From the highest-selling comic in the world to the most-watched Netflix series at the moment, One Piece has surely solidified itself as one of the strongest titles in the entertainment field. The story is set in a sea-centric world, depicting the story of idiosyncratic pirates living within an authoritative world led by the Marines, and to no one’s surprise, stories about pirates are good money-makers. Even if they’re the stretchy kind.
Overall, although the news of the live-action was met with skepticism and downright fear, the Netflix series surprised everyone for all of the right reasons. With a semi-faithful adaptation, with incredible sets and above-average CGI effects, the story was finally given a fair shot into the real world, with some fans even calling it the ‘curse-breaker’ of live-action attempts. The general good reception was immediately seen through Rotten Tomatoes, where the live-action is currently sitting at a 96 percent rating from the audience, but did it beat out the One Piece anime?
Is the One Piece live-action better than the anime?
That’s right, the live-action Netflix series is currently rated higher than the original anime that came out in 1999 – but only regarding an audience score. As I previously mentioned, the live-action is currently standing at a whopping 96 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whereas the Toei animations anime only has a 90 percent positive rating by the audience – which isn’t at all a lackluster number.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the live-action is better. As a matter of fact, considering the events of the original manga by Eiichiro Oda, the anime – in all of its downsides – is a much more faithful adaptation of the work that originated this whirlwind of a story. Believe it or not, the live-action digresses from the original story quite a bit, even if the essence is there – after all, it was all supervised by Oda himself.
This goes to show that while it is by far the best-rated Western live-action adaptation ever made, it still has its negative traits, and it is by no means perfect. However, it is quite a good standalone series, that is providing its exact objective to fans: it is finally introducing One Piece to an audience that wasn’t nearly as comfortable watching anime or reading manga.
Unfortunately, the anime does suffer from a chronic deficiency: its terrible pacing. This leads to many fans either dropping the anime altogether and opting for the manga, or simply qualifying One Piece as being ‘mid,’ – which is not. Still, in the end, the best way to get into the story is through its original comic, even though the live-action is still a good way to become acquainted with the characters – although I seriously doubt the entire story will ever be adapted.
