#Eiichiro Oda Says Netflix’s One Piece Show Will Be “Setting Sail Very Soon”

The Twitter account for Netflix’s One Piece live-action adaptation has released a new message from One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, which contains some updates about the upcoming show.

According to Oda, who is also an executive producer on the show, the crew is “in the final process! Right now! Of finishing all” of the episodes. Notably, Oda mentions that Netflix’s One Piece show has eight episodes; when the adaptation was announced in 2020, it was stated that it would have a 10-episode first season.

Oda also shared that while the show has a 2023 release date announced, Netflix “has promised that we won’t launch it until I’m satisfied.”

Other parts of the message touched on the initial difficulty in communication (“We obviously come from very different cultures… There was even a time when I thought, ‘Is a foreign production even possible?’”) and how “each and every entity involved is working in sync” now. Oda also wrote:

“Considering my expected life span, I believe this is the last chance to bring One Piece to the entire world. If we’re going to do it, I want to be able to supervise things while I’m still active. That’s why I agreed to the live-action adaptation of One Piece back in 2016.”

Netflix’s One Piece adaptation is described as a co-production with Tomorrow Studios (who also produced Netflix’s panned Cowboy Bebop live-action show and series like Snowpiercer and Let The Right One In). Steven Maeda (Pan Am) and Matt Owens (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Luke Cage writer) are the showrunners, with Owens also serving as scriptwriter. 

The cast members include:

• Iñaki Godoy as Luffy
• Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro
• Emily Rudd as Nami
• Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp
• Taz Skylar as Sanji
• Peter Gadiot as Shanks
• Morgan Davies as Koby
• Alexander Maniatis as Klahadore
• Steven Ward as Mihawk
• Craig Fairbrass as Chef Zeff
• Langley Kirkwood as Captain Morgan
• Celeste Loots as Kaya
• Chioma Umeala as Nojiko

Oda’s Shueisha-published manga began in 1997 and has 105 tankoubon volumes as of March 2023. The manga is serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump and published under the Jump Comics label. VIZ Media describes the plot as:

As a child, Monkey D. Luffy was inspired to become a pirate by listening to the tales of the buccaneer “Red-Haired” Shanks. But his life changed when Luffy accidentally ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit and gained the power to stretch like rubber…at the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, still vowing to become the king of the pirates, Luffy sets out on his adventure…one guy alone in a rowboat, in search of the legendary “One Piece,” said to be the greatest treasure in the world…

The manga has inspired a 1999 Production I.G-produced OVA and a long-running Toei Animation-produced TV series that began in 1999 and passed the 1000th episode mark on November 21, 2021. The 15th One Piece anime movie, One Piece Film Red, premiered in Japan in August 2022 and ended its run as the country’s eighth highest-grossing film. It is also currently the fifth highest-grossing anime movie in the world.