‘One Piece’ fans will hear some familiar voices in Netflix’s live-action Japanese dub

Fans of the One Piece anime who enjoy watching it in its original Japanese dub will be thrilled to hear you can get the same experience whilst watching the upcoming live-action take. It was recently announced by Netflix that the show will be dubbed for Japanese speakers and that the actors that will be voicing the characters are none other than the voice actors for the Japanese anime themselves!

The news that the Japanese voice cast is on board may generate a sense of confidence in the show, as, if we wish for it to sound just like the anime, all we have to do is switch to dubbed Japanese. This is another boon for the series that many will likely be dubious about (given Western media’s track record with adapting anime) as this adaption also has the manga’s creator Eiichiro Oda’s full blessing, as well as his involvement in its production.

Not all of the characters from the anime are in the show, so not every voice actor is needed. Regardless, here’s a breakdown of each character with their live-action star, and their Japanese voice counterpart next to them.

1. Luffy – played by Iñaki Godoy / dubbed by Mayumi Tanaka
2. Nami – played by Emily Rudd / dubbed by Akemi Okamura
3. Sanji – played by Taz Skylar / dubbed by Hiroaki Hirata
4. Usopp – played by Jacob Romero / dubbed by Kappei Yamaguchi
5. Zoro – played by Mackenyu / dubbed by Kazuya Nakai

In another step to connect the new live-action adaption with the anime, Godoy went to Tokyo to meet with the iconic voice of Luffy, Mayumi Tanaka. The actress has played numerous anime characters in her time, including Yajirobe and Baba in the Dragon Ball franchise, Pazu in Laputa: The Castle in the Sky, and Kanna Kirishima in Sakura Wars. However, her most notable role has got to be that of Monkey D. Luffy. She has been voicing the character since the show’s inception in 1999.

Netflix’s One Piece is, yet again, another one of the platform’s attempts to adapt an anime for live-action. They haven’t always gone down well in the past, partly due to the controversies surrounding the casting of Japanese characters with white or other non-Asian actors, as well as the story being changed too much from the source material fans know and love. Hopefully, One Piece will not fall into this, and given that the story’s characters are not Japanese to begin with, a diverse casting works just fine here.

We will have to see how things pan out when the show lands on Netflix on August 31. Let’s hope that it lives up to expectations, though, for anime fans, those expectations can often be very low indeed.