One Piece Live Action season 2 leaving out Alabasta divides fandom

With One Piece Live Action season 2’s sharing of a message from original manga creator Eiichiro Oda earlier today, fans of Netflix’s production learned some significant details. Easily the most exciting is the confirmation of new castings coming in the next few days, with the choices for Tony Tony Chopper, Vivi Nefertari, and Miss All Sunday being teased as part of them.

However, One Piece Live Action season 2’s latest update has divided the fanbase in one key area, confirming that it won’t even touch the Alabasta arc, let alone complete it. For many, this is upsetting, as it’s one of the arcs they were most looking forward to. For others, however, it’s one of the best choices the series has made yet, and they have a good argument for why.

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One Piece Live Action season 2’s slower pace suggests two major lessons learned from the first season

Easily the most common request on every fan’s One Piece Live Action season 2 wishlist was the full completion of the Alabasta arc. Assuming a ten-episode season 2 which maintained season 1’s adaptational pacing, this would easily have been doable. However, this would also mean leaning into one of the biggest criticisms of the first season, the pacing.

This criticism is two-fold, and the more pressing matter is that even with nearly a hundred chapters adapted, the series still had to cut certain storylines and moments. This is due to the show’s choice to include the Monkey D. Garp plotline and have it build into a reveal of Luffy and Garp’s relationship, which is done much earlier than the manga. The second critique of the pacing is that this plotline got no screen time at all and should’ve been removed or shortened.

The fact that One Piece Live Action season 2 has confirmed that it won’t touch the Alabasta arc at all suggests that Netflix and Tomorrow Studios have learned their lessons on both fronts. This will hopefully result in a much more streamlined viewing experience, which, while still building additional narratives and B-stories, won’t do so at the expense of the mainline plot.

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Fan reaction

Many fans agree with this interpretation of the decision, choosing to believe that the series will only get better as a result of such a hardline stance, especially with an eight-episode season. Some are specifically pointing to the fact that everything about the production can be done on a more granular level, while others are simply celebrating the choice in and of itself:

“95 chapters and excluded a lot of Baratie,” pointed out one fan in support of the choice.

“Now it takes longer to adapt everything but they adapting it better with more details in a short period [index pointing up emoji],” noted another netizen.

“Alabasta deserves to be it’s own season,” proclaimed a third.

Others, however, are disappointed with the choice for a myriad of reasons:

“But how are they supposed to adapt the whole story with that pacing?” questioned one X (formerly Twitter) user.

“Jesus Christ, why didn't Netflix give this season 10 episodes? The series was a huge success. Ending on Drum is so anti-climactic…,” critiqued another.

“There is ZERO chance of making it to timeskip,” worried a third.

In any case, fans seem to be excited for One Piece Live Action season 2, no matter where they stand on the Alabasta arc decision. This is especially evident in most of the complaints and critiques of the choice, many of which center around the series’ overall longevity and quality, and season 2’s quality specifically.