One Piece started back in 1997 and has been one of the most popular Shonen Jump franchises. Its anime adaptation followed only two years later and continued to grow alongside the series created by Eiichiro Oda. As it continued to catch up with the manga, it introduced various filler arcs to bridge the time. Still, it managed to catch up with the manga once again as we entered the Wano arc. Inspired by Japan’s Edo period, the new storyline sees the conflict between Luffy and Kaido, which seeds were first planted in Punk Hazard. Just like the manga, the anime has also passed the 1,000 mark, and to celebrate, we got a brand new key art teasing their ongoing conflict.
The new key art includes the Tobiroppo and Lead Performers alongside Kaidu. After their conflict started what feels like half an eternity, Luffy is finally gunning for his head. This time around, he is joined by fellow pirates from the Worst Generation and Yamato. The latter might be the most popular new addition to the series, as she’s the daughter of Kaido. Yet, she claims to be Oden and wants to take vengeance upon her own father. Here’s hoping the wait isn’t too long to witness the final push to win the raid on Onigashima.
After a long wait, it looks like the upcoming One Piece live-action adaptation is slowly nearing a production start. We’re still waiting for any news regarding its take on the iconic manga from 1997. There are some concerns that the cartoony world created by Eiichiro Oda might not work in live-action. Netflix has recently promoted its Cowboy Bebop series by recreating the iconic opening, which does look quite fateful. So, there’s some hope for this project, especially with the original creator supervising it.
Still, we know very little about the series. We were recently able to confirm that Marc Jobst would direct the pilot episode. It is now working under the production name “Project Panda.” It was a surprising change, as it initially was known as “Project Roger.” A recent Instagram story by showrunner Steven Madea‘s assistant Steven Cho revealed that he received some items in South Africa for the production. What sticks out is that the mailing includes the name “Afrika Project Panda Pty Ltd.” that we reported recently. It also includes the filming location at Cape Town Film Studios, where Raised by Wolves, Mad Max: Fury Road, and many more come from.
Netflix has a lot riding on the upcoming Cowboy Bebop series. It’s their latest attempt at proving they can successfully adapt an anime into live-action, but also tackle one of the most beloved franchises in the genre. It’s a tall order for any company and it may pave the way for their future success in this new endeavour. They have oddly still played coy on showing us full sequences or a trailer, but they did unveil a very faithful adaptation of the original anime’s opening.
Not only that, but we also got our look at the various supporting characters that will join our ragtag gang of space cowboys. The opening does include some hints at upcoming plotlines and familiar characters. It’s a surprising but clever move to showcase that they care about the original inspiration of the franchise. This way, we get a feeling that they are trying to stay true to what the original offered while still adding their own spin. Netflix also shared the first look at Tamara Tunie as Ana, Mason Alexander Park‘s Gren, Alex Hassell as Vicious, and Elena Satine as Julia.
So far, the series looks very impressive but it’ll be important to get a feeling if the adaptation can stay true to the original. Tomorrow Studio will also showcase their ability with handling these franchises, as they’re going to bring Eiichiro Oda‘s One Piece series to Netflix in the near future. Here’s hoping that we’re entering an age where live-action anime adaptations will work.
Netflix entered the dangerous game of live-action adaptations of classic anime properties. Some time ago, we got our first look at Cowboy Bebop, and next, they are preparing to enter production on One Piece. We got a live-action logo with the first script teasing the series’ next step of production, but we’re still awaiting some kind of hint at their upcoming casting. Earlier rumors did hint that Ludi Lin is currently being eyed for the role of Roronoa Zoro, and it looks like they’re adding to the cast.
The first character descriptions hinted at Luffy gathering the various members of his Straw Hat pirate crew throughout the East Blue. And now it seems two more character descriptions have found their way online. Twitter user @OP_Netflix_Fan shared that Steven Maeda and his team are casting two additional series regulars, Garp and Koby. Their addition as regulars is quite a curious addition, which might hint at how the show will integrate later storylines early on.
Koby’s casting was inevitable due to his role in the earlier parts of the East Blue. Luffy stumbles upon him as he got forced to work for the pirate captain Alvida and he has an integral part in Zoro’s brief arc. The casting description highlights that he’ll learn “to stand up for others” throughout the season. Garp’s inclusion is the biggest surprise, as he didn’t have a role until the Post-Enies Lobby Arc in the story. Well, only if you don’t consider the Cover Stories.
