Live-action anime and manga adaptations have garnered a very poor reputation among fans, but we’ve seen that change a great deal in the 2020s especially. Netflix and other platforms have been going all out when it comes to transforming these major anime franchises into this new medium, but also do their best to maintain what drew fans to the original works in the first place. It takes a very deft hand to properly adapt a massively popular series like Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, and somehow that debut season surpassed all expectations.
One Piece: Into the Grand Line picks up right from where everything left off with that first season, and uses the expectations fans had for it as a springboard to surpass them with new surprises. This second season takes everything that worked in the first and expands on that even further with bigger stakes, better connections between the characters, and bolder choices to differentiate itself from both the manga and anime releases. It’s a swashbuckling adventure you won’t want to miss.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Netflix’s One Piece Season 2 Gets Bigger With the Grand Line, Yet Still Faithful
One Piece ended its first season with Netflix seeing Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) becoming the most notable pirate in the East Blue after Arlong’s defeat, and the Straw Hat crew declare each of their dreams as they prepare to enter the Grand Line. One Piece: Into the Grand Line quickly makes good on that promise with a reintroduction to the crew as they each prepare for the mysterious new region and head into waters unknown. And for fans of the original manga and anime, they will likely recognize all of the stories this new season tackles in turn.
One Piece: Into the Grand Line is still very faithful to Eiichiro Oda’s original manga, and while the first season skipped over some events during its own adaptation of the East Blue arcs, the second season doesn’t do the same. It makes sure to fully adapt each of the arcs such as Loguetown, Drum Island and more, and chooses not to skip over any of the bigger locales or events. Given how long the original series has been (running for nearly 30 years as of this review), you’d think that would mean that live-action show is weighed down by all of this material. It’s actually the opposite.
This wave of arcs feels perfectly paced for the live-action series. Time flows differently in One Piece, but the live-action series reminds you that Luffy and the others all went through these first few islands at a rather quick pace. This means each episode contains not only its own island with its own distinct characters, but never quite forgets to move the story forward either. There’s a great blend as each episode feels expansive enough for its own self-contained story, but also are just steps on a much bigger journey to come. It lines up perfectly with Netflix’s binge release model, but also would have worked weekly.
One Piece Season 2 Needs to Balance a Lot More Characters
One Piece: Into the Grand Line is constantly in the middle of a balancing act as it not only needs its world to feel like it’s much bigger with each episode, but also needs to make sure it never loses light of why fans are still watching: the characters. There are lots of new faces introduced to the series with the Grand Line, and it means that some characters who were more prominently featured in the first season have to move to the background. This phase of Eiichiro Oda’s story starts to leave characters behind completely, and that’s something the TV series is trying its best to ease fans into accepting.
One of the biggest swings from One Piece’s first season was the additional materials it included to showcase more of Garp (Vincent Regan), Koby (Morgan Davies) and Helmeppo’s (Aidan Scott) side of the story with the Marines. It might be hard for fans of the TV series to accept, but they don’t really get much time in the spotlight after all of that original material in the new episodes. New characters like Smoker (Callum Kerr) and Tashigi (Julia Rehwald) take this time instead, and are given a few moments that weren’t seen in the original. But it’s not to the extent that fans saw in the first season with an entire arc all of their own. Simply put, there’s just not enough time for an extra, original arc on top of everything else that happens.
One Piece: Into the Grand Line introduces a ton of new characters to the live-action series from five different arcs of the manga, and for the most part the new actors are game to jump into this wacky world. There are standouts of these new additions like Lera Abova’s Miss All Sunday, David Dastmalchain’s Mr. 3, Katey Sagal’s Dr. Kureha, but there are a few actors who just don’t seem to gel with everything like Callum Kerr’s Smoker (which stands out with his focus moments). But there are so many new wild personalities that work well on screen this season (who take big swings with their interpretations), that it’s a success overall because of the variety offered.
Those new characters who get more time in the spotlight then stand out even more thanks to the strength of their performances across multiple episodes. Charithra Chandran is especially notable as Miss Wednesday, and she gets a lot more time than many other new additions so fans get to see different sides of the performance as a result. It’s the same for Mikaela Hoover’s Tony Tony Chopper, who not only visually looks fantastic but sounds great for this series too.
One Piece Season 2 Doesn’t Forget the Straw Hats
With so many new areas to explore, new islands to reveal, and a bigger mission to go on for the future, One Piece: Into the Grand Line never forgets about the Straw Hats themselves. The main crew was already the best part of the first season, and they are even better this second go around. It’s clear that Godoy (Luffy), Mackenyu (Zoro), Emily Rudd (Nami), Jacob Romero (Usopp) and Taz Skylar (Sanji) are now much more comfortable with their characters, and are really bouncing off of one another to create a much more electric energy on screen than before.
The Straw Hats look and interact with one another as you’d think a proper pirate crew would, and it puts a smile on your face every time. There is also more time spent to further flesh out their personalities. For example, Zoro gets to be a lot less cool than in the first season as is allowed to be the total idiot he is in the original works. Sanji gets to still hit on women without going full creepy, and Usopp gets time to reflect on leaving Kaya behind much like fans would expect. Luffy is still Luffy, but there’s even an episode that puts that to the test.
One Piece: Into the Grand Line is a much bigger and more expansive season that fans saw before, and it feels like everyone is much more confident in how they’re bringing it all to life. It must have been freeing to produce this new season knowing the first was such a big hit, and this season is able to use that confidence to showcase one of the best live-action anime and manga adaptations of all time. It’s honestly mind blowing seeing how well they stick the landing here. Bring on Season 3.
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