Tomorrow Studios has set itself up for one of the biggest challenges they could’ve ever faced. Not only did they try to tackle the critical darling Cowboy Bebop, but also set their eyes on One Piece. The former, however, did not quite end up winning fans over at the time which had many nervous about the biggest-selling manga’s adaptation.
Luckily, Executive producer Marty Adelstein highlighted that they took a lot of lessons from their work on Cowboy Bebop. They realized that “fans are expecting you to be true to the source material” which isn’t too surprising given just how invested fans are to the projects they enjoyed for many years.
What we learned is the fans are expecting you to be true to the source material. As we read the comments, it was always, ‘Well, they didn’t do this character the same as this and that’…It really taught us a lot of what we needed to do with this one.
Marty Adelstein
Tomorrow Studios’ president Becky Clements also highlights that it’s not about just adapting the source material but rather that viewers have “the same reaction and feelings towards the narrative” of the live-action adaptation. We want to relieve those moments and have others go through it as well.
It became everyone’s goal to make sure that when you looked at the show, you thought this was a live-action version of the manga that felt like another feather in the legacy of Oda. That people just get to see it in another genre, but still have the same reaction and feelings towards the narrative.
Becky Clements
It’s definitely the right goal to set and something many have talked about when following the live-action adaptation of One Piece. While there were some concerns with the teaser, the first full trailer seemingly brought those feelings back for many viewers, and going by some early social reactions, they may have succeeded.
Source: Variety via Twitter