Garp’s first introduction is during Chapter 92’s cover story, which is around the time Luffy fought the Arlong Pirates. It’s the ninth entry in the “Diary of Koby-Meppo” cover story, where we follow Koby and Helmeppo’s training to become cadets. As such, it seems like these cover stories will likely be showcased much earlier in the story as we follow both Luffy and Koby’s journey. It’s uncertain if Garp will also get included in the first episode titled “Romance Dawn,” as they’ll connect the dots much earlier in the story instead of having sudden reveals like in the manga. It’s an exciting prospect and we’ll hopefully get some official news in the coming weeks.
There are many theories out there on the ongoing development of the One Piece manga. Of course, many focus on the Void Century, or what exactly is the One Piece and how it ties into the finale. There’s one rather important mystery that’s been teased throughout the manga’s entire run but never given much insight even as we’ve passed the 1000th chapter mark. It’s a dominant figure that remains a blank slate throughout, the infamous pirate Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach. The first canon wielder of two Devil Fruits broke every single rule, and there’s a chance he might even be the wielder of a third when we meet him again.
When he first meets our crew in chapter 223, they imply that he isn’t just a singular person but rather a “they.” Many believed it could simply be a shoutout to his crew scattered across the town. Yet, we get more hints that something is different about the wielder of the Yami Yami no Mi, the Darkness fruit. The moment he stole Whitebeard’s Gura Gura no Mi, the Quake fruit, and used it alongside his first fruit broke everything we know about the established rules of this franchise. It also added more questions to the earlier comments on him being more than one person.
The reason there’s strong evidence for Blackbeard to one day own a third Devil fruits lies in the use of the number three throughout the franchise. Oda is infamous for using numbers in creative ways, such as Luffy repeatedly receiving the 59. In Japanese, they get pronounced as “Gomu,” which is the Japanese word for rubber. The three connection exists in Teach’s design and prominently jolly roger, which consists of three skulls. He also wields three pistols, and, after the time skip, he has three braids in his beard. The number also exists in how many types of Devil Fruit exist in this world, Paramecia, Logia, and Zoan. He currently possesses the Logia fruit of darkness and the Paramecia fruit of quake. So, naturally, it seems likely he’ll gain access to a Zoan fruit ahead of the final confrontation with Luffy.
So, we know the likelihood of what fruit he’ll gain, but the question remains which one. Popular theories believe he’ll steal his last fruit from the current Wano arc and take over Kaido’s Uo Uo no Mi (Model: Seiryu). Yet, it would be strange to have Luffy fight another dragon after being the main focus of this arc. Plus, we already have Momonosuke with the same abilities, which would make his inclusion repetitive. Yet, at the same time, it would be in line with the use of threes in the series. Yet, the path of it being a mythical Zoan doesn’t seem so out of this realm. YouTuber 333VIL believed that the three might correlate to a Kraken-type Devil Fruit, as octopi possess three hearts.
In the Enies Lobby arc, Jabra thought he’d exploded if he is near the literal fruit as a devil might jump out of his body. So, perhaps a person requires multiple hearts to resist the curse of inhabiting more than one fruit. Yet, it still opens up why his jolly roger highlights three skulls. We learn that Teach doesn’t sleep, which would match up with how octopuses sleep in intervals of seconds. That would explain why people believe he is never fully asleep. Yet, one could easily also use the fact that he may inhabit multiple personalities to circumvent that. There just hasn’t been a time where we witnessed any personality changes throughout the series or a real hint at him possessing a devil fruit before he joins the Whitebeard pirates.
The final and a personal favorite theory is that he most likely will have the mystical Zoan fruit modeled after Cerberus. Not only would the three heads match his flag, but it also might add to the revelation of what exactly is so special about this pirate. There’s also the theming we’ve seen with past Emperors. Kaido has a strong following of dinosaur-themed Zoan users, while Big Mom’s crew utilizes food-related abilities. Blackbeard’s crew are more varied, but one prominent member wields a dog fruit, the Inu Ino no Mi, of the Kyubi no Kitsune model. Her prominence as the first real new fruit reveal could be a subtle hint at the correlation. It’s also one of the more recurring fruit variants throughout the series.
What adds a curious layer to him possessing three personalities is that his inspiration, the real-life Blackbeard pirate Edward Teach, was split into three characters. Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard, Blackbeard and the man he murdered for the Yami Yami no Mi, Thatch. It further creates a connection between the three characters that make up “Blackbeard” in this series. Perhaps Oda creates a parallel that this Blackbeard splits up into three characters, which could best get brought to the forefront by giving him three literal heads like a Cerberus. He also would be protecting the “Gates to Hell” as the last milestone before Luffy and his crew uncover Laugh Tale.
