The best place to start One Piece is the beginning. Yes, I know the series is intimidatingly long. At least, until you’re in it and the series becomes comfortingly long. Good ol’ episode / chapter one is where I started, and it’s where I recommend everyone who’s curious about One Piece to start. To further prove this point, the beginning is also where Netflix kicks off its upcoming live-action adaptation.
It was previously known that Netflix’s One Piece (or OPLA as it’s often called in fan circles) would cover the East Blue saga, which encompasses the first six arcs. In other words, the first 100 chapters of the manga and 61 episodes of the anime—in eight episodes. So, get ready for some very different pacing. Luckily, the core cast is charming as hell, and mangaka Eiichiro Oda was deeply involved, so I’m optimistic about the live-action series.
Now, thanks to a leak from a source credited within the Writers Guild of America, we have the names of all eight episodes of OPLA’s upcoming first (?!) season. Note that this list is not in season order.
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Breaking down the One Piece live-action episode titles
There are some episode titles where the connections and materials referenced are immediately clear. “Romance Dawn” is simply the name of the first arc of One Piece, in which we’re introduced not only to Luffy, but to Roronoa Zoro (and Koby). Fun fact: “Romance Dawn” was also an early working title for One Piece.
“The Man In The Straw Hat” could also be a Romance Dawn arc episode that’s a full flashback, where the titular “man in the straw hat” is not Luffy, but his idol Shanks. Or “The Man In The Straw Hat” could be the penultimate episode of the season (not the last—we get to that in a second). It has a “climax” kind of thing to it. Or OPLA could do things out of manga order, meaning both could be true.
“Tell No Tales” stumps me. Even though the title is a classic pirate reference, One Piece has never explicitly used the phrase to my knowledge. It feels Buggy-ish, though. So I’d wager it’s the Orange Town arc. (Side note: I will be so sad if Chouchou the sad dog is not in there.)
“The Pirates Are Coming” almost certainly references the Syrup Village arc, wherein we meet Usopp, who is deep into his “boy who cried pirate” phase. “Eat At Baratie!” and “The Chef and the Chore Boy” undoubtedly correspond to the Baratie Arc, which is named after the floating restaurant where my excellent boy Sanji works.
“The Girl With the Sawfish Tattoo” is a nod to the Arlong Park arc. Which is a biggie. Emily Rudd and I talked about how a moment in this arc is when we both knew we loved One Piece. And apparently, Oda got “misty” at this scene in OPLA. Which is a great omen. One episode for Arlong Park seems short—judging purely on the Baratie arc getting two—which is why I think it’s likely that “The Man in the Straw Hat” also falls under Arlong Park—not a bad place to call attention to Luffy’s straw hat in an episode title.
What about Loguetown?
“Worst in the East” is one possible translation of chapter 96 of One Piece (in Japanese, Higashi Ichiban no Waru). Assuming that’s not a coincidence, this would absolutely be the last episode in the season, because it has the Straw Hat Pirates sailing into Loguetown / Roguetown (depending on your translation).
Before 24 hours ago, there had been no casting announcements regarding any of the important characters who debut in that arc: namely Smoker, Tashigi, and Dragon. That mysterious gap cast doubt among fans over whether OPLA would be tackling the Loguetown arc. But now, there’s a rumor (unsubstantiated) that they’ve cast Dragon (he has a full name, but it’s a huge spoiler for later in the series). Notably, Dragon appears at the very end of the arc. So if the Dragon rumors are true, then OPLA is covering Loguetown.
These kind of leaks are a nerd writer’s delight. I do so love analyzing tiny details. But it’s also useful information for tempering our expectations on what, as I previously said, is going to be a show with wildly different pacing than the One Piece anime or manga, which already have very different pacing from each other. If the One Piece anime is paced slower than the manga, OPLA is going to be fast. Hang on to your seatbelts. Or … uh … mastheads?
(featured image: Netflix)
