Netflix has found its One Piece: the live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s manga was an ambitious, complex, and expensive gamble. However, the first season brought its rewards with imaginative (but not grotesque) settings and characters that seemed to have come straight out of the popular anime series.
With the second season, Netflix has once again managed to pull off a miracle (as we write in our review of One Piece 2), both in terms of the overall rendering of the project and the multitude of characters who made their debut in this second part. Fans have been waiting for the live-action version for a long time, and while some of the real-life characters have failed to impress, others have already won over the audience.
But which are the three best-adapted characters in the Netflix series?
Luffy
Iñaki Godoy brings the unstoppable energy of Straw Hat: the young Mexican actor had a heavy burden to bear. His performance could have stolen the hearts of the most skeptical fans or shattered them. Fortunately, Godoy proved to be the perfect choice for Luffy, managing to perfectly embody the explosive personality of the young pirate.
Physicality plays an important role, and for this reason too, when we look at Iñaki Godoy, we can’t help but see Monkey D. Luffy.
Buggy
Theatrical, capricious, crazy: Buggy is a grotesque antagonist who, both in the anime and in the manga, never seems particularly dangerous. Jeff Ward in the Netflix live-action series is all of these things, but he is also something more: he has a more disturbing undertone that never, however, results in a frightening character. It is important to remember that Buggy the Clown is still evil and will do everything he can to continue to give the Straw Hat crew a hard time in the coming seasons.
His comical appearance makes him memorable.
Mr. 3
Paired with Miss Golden Week, Mr. 3 aka Galdino was one of Baroque Works’ henchmen: his debut in the Netflix live-action series was one of the most anticipated of the second season. The character is brought to life by actor David Dastmalchian, one of Hollywood’s finest performers: we will never be able to see Galdino in the same light again without thinking of David Dastmalchian. Even his unique number 3-shaped hairstyle suits him incredibly well. Mr. 3 is a cunning but bizarre character, and the actor knows how to convey both sides of the character’s personality on the small screen.
But there are still many characters from the manga awaiting their live-action versions: how long will we have to wait to see them in One Piece 3?
