One Piece: Cast, reviews and plot for Netflix live-action series

Prepare yourselves for a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, because the Straw Hats have officially made their live-action debut on Netflix.

That's right, the streamer's adaptation of One Piece has landed on our shores (er, screens) after new details were revealed at TUDUM event in June 2023.

Read more: The best anime to live-action adaptations ranked

Here is everything that you need to know about the new series, which adapts Eiichiro Oda's iconic manga of the same name.

One Piece release date

One Piece is out now on Netflix following its debut on Thursday, 31 August, with all eight episodes of the show's first season landing on the platform at once for fans to binge to their heart's content.

One Piece reviews

The reviews for One Piece's new live-action adaptation are now in - and the consensus is... good!

Our own write-up highlighted how the series "does a good job of cutting the fat and getting to the heart of each storyline," while The Hollywood Reporter praised its charm, saying that certain sequences "teeter between good-naturedly goofy and genuinely cool."

Rolling Stone wasn't a fan, calling the show a bit "bloated" but The Wrap had its back, showcasing how it was an adaptation done right.

Read our full review round-up below.

Yahoo TV UK: Netflix live-action navigates choppy waters with surprising charm (5-min read)

The Hollywood Reporter: Netflix’s Live-Action Manga Adaptation Is a Delight (5-min read)

Rolling Stone: Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ Is More Bloated Than Any Anime (7-min read)

The Wrap: Netflix Finally Gets an Anime Adaptation Right (6-min read)

One Piece plot

One Piece, like the manga and anime it is based on, follows Monkey D. Luffy, a plucky young pirate who is on a mission to win the coveted title of Pirate King.

In order to make this happen Luffy brings together a crew of fellow explorers and dubs their crew the Straw Hat pirates, and in the Netflix series this will include Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji.

Together they will face many formidable enemies and travel across different oceans and to distant kingdoms in order to do so.

Oda's manga is one of the longest-running series in Japan, it began in 1997 and is still going strong, though its creator has confirmed it is now in its final arc.

To date, there are 105 volumes of the manga, and its corresponding anime series is currently at 1,065 episodes.

Read more: One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda asked AI to write the next chapter of his manga. Here's the results (NextShark, 4-min read)

One Piece cast

The Netflix adaptation of One Piece features a whole host of newcomers and rising stars in its cast, with Iñaki Godoy taking on the role of Luffy, Emily Rudd playing Nami, Jacob Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji.

Mackenyu will portray Zoro, the actor should be familiar to fans of Japanese cinema as he has appeared in a number of big-name live-action adaptations, most notably he played villain Enishi Yukishiro in Rurouni Kenshin: The End and Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (the fourth and fifth films in the franchise).

Is Eiichiro Oda involved in Netflix's adaptation of One Piece?

Unlike Cowboy Bebop's Shinichiro Watanabe, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has decided to remain hands-on with Netflix's adaptation of his iconic work.

This may well mean that things are going to go well for the series, or at least that Oda approves of what has been done with his work in some respects.

In a statement shared on Twitter, Oda was candid about difficulties that came with the production, saying: "Even though they understand each of the characters, we obviously come from very different cultures so, when it comes to entertainment, have different codes, skill sets, and aims. Sometimes it could be frustrating for both sides.

"It felt like, 'we're all trying to get to the same place so how come we're not on the same wavelength?' There was even a time when I though, 'is a foreign production even possible?!'"

However, things did work out as he added that now "each and every entity involved is working in sync" and that he agreed to the live-action project because he wanted to "supervise things" while he still could.

He added that Netflix "promised that we won't launch it until I'm satisfied" which should bode well for fans of the iconic manga and anime franchise.

One Piece trailer

A trailer for the eight-part series was revealed during Netflix's TUDUM fan event in June, sharing a closer look at the Straw Hats and how they came together.

It also teased Luffy's powers and thrilling action sequences starring Mackenyu's Zoro.

Netflix's live-action adaptation of One Piece is available to stream now in its entirety and the anime is available to watch on Crunchyroll.