Japanese fans react to Netflix live-action One Piece casting

Video introduction and wanted posters appear for the live-action Straw Hat Pirates.

With the premiere of Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop just over a week away, there’s not a whole lot left for the streaming giant to do in terms of hyping its upcoming adaptation of the beloved sci-fi anime. So instead, it’s hyping its upcoming adaptation of the beloved pirate adventure anime One Piece.

Originally announced almost two years ago, the Netflix One Piece has finally announced its primary cast, who appear in the video below, dressed in T-shirts designed by One Piece original creator Eiichiro Oda, to introduce themselves.

Welcome to Netflix Straw Hats! @InakiGodoy, @mackenyu1116, @emilysteaparty, @itsbookofjacob and Taz Skylar. pic.twitter.com/sLwsJlO37P

— ONE PIECE(ワンピース) Netflix (@onepiecenetflix) November 9, 2021

It’s a crew largely made up of relative newcomers for such a high-profile project, with Inaki Godoy as Luffy, Mackenyu (son of legendary Japanese action star Sonny Chiba) as Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Tax Skylar as Sanji.

つ、ついに！ @onepiecenetflix から実写ドラマシリーズのメインキャストが発表されました！あの「麦わらの一味」を演じる5名が、原作でおなじみの「手配書」になっているじゃないですか...！これは注目せずにはいられませんね！ #OnePiece pic.twitter.com/O10zKJqeVR

— Netflix Japan | ネットフリックス (@NetflixJP) November 9, 2021

Given that One Piece has been immensely popular in Japan for pretty much all of the 20-plus years the anime and manga have been going for, Japanese Twitter users had a lot to say about the cast reveal, and not all of it was positive.

“Ca-tas-tro-phe.”
“This looks terrible.”
“They should have just gone with the live-action One Piece cast from the Indeed commercial.”
“This has me feeling really worried, but if Oda is giving it his blessing, I’ll trust him.”
“Yeah, and people trusted Toriyama with Dragonball Evolution.”
“Usopp seems like he’s really going to get on my nerves.”
“Mackenyu doesn’t seem like he’s into it at all.”

Not everyone is ready to write the adaptation off just yet, though.

“Right now, this looks feasible. This is just the cast announcement, after all, not how they’re going to look in-character.”
“So many people are treating the cast announcement like it’s an in-costume reveal, but it’s not.”
“I wasn’t sure about the still photo, but in the video, Luffy’s actor really seems like a good fit for the character! He’s cute!”
“Nami looks cute.”
“I give them 120 points out of 100 for the Usopp casting choice.”

Netflix has yet to announce any time frame for the series, so odds are it’ll be a while until fans have in-costume photos, let alone a full episode, to judge the final product by.

Sources: Twitter/@onepiecenetflix, Twitter/@NetflixJP (1, 2)
Featured image: Twitter/@NetflixJP
Top image: Twitter/@onepiecenetflix
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