the One Piece live-action released by Netflix at the beginning of the week after a long 2-year wait, and delivered as a step-up from an already successful start, with better creative direction and set design to fit the ambience of the famous anime.
It’s a season that really was the judgment point to determine whether this was a successful endeavor for the live action anime genre that has been so rough in the past, as the delivery of emotion and action in previous attempts simply has just not been attainable. One Piece Season 2 succeeds for these exact reasons as the same emotion and heart that has won over the world is brought into the live action characters, while improving, the largest critique of the show in the pacing and overall creative decision-making. The Show continues to prove itself as one of the most ambitious leaps in fiction, an idea that had so many opportunities to fail and still will have them going forward, but has delivered a massive success at almost every point. Season 2 shows that the One Piece live-action can actually work, delivering a whimsical, heartfelt adventure that improves on an already great Season 1, setting up something even bigger for the franchise.
The Straw Hats, after establishing the basis of their crew in Season 1, enter the Grand Line and meet Princess Vivi, a crucial character to the future of the story during their encounter with Laboon the Whale, upon entering the Red Mountain. After the Whales’ past reveals a future straw hat which is much earlier in the story than normal, a wise and fun decision, the story moves forward as the group moves through Whiskey Peak with the classic Zoro versus 100 Baroques Works agents. Moving through Little Garden and the battle between the legendary giants Dorry & Brogy, and finally ending the season with the story of the cutest Straw Hat in their doctor Tony Tony Chopper, as they help liberate his home island of Drum Kingdom from Wapol. The story does a great job at pacing all of these stories introducing characters that are all portrayed well while adding some fun additions like Bartolomeo to Loguetown and Sabo in passing. The Season chooses great moments to end as well with the cherry blossom rain as the Straw Hats leave Drum Island, a sign that the show runners clearly are focused on delivering great endings and moments to each of its seasons and not just moving through the story at a random pace.
The real strength of the show is in its emotional core and pure adventure as we move through the story at Luffy’s pace and not anybody else’s, it’s been labeled as the greatest adventure ever created in anime and the new show does a great job at reflecting why. It’s a show full of heartfelt and crucial backstories to all of its new characters, evil or not, and especially in this season, highlights why Straw Hats are able to bond with Luffy through their troubled past. Chopper’s arc is an amazing example of a purely emotional and well executed backstory that explains exactly why he must join their journey and fit in with the crew, bringing tears along the way for many viewers. The season as a whole delivers on all the emotional beats it needed too, while staying consistent to the sense of adventure that One Piece is so famous for, bringing about an even better pacing amendment than Season 1 brought.
One thing the season does that may not have been an improvement than the anime or manga itself, but is a clear step up from Season 2, is in the set design, character design and costuming, as they turned the islands and set pieces into live-action. Much of the set pieces did feel a little play-like and not real in Season 1 making that my biggest criticism from the premiere season, as I was not fully immersed in the story and more just happy to see it brought to life. Everything looks fantastic this time around with standouts being the beautiful design of Little Garden, as its shot in a real forest that contributes to the realistic feel of the show, as well as Drum Island, that resembles an amazing snowy land with large mountains that make the audience suspend their disbelief much more easily. The world here now feels much bigger, much more real, and the crazy whimsical character designs fit better in the story visually, so its a much more immersive performance than the first, a real lowlight of Season 1 for me, that is seemingly fixed after the second season.
The new casting for the show was fantastic despite the controversy from many fans. Characters like Vivi, Robin, Smoker, and Mr. 3 were looked at on a scale from love to absurd hate going into the season for their appearances, and it is safe to say the show runners silenced many of the critics on this one as all of them delivered performances that really and truly resemble the characters created from Oda in the manga. Although, dialogue at times is extremely cheesy and perhaps one of the biggest problems with the show, the characters themselves and the actors have fully committed to their Roles so their stature alone makes them fit for the role despite acting skill. With the addition of the CGI Chopper, as well the character design overall felt great except for his Monster Point transformation, making the cute creature come to life with the voice actor, despite that minor setback. It’s a season that is extremely faithful to the source material in its wiring, but does not transit perfectly to the romance-action, making certain characters’ famous lines feel way more cheesy and unnecessary in the romance-action parts. The main thing this show needs to improve on in its future seasons is walking the correct line of what will, and will not translate well, ensuring the show resembles the anime in the truest sense, a tough line but necessary for the shows overall success.
Season 2 of One Piece proves the Show, despite the medium, is wonderfully whimsical, fun and fantastic in its adventure and world-building, as it has become the biggest talking point of live-action adaptations, failing for lack-of-effort and not-lack-of transferability. Season 2 confirms the success of the IP, it works in most areas, and improves on what it needed to improve on from Season 1, building something even more massive than where the franchise already sits. The Show is a huge success that now needs to continue forward with the proper tweaks to continue telling the incredible story laid out for it. The step-up in quality has earned Season 2 of One Piece an 86/100 from the Twilight Room.
Twilight Room Score: 86.3/100
