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On September 5, 2023, Netflix revealed that their One Piece live-action series ranked in first place on the platform's global English-language television rankings in its first week. Having only premiered last Thursday, August 31, 2023, the series boasts an incredibly impressive 18.5 million views, accumulating a total of 140.1 million hours watched and an average runtime of seven hours and 34 minutes.
The One Piece live-action series is being called a Netflix original but is based on source material from author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda's manga series of the same name. This best-selling manga has over 500 million copies in circulation at the time of this article's writing.
The One Piece live-action adaptation garnered mixed responses from netizens prior to the series' release in late August. However, after having some time to view the series and analyze it, many fans and critics agree that the series can definitively be called the first successful Hollywood live-action adaptation of a manga.
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One Piece live-action sets sail with an impressive #1 ranking on Netflix in 46 countries
According to Netflix, the One Piece live-action series also featured in the top 10 in 96 different countries, being ranked at number 1 in 46 of them. The series was ranked at number 2 in the United States under Who Is Erin Carter?. For comparison, this limited series ranked in second position on the platform's global English-language rankings with 90.3 million views, 15.8 million hours watched, and an average runtime of five hours and 43 minutes.
As mentioned above, the One Piece live-action series debuted exclusively on Netflix on Thursday, August 31, 2023, with eight episodes. The series' soundtrack, composed by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli of The Witcher, launched on the same day. The anime's original Japanese cast also reprised their roles for the Japanese audio, while actors Iñaki Godoy and Taz Skylar dubbed Luffy and Sanji, respectively in Spanish.
The series was produced by Tomorrow Studios, which is a partnership between Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios. Matt Owens was the show's writer and showrunner alongside Steven Maeda, who also served as an executive producer alongside Becky Clements and Oda himself. Oda stated in May that the series wouldn't launch until he was "satisfied," adding that "each and every entity involved is working in sync."
While the series is inherently polarizing as a live-action adaptation of a critically acclaimed and globally famous manga series, the response has nevertheless been overwhelmingly positive. Although there are some clear missteps from the series' first season, fans are generally pleased with the final product and excited for what's to come in season 2 and beyond.
Be sure to keep up with all One Piece anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.
