For years, the idea of a live-action One Piece was met with groans from anime fans. Even with Netflix behind it, expectations were low. The track record of Hollywood adapting anime was legendarily bad . But when the series finally dropped in August 2023, something strange happened. It wasn’t a disaster. It was a hit. A big one. With global audiences tuning in and Rotten Tomatoes scores soaring, One Piece beat the odds. Behind that turnaround was a secret weapon: Eiichiro Oda, the manga’s creator, who refused to let anyone get it wrong.

Oda’s influence wasn’t symbolic. He served as executive producer, but what that really meant was creative control. Netflix only moved forward once Oda agreed to oversee everything from casting to scripts to final cuts. He was all in, or not at all

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