ONE PIECE Succeeds Where Cowboy Bebop Failed

so you don't need me to tell you that Netflix have a pretty spotty record when it comes to live action adaptations of popular Japanese IPS I mean who could forget the stunning non-success of Cowboy Bebop a show that was so heavily geared towards modern audiences that it ended up turning away its existing fan base failed to attract a new one and got unceremoniously canceled after just one season and it's a shame really because I was totally looking forward to more passive aggressive rants from Daniela Pineda about how ungrateful the fans were for the privilege of being allowed to witness her glorious on-screen presence oh well as Daniella 2.0 would say it's Hollywood good baby I don't remember asking you a goddamn thing anyway then came the news that one piece which started out as a Manga comic before exploding into an entire media franchise in Japan was next in line for a live-action adaptation and even worse it was going to be made by literally the same production company that handled Cowboy Bebop are you dumb or something needless to say everyone was braced for another disaster in the making just another doomed attempt to bend and warp a distinctly Japanese product into something that conforms the current day Hollywood's sensibilities ultimately losing the very qualities that made it appealing in the first place but here's the funny thing one piece is actually really [ __ ] Goods I mean I'll be real here it's completely Bonkers and over-the-top ridiculous at times the characters look like they just stumbled in from a cosplay convention and everything from the technology levels to the laws of physics themselves are treated like optional extras but there's a beating heart of vibrant color powerful adventurous no [ __ ] given exuberance at the core of One Piece that's just impossible not to enjoy I actually found myself eagerly awaiting each new episode because I was genuinely invested in the large cast of likable characters and excited to see where the crazy Free Will and plot took me next Jesus this is what TV used to be like Anyway the point here is that one piece is basically a case study in how to adapt and animate a live action without losing the charm of the original and I think there's a number of very important reasons why it succeeded but I'll get into more of that shortly first let's dive right into the plot summary so one piece takes place in a fictional world that's divided up into two massive oceans with a thin strip of land running between them and it's run by a tyrannical one-world government known as the uh World Government it does exactly what it says on the tin fair enough I guess so anyone who doesn't submit to their rule is automatically branded a pirate regardless of their privateering activities and ruthlessly hunted down by the Marines and the story kicks off with the capture of the most famous pirate of them all gold Roger who reveals that he's hidden the ultimate treasure the one piece somewhere out there in the ocean ultimately kicking off a mad scramble to find her Flash Forward 20 years or so and people are still out there hunting for the one piece including Monkey D Luffy a young wannabe pirate who intends to sail into a treacherous patch of ocean known as the grand line where he believes that the one piece has been hidden the only problem is he doesn't have a ship or any idea where the one piece actually is or even where the grand line can be found not a great plan yeah in case you hadn't noticed Luffy's not exactly big on planning ahead but that's kind of what makes him so endearing he's the ultimate happy-go-lucky fly by the seat of your pants adventurer who just figures things out as he goes anyway through his various Misadventures he eventually joins forces with Kobe a timid cabbage boy who dreams of becoming a Marine so that he can protect the innocent Nami a thief in safe cracker with a hidden agenda Zorro a mysterious swordsman that sworn to hunt down Rogue Pirates and Usopp a sniper an inventor who dreams of becoming a great warrior one day and together they set sail across the high seas to cross the grand line and find the ultimate treasure taking on monsters and rival pirate Clans along the way and always trying to stay one step ahead of the Navy and marines that are hot on their tail it's your classic setup of taking a bunch of colorful Misfits Rogues and Weirdos each with their own unique goals and motivations giving them a common objective and turning them loose to see what kind of chaos ensues there's betrayals rivalries surprise Revelations and murky family histories that all come to the fore in the course of the story and it works so well in one piece because first and foremost the characters are so [ __ ] interesting and fun they're such an Eclectic mix of oddballs and mercenaries with wildly conflicting personalities that constantly spark off each other that you can't help enjoying it but they all have deeper elements and motivations that slowly come out as learn more about them ultimately causing you to question who's good and who's bad but the show's definitely not afraid to have fun with its cast along the way and it's so interesting to compare it to something like Cowboy Bebop which made a conscious effort to reign in its character's personalities for Western audiencies trying to rewrite them as grounded and realistic and it's one of the many reasons that show was about as much fun as a colonoscopy directed by James Cameron but one piece on the other hand is more than happy to go all in with over-the-top emotional reactions heavily stylized dialogue and fight scenes and interpersonal melodrama because that's exactly how anime does it the men are actually allowed to kick ass make decisions and hold their own rather than exist in purely to get out for and outsmarted by their female counterparts to every opportunity because again that kind of [ __ ] just wouldn't fly in Japanese culture so it doesn't even get attempted here and by all accounts we mostly have Ichiro order the original manga's Creator to thank for that Oda was smart enough to retain creative control when he signed the rights over to Netflix and actually forced The Producers to rewrite and reshoot multiple key scenes when he decided he wasn't happy with um [ __ ] good for you older son if only The Witcher and Cowboy Bebop had had this level of creative oversight maybe they wouldn't have been steaming piles of [ __ ] and we might be living in a very different entertainment landscape today I've also got to say a hats off to the production designers for the absolute Insanity that they've brought to the screen here the world of one piece is the kind of place where people fight with swords and Flintlock pistols but also have international radio communications and ports like taverns with neon signs above the bar some people dress like 18th century Sailors others like 1980s biker punks it makes absolutely no sense to someone like me who's coming into it blind but then again I get the impression that it's not really supposed to just like the Oddball characters and the outlandish Adventure at its core every aspect of One Piece feels like you're stepping into a completely alien world driven entirely by Escapist fun and God damn it I'm pretty sure we could all use a bit more of that in our entertainment these days ultimately as much as I enjoyed one piece I can't say that this show is gonna be for everyone it's a western adaptation for sure but it's one that's retained its distinctly Japanese flavor and if you're not into that kind of Highly stylized over-the-top method of Storytelling then you might be put off by some of the Wilder elements of one piece but for anyone else who's willing to be a bit more open-minded about their entertainment or who just wants a wild ride of pure escapism that wasn't written for modern audiences I think you'll have an absolute blast with this show and who knows its success might just encourage Hollywood to rethink what western audiences actually want to see anyway that's all I've got for today go away now

Channel: The Critical Drinker

Views: 1,348,205

Keywords: review, critical drinker, feminist, feminism, funny, best, netflix

Id: dhc7qHZ7Eg4

Length: 7min 36sec (456 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 12 2023