One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda recently shared a message where he revealed why he is prioritizing the live-action adaptation so much.
SUMMARY
The live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is a global success.
One of the main reasons behind its success is Oda’s involvement with the project.
The manga creator recently revealed why he is so much focused on the One Piece live-action adaptation.
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece franchise achieves new levels of success every year, and because of that, it has continued to grow for so long. The series has expanded its horizons to anime series, movies, merchandise, games, and also live-action adaptations. While all of these aspects are going on full throttle, the one project that is being prioritized the most is One Piece live-action.
One Piece Live-Action | Credit: Netflix
One Piece live-action was probably the biggest One Piece project in 2023. The amount of love and appreciation it received made it the first successful live-action adaptation, and it instantly got renewed for a second season. 2024 saw the beginning of the production of the series, and it will most likely hit the streaming platform by the middle of 2025.
Even Oda is currently focused on the One Piece live-action, essentially acting as an executive producer for the series. The manga creator has been working hard on the series, and he has even given a reason behind why he has put his attention on the live-action adaptation.
Eiichiro Oda’s commitment to One Piece live-action
The One Piece live-action adaptation was originally announced in 2017 to mark the 20th anniversary of the One Piece manga. After the announcement, the series saw its release in August 2023, and it was an instant success, bringing the magic of the original story to the real world. But there was one other factor that led to the success of the live-action adaptation.
This factor was the creator Oda himself. When the series was released, it was revealed that Eiichiro Oda not only approved the live-action adaptation, but he also helped in its creation. Oda was majorly in charge of the castings of the characters from the original narrative, which was one of the biggest plus points of the live-action adaptation.
One Piece Live-Action | Credit: Netflix
Many believed that Oda’s talent in recognizing the perfect actors for the roles of Luffy and others led to the success of the series. And now the mangaka has become even more involved with the second season of One Piece live-action by acting as the executive producer. He visited the sets of One Piece live-action in South Africa and helped with the filming of the series. The manga creator is truly committed to helping with the success of the second season of the series.
Eiichiro Oda gives the reason behind prioritizing One Piece live-action
During the Jump Festa 2025, Oda wrote a personal message with the One Piece fans which was shared by @Eiichiro_Staff on X. In the message, Oda talked about the success of One Piece in all formats and his reason for agreeing and helping with the live-action adaptation.
One Piece Live-Action | Credit: Netflix
Oda stated:
People often ask me, ‘One Piece is already popular worldwide, so why go through the effort of making a live-action adaptation now?’ Well, the global manga and anime industries already know about One Piece to a significant extent. But if someone tells you there’s an even bigger playground out there, wouldn’t you want to explore it?!
According to the manga creator, the live-action offers a new world that has been unexplored by the franchise, and thus, he wants to make sure that the series achieves success in this world too.
Aside from this, Oda also talked about the future of One Piece and the upcoming projects that will mark a new beginning for the series next year. One Piece fans have a lot of new things waiting for them and the franchise is going to grow to another level.
