One Piece is at a high point in its trajectory as a multimedia franchise. The first appearance in the television series of Gear 5, the long-awaited definitive technique of its protagonist Luffy, caused a furor and collapses on all anime streaming platforms worldwide, even filling the Gran Via 2 shopping center in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. Together with the final saga of the manga and the premiere of the Netflix adaptation on August 31, everything is going from strength to strength.
Or, at least, that's how it has been thanks to the collaboration between Eiichiro Oda and those responsible for the series with flesh and blood actors. And it is that one of the main people in charge of conducting this project has revealed the conditions that the creator of the work put in order to give it the green light. The showrunner Matt Owens did it in statements to the North American portal ComicBook, in which he pointed out "two fundamental red lines" that should not be crossed.
Oda, who has been publishing One Piece in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since 1997, was heavily involved in the project as an executive producer alongside the Tomorrow Studios team. A measure he took to ensure that he respected himself as much as his creation could. This involvement and commitment on the part of the team led to some small delays, but on August 31 the series will come to fruition with two key concepts to respect: the origins of the crew and their powers.
"They are very determining who they are as people, what their aspirations and motivations are and how Luffy digs into that when he meets them and helps them rediscover those dreams," Owens said about the backgrounds.
On the abilities, he also pronounced: "The specific powers of the devil fruits and other abilities were meticulously designed by Oda and a lot of imagination went into what each person can do and what the rules are in that regard."
Oda himself also spoke about maintaining the foundations of his world: “Even after filming ended, there were numerous scenes that they agreed to reshoot because I felt they weren't good enough. On the other hand, there were lines that he thought sounded like Luffy in the role... but when I saw the sequences, I thought, 'This works when Iñaki does it as Luffy.' There was a lot that had to be done to make it not look unnatural in live action.”
Some intentions that do not clash with the wishes of the public, aware of what has happened with other real-image adaptations of the Japanese world. One of the most famous cases is that of Dragon Ball: Evolution, a 2007 film that was beaten by the public and critics for significantly altering the origins of Goku and other key points. Other projects that received negative notes were those of Death Note or Los Caballeros del Zodiaco.
