Everything You Need to Know About Season One of ‘One Piece’ Premiering on Netflix August 31. Based on Japan’s highest-selling manga series in history by Eiichiro Oda, ONE PIECE is a legendary high-seas adventure unlike any other.
“Wealth, fame, power. Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, attained this, and everything else the world had to offer, and his dying words drove countless souls to the seas. “You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!” These words lured men to the grand line in pursuit of dreams greater than they’ve ever dared to imagine. This is the time known as ‘The Great Pirate Era’.”
Hundreds of thousands know this preamble by heart. This monologue played before every episode in the first season of the One Piece anime and perfectly encapsulates the base premise of the series and the world One Piece takes place in. What may seem like a daunting and complex series this late into its ongoing publication is actually very approachable at the start. There’s a great treasure in a pirate-y world and our protagonists have to find it.
The first season of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Eichiiro Oda’s manga One Piece arrives on Thursday, August 31, 2023, and fans are chomping at the bit to binge it. While many veteran fans are anticipating watching it, this is also a great opportunity for new viewers to experience the story. We at The Funatics are here to provide the basics for what to expect in this show for viewers uncertain about what they’re diving into.
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The series centers on Monkey D Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, as he begins his voyage to find Gold Roger’s treasure, the One Piece. Along his journey, he’ll pick up several crewmates, and this season covers the first four he’ll be recruiting. First is the swordsman and bounty hunter, Roronoa Zolo, who uses his signature Three Sword Style of fighting.
Following along is the cat burglar Nami, who has a deeply intuitive sense for sailing, meteorology, and cartography, and will be the crew’s navigator. They then pick up Usopp, a marksman with a penchant for telling tall tales, and finally Sanji, a womanizing martial artist chef. These five will be the heroes of the first season and the series moving forward as Luffy sails from island to island meeting them and defeating the villainous pirates threatening their homes and their dreams.
One Piece as a series is broken up into sagas that focus on the various goals and threats they need to achieve or overcome on the path to One Piece, with each saga having smaller arcs within it. The first season will cover the East Blue story arc, named for the section of the world it takes place in. Within this saga and season are the Romance Dawn arc, Orange Town arc, Syrup Village Arc, Baratie arc, Arlong Park arc, and Loguetown arc, most of which are named after the locals they take place in, and each having a primary villain to overcome, be it another pirate crew or the Marines trying to apprehend the Straw Hat pirates.
The tone of the series is something many have felt concerned about, not being sure what to make of it. The series does a great job of having moments that run the gamut, from cartoonishly absurd to deeply emotional without conflicting and feeling like it breaks the show. One moment can have an evil pirate clown fighting with circus tricks against our heroes as they make fun of how actually pathetic he is, to see a little boy and an old man facing starvation on a tiny island as they wait for months without rescue.
This is a series that will make hardened viewers laugh and weep, and has for years, with Oda mastering both comedy and tragedy. The other tonal pillar of the series is hope, seeing Luffy face impossible odds against figures that have oppressed and threatened entire islands be taken down, liberating the citizens of the island. Fan-favorite character Trafalgar Law, who appears much further in the series, has a quote that perfectly encapsulates this aspect of the series: “The Straw Hat crew has left nothing but sheer miracles in its wake.”
So whether you’re looking for a wacky series the family can enjoy, an emotional character-driven drama, or the next big pop culture sci-fi fantasy epic a la Stranger Things or Game of Thrones, you will find it in this show. The existing fans can’t wait for all the new ones to experience what they’ve fallen in love with and hope you will enjoy it too. Let us know what interests you if this is your first time, or what you’re looking forward to seeing in this first season the most.
Come aboard and bring along all your hopes and dreams as One Piece sets sail on Netflix on August 31st.
