Live-action anime adaptation One Piece has set a new record for Netflix, surpassing one set by previous hit series Wednesday and Stranger Things.
The first season of the show – adapted from the long-running Japanese cartoon – was released on the streaming service last week.
One Piece smashed record
In the first few days of its release, One Piece has risen to become the No 1 ranked TV series in 84 different countries around the world.
This surpasses a milestone set by season one of the streamer’s Addams Family adaptation Wednesday and season four of the sci-fi series Stranger Things.
Both shows ranked No 1 in 83 territories over their first weekends of release.
Fans of the series have hailed One Piece for breaking the ‘curse’ of live-action anime adaptations.
Netflix has previously adapted more than a dozen popular anime properties, including Cowboy Bebop, and Deathnote, although most have been poorly received by fans and critics.
Eiichiro Oda created the original manga upon which both the One Piece anime and new Netflix series were based.
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The series follows a rag-tag pirate crew in pursuit of a lost treasure.
Concerns before its release
Ahead of the release of the new show, which was developed by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda, Oda predicted that fans would potentially push back against the new live-action version.
In an open letter earlier this year, he wrote: ‘It’s absurd that the idea of adapting One Piece to a live action was conceived seven years ago! How was it possible to transpose such a world into reality?
‘It took a lot of work… the efforts of the actors, the reconstruction of buildings and costumes, realising the situations so that they could only work in live action, the dialogues… and the commitment of so many people who worked together was already in itself something beautiful.’
He added that the creators had had to re-shoot ‘numerous scenes’ because he ‘felt they weren’t good enough to put out into the world’.
‘[I am] sure that some will point the finger at that character that is missing, or that scene that was omitted, or the differences from the manga,’ he continued.
‘But I’m sure these criticisms will come from those who have love for One Piece.’
