Many adaptations make changes or add elements that try to enrich the world, or simply adapt them to the new format. We’ve seen in the past how Dragonball Evolution turned Goku’s relationship with Chichi into a high school romance early on in the film. While that adaptation is widely hated for straying completely away from the material, it wasn’t the last to make changes that alter facets of the project it’s adapting.
In the case of Tomorrow Land and Netflix’s adaptation of One Piece, there was also some concern that we’d see new elements get added to this adaptation. Luckily, showrunner Matt Owens opened up on the fact that the show will not force romantic interests into the series, as he believes “that kills the characters” and equates the Straw Hats pirates to siblings in a video with influencer Nux Taku.
The Straw Hats if you want to qualify their relationships in any way, are all siblings. It’s a family. There’s no romance between Straw Hats.
Matt Owens
They do jokingly reference Sanji, a character that seemingly has a crush on Nami and Robin throughout the original’s run, but it never leads to anything romantic. It’s refreshing to see Owens want to preserve the relationship of the Nakama aboard the Going Merry as it was in the original, especially not trying to force a romantic subplot into the story that doesn’t truly add anything outside of conflict. Shippers will still have their headcanons but it seems the show isn’t going to stray from the dynamic of the original manga.
Source: YouTube
