Welcome to the Sunlight Alliance, home of the One Piece Think Tank!
And unless you've been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen or at least heard about the
One Piece live action Casting announcement. There has been a lot of mixed opinions and speculation
making its way throughout the community since the casting choices, were released.
That’s not to say that there aren't a lot of people in support of these choices,
but there are also a lot of fans on the opposing side. If you are one of those fans specifically,
I would like to encourage you to watch to the end of this video for 3 reasons.
One, to better understand why I believe these actors were the best choices for their respective
characters. Two, why I would recommend holding any sort of criticism on the writing or acting until
the adaptation is released, and three, why you should have trust in Oda and the team behind this
project. Also, I will be revealing something mind blowing regarding one of the actors, so get ready.
Let’s start at the beginning.
In 2017, Oda first confirmed that alongside tomorrow studios, the production for a
Live-Action version of One Piece had begun. This adaptation would
be made for fans with the promise of a show that strongly follows the manga
source material. Nothing else was said for another two years. And then we got this...
“I know I announced the production of this back in 2017,
but these things take time! Preparations have been slowly progressing behind the scenes,
and it seems that I can finally make the big announcement: Netflix, the world's
leading streaming entertainment service, will be lending us their tremendous production support!
This is so encouraging!! How far will the story progress over the 10 episodes of season 1?
Who will be cast!? Please be patient A Little Longer and stay tuned!!”
It’s almost an understatement to say that the reaction to this announcement was,
well, not the best. Understandably so. Netflix has one of if not, the worst,
reputations when it comes to live action adaptations of anime. Not to mention,
westernized adaptations of different anime, not pointing any fingers, have never left a positive
imprint on the respective franchises. That is not to say there haven’t been decent adaptations,
but I think it’s a consensus among fans that usually, these things don’t go well.
A lot of you are probably thinking, “That’s EXACTLY why we are so skeptical.”
And as much as I can understand that point of view from a surface level,
allow me to present some information that shows why this series will be
different from any other live adaptation, and why I believe it will not let us down.
Not too long after this announcement by oda, we were blessed with the 8th
reverie on september 20th of 2020. This colossal event hosted by RogersBase,
included multiple popular content creators from the community. I was lucky enough to be
aware of this gathering at the time, and the reveals we got during it were groundbreaking.
When I first heard about the live action adaptation, I was equally skeptical
and uninterested. However once Matt Owens made his appearance, my opinion completely changed.
The VERY FIRST thing he states when being introduced, is how much of a fan
HE IS of the one piece creators in the reverie. And the VERY FIRST thing you should do after
hearing this is leave a like and subscribe for one Piece content like this, every week! Hehe.
He states he’s watched pretty much all of grand line reviews videos,
that he frequently sends videos made by the creators TO people working on the series,
and that One Piece is his favorite story of all time. He is making sure that EVERYONE working on
this project is either a fan already, or at the very least is informed of all of the political,
emotional, and comedical nuances of the series.
For those who don’t know, Matt Owens is the head writer and Executive Producer of
the upcoming One Piece Live Action. The man bringing us this live action series is not
some corporation trying to milk one piece for what it’s worth, but an actual member of the
community who wants to help this amazing series to life and spread it to a larger audience.
NOT ONLY THAT, but this man is working side-by-side with ODA HIMSELF, to ensure
that the series is true to the manga, while perfectly encapsulating Oda's vision for the
series. The amount of love Matt has for One Piece should be obvious to anyone who hears him speak,
and he clearly has a solid understanding of what one piece is all about. Just listen:
“I told Oda, ‘One of the great things about One Piece is it’s really a story about how everybody
has tragedy, pain, sadness in their life, but it’s not what defines you. What defines you
is how you use that to motivate your future, and that no one has to do it alone. No one has to be
alone. When you find those people around you who motivate you, lift you up, and help you,
that’s the greatest power in this world. And that is the story I want to put out into the world.
So I know that One Piece means a lot to you, Oda. It means a lot to me,
because I honestly believe that One Piece saved my life.’ He looked me in the eye,
and he held his hand out across the table and said, ‘I have 100% faith in you now.’”
Are you picking up what I’m putting down? This is the man that ODA LOOKED IN THE
EYE, and said “I have 100% Faith in you”. His dream to create this show
spawned literally from a tragic backstory, just like a character in one piece would have.
Another question that was brought up was, does the live action intend to stay true to the brutality
of the manga? To which Matt responds, “This is a TV-14” “This is a world of brutality and violence,
as much as it is a show about hope and family. This is not the 4-kids version,
I promise.” This statement presents even more of a reason to have faith that they are going to do
their ultimate best to properly adapt the story of One Piece.
So story wise, there is not much reason to be worried. But how will it look? How will
they handle Luffy's stretching and all of the other weird devil fruit powers like buggies
chop chop fruit? Or how will fishmen like Arlong look in the final version?
This is a valid concern most fans have, CGI stretching used in films like the early Fantastic
4 movies didn’t get the best reception. This might come as a shock to most people,
but the budget for this film is 90-100 million dollars or 9-10 million per episode.
