“One Piece” has officially been renewed for a second season after dominating Netflix’s global Top 10 charts for the past two weeks.
The streamer announced the renewal on X in a video with the property’s creator, Eiichio Oda. In the video, Oda censors his face — a move that has become part of the creator’s brand — and picks up a signature “One Piece” snail phone.
“What did you think of Season 1 of the live-action ‘One Piece?’ I spent a long time working on it with Netflix and Tomorrow Studios,” Oda says. “To everyone who’s been a fan of ‘One Piece’ for years, and to those who experienced ‘One Piece’ for the first time, thank you so much.”
The manga creator then announces the series has been renewed for a second season. “The adventures of Iñaki [Godoy] and the live-action Straw Hats will continue onward. It’ll still take a while to get the scripts ready, so please be patient,” he says.
Oda even ends the video with a glimpse of what’s to come. “From here on, it seems to me that the Straw Hats will need a great doctor… We will see,” Oda says before drawing a sketch of Chopper. A reindeer that ate the Devil Fruit known as the Hito Hito no Mi, Chopper is a member of the Straw Hat crew who has the ability to transform into a human hybrid. In the manga, he joins the crew during the Drum Island Arc, which takes place during the first Grand Line saga, also known as the Arabasta Saga. Basically just know the live-action “One Piece” is adding a fiery little reindeer man as part of its main cast, which seems like a visual feat that will make the Buggy the Clown (Jeff Ward) fight look tame.
Developed by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda, “One Piece” follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), an optimistic young man who’s determined to become King of the Pirates despite not having a ship, crew or any background in leadership.
By nearly every metric, the live-action version of “One Piece” has been a success for Netflix. It’s currently the No. 1 title on the platform globally with 37.8 Million views, which were amassed in less than two weeks after its release. It reached Netflix’s Top 10 list in 93 countries, debuted at No. 1 in 46 countries and has a 85% critical score and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. By the way, that latter score comes from over 10,000 ratings. Additionally, #onepiecenetflix has produced more than 4 billion search impressions on TikTok alone.
There’s another reason why this renewal is exciting. This is Netflix’s first live-action manga and anime adaptation that has unquestionably worked. The streaming giant has been playing with these adaptations for years, often with mixed results. Though viewers were promised a sequel after the uneven “Death Note” movie, one never emerged, and “Cowboy Bebop” — a big-budget investment the streamer was positioning as a tentpole series — was canceled after one season.
“One Piece’s” success proves that there is a market for live-action manga and anime adaptations. With a Netflix adaptation of the anime-inspired “Avatar: The Last Airbender” on the horizon, that’s hopeful news to fans of the genre.
