Why One Piece live-action could have 12 seasons

Tulisha srivastava
The cast of Netflix's live-action One Piece series

One Piece live-action has just been renewed for Season 2. However, the producers hint that it might cover the entire manga in 12 seasons.

One Piece live-action debuted with its first season only two weeks ago, but it has already been renewed for another season. The series is based on the popular manga by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of a young pirate, Monkey D. Luffy, who aspires to become the Pirate King.

Netflix’s version only adapts the first five arcs of the East Blue Saga. Therefore, Luffy has an incredible journey ahead of him after he enters Grand Line. No doubt fans would love to watch more of it. One Piece is incredibly long, as the manga is currently publishing its 11th and final Saga.

In a video message, Eiichiro Oda announced One Piece live-action Season 2. He also teased the appearance of Tony Tony Chopper, the crew’s doctor. Delve deeper to find out why One Piece live-action is likely to have 12 seasons.

One Piece producers hope for multiple seasons in a six-year plan

In an interview with Deadline, One Piece executive producers Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios discussed how even skeptical manga and anime fans are embracing the live-action adaptation.

During the interview, Marty Adelstein shares, “We have hopes for 12 seasons; there’s so much material.”

Agreeing with him, Becky Clements says, “We’re over 1,080 chapters at this point in the manga. We have plans with Matt Owens for how we would break multiple seasons, and I think even if we did six seasons, we would probably only use up half of the chapters of the manga. It really could go on and on and on.”

When asked about the next few seasons, Becky says, “Everything we do is in concert with Netflix, [manga publisher] Shueisha, and Oda-san; they are a part of that conversation. We’ve definitely had more thorough conversations about what we would do with Season 2 should we have the opportunity and then less extensive conversations about where we would go for seasons three to six.

“The one thing I would say is that we’re all unified in the parts of the manga that you just absolutely cannot eliminate, and that’s our guiding principle: the stories that we know and the characters that we know are important to the fans.”

The first season doesn’t fully adapt to the East Blue Saga. Considering the pacing and the limited number of episodes, One Piece live-action certainly requires at least 12 seasons to fully adapt the series. The manga is still ongoing and about to begin its Final Saga’s second arc. Hence, we still have a few years before Eiichiro Oda concludes this epic tale. Find out what we know about the second season here.

One Piece live-action is currently streaming on Netflix, and the anime is available on Crunchyroll.

How to watch Crunchyroll from outside your location in 2023

Crunchyroll is the world’s best hub for streaming anime, whether it’s One PieceAttack on Titan, or Jujutsu Kaisen – and thanks to ExpressVPN, you can access the platform’s full library even if you’re outside the US.

If you’re abroad, here’s what you need to do to access Crunchyroll’s full selection – and it really is this simple:

  1. Sign up for ExpressVPN, which has ultra-fast servers and offers a secure, private connection wherever you are in the world.
  2.  Connect to a location anywhere in the US; Express VPN allows you to choose from 24 different spots, from New Jersey to Santa Monica.
  3.  Visit Crunchyroll online and start streaming all of your favorite animes – and perhaps some you’ve never watched.

Accessing Crunchyroll’s US roster makes a difference; for example, Hong Kong users only have access to less than 100 titles, while the US has nearly 1,000 movies and TV shows.

You can also stream anime on Crunchyroll for free with an ad-supported plan, or you can pay for a subscription – there’s even a 14-day free trial if you can’t quite make up your mind.

You can check out our other anime coverage here.

About The Author

Tulisha is an anime writer at Dexerto. In the past, she has worked for Comic Book Resources. She is most knowledgeable about Shonen series, particularly One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen. You can contact her at tulisha.srivastava@dexerto.com