Netflix has announced that their hit new live-action adaptation of One Piece, the long-running anime and manga series created by the legendary Eiichiro Oda, will be getting a second season.
The news wasn’t all that shocking. While anime fans had been keeping an eye on the progress of the adaptation ever since it was announced (with a certain amount of understandable trepidation, given the spotted history of Netflix trying to adapt…well, anything), the success of the first season was a surprise for a lot of fans. While far from perfect, the vast majority of One Piece fans seemed to embrace the adaptation and approve of the minor changes that Netflix made to the property for the sake of time. (Given that they condensed 45 episodes of anime into 8 hour-long episodes, some changes were to be expected.) Beyond the fans that Oda’s existing universe brought with it, the show has also been embraced by a lot of first-timers who would have been intimidated by the length of the anime version.
Oda himself helped Netflix make the season 2 announcement on their social media today. The short video features a message from the creator himself, delivered by one of the show’s “Den Den Mushi” — a type of telepathic snail with horrifyingly human teeth that the characters of the One Piece world use like telephones.
One Piece is a phenomenally popular franchise. In its 24-year run, the manga has sold over 500 million copies and the anime has racked up a truly impressive 1,073 episodes (and counting). One Piece’s beloved creator, Eiichiro Oda, crafted an epic fantasy world filled with seafaring outlaws, dogged marines, and ferocious fish-people.
Viewers are introduced to Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), a fearless and incessantly cheerful young man who has but one goal in life: to obtain the One Piece, a legendary bit of booty hidden by the dead pirate king, Gol D. Roger. Luffy is first joined bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro (Mackyenu) and navigator-slash-thief Nami (Emily Rudd), then fellow wannabe pirate Usopp (Jacob Romero), and seafaring chef Sanji (Taz Skylar).
Check out our spoiler-free review of the series here!
