One Piece sets Netflix viewer records, beating Wednesday and Stranger Things

For years, Netflix has been trying to get a live-action version of an anime off the ground. They made a live-action version of Death Note with Willem Dafoe as a murderous demon; good casting, but the adaptation didn’t really go anywhere. Netflix’s live-action remake of Cowboy Bebop was canceled after a month. Something was off.

That something may have been dedication to the source material. For its new live-action anime, One Piece, Netflix was determined to get it right. “What we learned is the fans are expecting you to be true to the source material,” executive producer Marty Adelstein told Variety. “As we read the comments, it was always, ‘Well, they didn’t do this character the same as this and that.’ … It really taught us a lot of what we needed to do with this one.”

Now, this might sound a little silly — ‘it ends up that fans of a thing want the new version of the thing to be like the thing they like’ — but sometimes it can take a while for that lesson to sink in among Hollywood types. “It became everyone’s goal to make sure that when you looked at the show, you thought this was a live-action version of the manga that just felt like another feather in the legacy of [One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda],” said studio executive Becky Clements. “That people just get to see it in another genre, but still have the same reaction and feelings toward the narrative.”

Eiichiro Oda was involved in Netflix’s One Piece show every step of the way, giving advice on how and how not to adapt his phenomenally popular pirate manga into live-action. “You want [the fans] to be happy, you know, but I think the only way we can do that is to make Oda happy,” director Emma Sullivan told RadioTimes.com. “When he saw stuff that he didn’t like, we redid it.”

"So he’s the leader really, and I think if Oda says he’s happy with it, then the fans will be happy. But you know, we just hope we did our best."

Well, the show is out now…and it’s a hit. In the first weekend after it’s debut, One Piece was the number one most viewed Netflix show in 84 different countries, according to Dextero. That breaks a record previously held by the first season of Wednesday and the fourth season of Stranger Things, which were the number one shows in 83 countries in their first weekends. The Netflix execs can breath a sigh of relief. They got one.

Netflix spent more on One Piece per episode than HBO spent on Game of Thrones

Speaking of Stranger Things and Wednesday, when those shows became huge hits, Netflix was reportedly surprised. It hadn’t yet gotten the marketing machine up and running yet. For One Piece, it planned ahead; there are already tee-shirts, dolls and lots more merch to buy. Netflix wants to ride this one all the way to the bank.

But they couldn’t have done that if Netflix hadn’t made a show people genuinely seem to enjoy. From the start, it sounds like they had the right approach. “I think when you’re asked to create a live-action show from a two-dimensional world, the first question you have to ask is why do a live-action?” director Marc Jobst told Inverse. “The manga is enormously successful and loved. The anime is brilliant, why do a live-action version? And you’ve got to have a good answer to that not just because it could make us lots of money. You’ve got a real answer to that. To me what I felt was worthwhile with One Piece is that it’s really inspirational.”

"When you look at Luffy as a character, he has some special skills, but his big skill is to inspire and he inspires you to believe in yourself and to follow your dreams. We could do with a bit of hope and a bit of optimism. I hope that spirit of belief and inspiration and optimism will encourage them to want to do more series because in every single adventure they come up against an obstacle, and Luffy brings hope to it and optimism and insanity. And insanity is not a bad thing either."

Netflix reportedly spent nearly $15 million per episode on One Piece, more than HBO spent on Game of Thrones. It was a big risk, but it sounds like it was worth it.

Netflix wants One Piece to last for a long time

So what comes next? Netflix executive Peter Friedlander “truly” hopes that One Piece is a “successful show that can continue, because I do believe that Oda-san has crafted an ongoing run of stories and adventures and characters that I would love to see realized through ‘One Piece’ live-action.”

Now that the reviews and viewing numbers are coming, it seems clear that there’s enough interest in One Piece to justify a second season, and probably more after that. The only issue now is that Hollywood actors and writers remain on strike. This puts the ball in the studios’ court. The sooner they come to the actors and writers with fair deals, the sooner everyone can get back to work on this monster cash cow of a live-action anime.

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