Why is this absolutely insane??
These numbers put the Live Action One Piece adaptation in the top 10 most expensive
TV series to ever be made in the United States, right up there with Game of Thrones and The
Mandalorian. With that in mind, it’s not a stretch to assume that the visuals for this series,
if not absolutely incredible, will be “satisfactory” at the very least. The
visual animators who will be working on the show are still unknown to us,
but with the information we have on Matt’s process and dedication to the series,
I truly believe that we should have faith in who he chooses to bring these visuals to life.
Alright! It’s time… Let’s talk, casting.
These 5 actors, are the actors Oda and Matt chose to be our real life straw hat Pirates.
Here’s what Oda said
“We’ve been working with Netflix and Tomorrow Studios on the massive project that is the
Hollywood live action series adaptation of One Piece! How many years has it been since it was
announced, right? I know, I know! But rest assured we’ve been making steady progress all
along! It’s not easy when you’re working with people from different cultures! But it’s precisely
that process that can yield something special! For now, we’re able to announce the main cast!
Rather, we need to hurry and announce it or else it’ll be leaked, apparently! Hilarious,
lol. Their face, the size of their mouths and hands, their aura, the way they carry themselves,
their voice, their acting skills, their height, the balance amongst the Straw Hat Crew, etc...!
We decided on this cast after numerous discussions involving people around
the world! These are the people who will be our Straw Hat Pirates! It’ll take a bit more to get
the show done, but we’ll continue to do our best to deliver a show that we’re confident
will be enjoyed by everyone around the world! Look forward to more updates in the future!”
Yes I am DEFINITELY looking forward to more updates in the future.
Also if you have a second, go ahead and make your way to the comment section,
and let me know your thoughts on the live action. I’d be curious to see how many
people watching are looking forward to it, or those who are not looking forward to it.
Many of you probably know that in an SBS all the way back in volume 56, a fan asked Oda what
nationalities the straw hat pirates would be if they were from our world. Oda stated that Luffy
would be Brazilian, Zoro Japanese, Nami Swedish, Ussop African, & Sanji French. This is important
as we further analyse these actors, to find out why they are a perfect fit for these roles.
Inaki Godoy is a fairly new Mexican actor, so not Brazilian, but still a clear choice
for our future pirate king simply based on his presence. His joy, excitement,
and smile give off heavy luffy vibes, which is exactly what we should want from someone playing
luffy. He is already making posts about his time researching and developing a love for the series,
as well as being photoshopped in classic luffy attire, which I think looks great.
Mackenyu, a Japanese actor who is praised in Japan as being one of their most popular rising stars.
And if you think this guy won’t be able to play zoro, just watch this video.
Yeah, that’s our zoro.
Emily Rudd. For those of you who don’t know who Emily Rudd is, she is most known for her role in
the fear street trilogy released on netflix, which was actually way better than I expected. So if you
got a scary movie night, I highly recommend. Before the live action cast announcement,
a large majority of the fans were actually hyping her up as one of the community's top choices. She
might be one of the only straw hats that doesn’t match up to the nationality Oda originally
thought of, but it’s clear based on her personality why she was chosen. In addition,
it’s even more hopeful seeing how much of a weeb she already was before being casted.
Jacob Romero Gibson. Now this one might be my favorite out of the whole selection.
The amount of excitement and energy Jacob is putting out into the world
after the release, makes me laugh and gives me so much hope for his character.
Not to mention this dude looks EXACTLY like Yassop. Like, scarily similar. And like most
of the other actors, he also matches up with the nationality Oda intended.
Taz Skylar. Now this one got me. When I first saw this picture, I unironically thought this
was a meme when I saw the announcement. My whole brain just went dark. Sorry I know these memes
are gonna get old really fast but, it’s just so funny. Jokes aside, this guy has one of the most
credible acting portfolios of the 5 actors, as well as being a writer, producer, and director.
And GET THIS. At the beginning of this video I told you I had something crazy, here it is. I was
watching Roger's base stream when he pointed out this insane detail. If you go on Taz Skylars IMDB
bio, you will find that he is of British descent, a nationality that usually ecompasses the theme of
royalty. Oda specifically put Sanji's nationality to be French in the SBS, which made perfect sense,
AT THE TIME. But what have we learned about sanji since volume 56, that we didn’t know then?
SANJI, IS, ROYALTY.
I don’t know about you guys, but this BLEW MY FRIGGIN MIND when I heard it.
This along with all of the other things mentioned in this analysis, is why YOU,
yes you, should have hope for this adaption. Just like Luffy doesn’t judge Rebecca when finding
out why the crowd was booing in dressrosa, don’t judge this adaptation based on other
bad adaptations. Look at the information available to us, and along with me, be reassured that this
series is gonna issue in a new age of piracy that will take the western world by storm.
On another note, if you’re interested in what I think luffy’s gear 5th could be,
check out this video to see my crazy theory:
Join the alliance by subscribing or netflix
will recast sanji to be played by the real slim shady. Bye!