There’s one last aspect that might add some credence to the Cerberus theory. Throughout the Straw Hats travels, Usopp’s various lies seem to always come true at one point. We’ve seen it most notably with the giant goldfish on Little Garden. In an early flashback, we see the Usopp pirates hunting down a poor dog, as he calls it a Cerberus. In Thriller Bark, we do meet one that has a fox head. It’s a curious detail that not only works for a fun joke but also to grab our attention that he’s not fully formed. So, technically it’s not a true “Cerberus” but could act as foreshadowing. It could be a way to distract viewers from the creature’s actual debut later down the road.
It’s still speculation for now as One Piece is still wrapping up its story on Wano. Elbaf seems like a safe bet for their next destination before the story enters its final arc. While we don’t know if Blackbeard will make his move on the island of the giants, he is likely to make his grand return soon now that Luffy is potentially taking down both Kaido and Big Mom. Yet, it seems like a fitting location to uncover his final fruit as it’s also the home to Shanks, who also has an element three inflicted upon him by Teach. The iconic three scars on his face inflicted upon him at some point may hint at there being something Shanks isn’t telling the world about this very dangerous pirate.
After a long wait and some teases, we finally got our first true look at Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Cowboy Bebop. Not only that, but we also get the confirmation that the series will get released on the streaming service on November 19th, which will follow the adventures of John Cho‘s Spike, Daniella Pineda‘s Faye, and Mustafa Shakir‘s Jet Black. We even get a look at the space-traveling corgi Ein, which gives us a good sense of how much the first season will explore. The first look at the cast is great, as they’ve brought the original designs to life in a greater fashion. Faye got a slight redesign with the core aspects of her original design present.
There are some really interesting reveals, as we get a shot of Spike in a church, which might tease Vicious appearance in the first season. Alex Hassel was cast in the role of the series’ main antagonist, who is a cornerstone of our space cowboy’s past. The images are mostly focused on their planet-based adventures with some glimpses of the iconic ship. It’s uncertain how much will be spent in space and if we get any episodes that primarily feature space battles. It wouldn’t be the same without them and Netflix would have the budget to bring these types of stories to life. Here’s hoping we get the first trailer in the coming week, as they start rolling out the promotion for the series November release. See you Space Cowboys!
Any anime fans shutters when they hear the word “filler.” In the past, there have been too many story arcs invented for the anime adaptation due to them having already caught up with the manga they are adapting. As they play for time, they rush out story ideas that don’t truly match with the rest of the story, especially when following closely planned projects like One Piece. Netflix’s upcoming live-action adaptation will likely stick to what was set up in the manga, but there’s one filler arc I believe does deserve attention. It’s time to introduce the G-8 arc into the canon.
In 2014, the anime caught up with the manga and had a void to fill when the Merry Go drops from the sky islands into the open sea. So, the team took a different route and had the team land in the middle of the marine base known as G-8. They had to find a way to survive and infiltrate enemy ranks. There we meet the Marine vice admiral Jonathan and his wife, the head chef Jessica. Unlike most filler storylines, it has left quite the impression on viewers to this day.
As it’s a filler arc, there are no references to this location throughout any other adaptation. Also, the mangaka Eiichiro Oda has been very specific about what chapters he includes, as he loves utilizing parallels. Of course, a non-manga storyline would require some inversion to keep that theme alive and well between the Paradise and New World eras. The team behind the Netflix adaptation will very likely follow his original vision primarily.
Yet, there is the possibility of how they can include the storyline. It would be a waste not to explore one of One Piece‘s most fascinating members o the Marines, Jonathan, and further explore their history. In the anime, he is the protégé of Akainu. So, his inclusion would allow the series to introduce the character earlier on. His first appearance was during the Ohara Incident, which got explored in the Enies Lobby arc. They could also tease the CP-9’s existence and flesh out the Marines. It works as one or a maximum of two episodes after the end of the Sky Island Saga. Plus, the season-ending with them in the middle of a marine fortress would be quite an attention-grabbing way to end.
There’s also an existing parallel to this arc in the manga, which would keep Oda’s type of storytelling alive. This fact gets highlighted by a popular theory of the so-called “checkered fate.” YouTuber Totally Not Mark made the parallel between our favorite pirates’ journey on Jaya, Skypiea, and Long Ring Long Land to the Zou arc. G-8 takes place right before the confrontation with the Foxy Pirates in a Davy Back Fight, which writer Matt Owens has openly stated will get included. In a way, the Zou arc already has parallels to G-8. Rather than escaping a fortress they fell into, they need to enter a mysterious city on top of a wandering giant elephant. Also, it’s not the Strawhat pirates pretending to be someone else to save themselves, but its inhabitants, the Mink tribe, pretending to keep someone safe. It works as a parallel even if loosely. The theory actually would still work with G-8 getting included in the series’ canon.
We don’t know how closely the Netflix series will follow the original manga series, as they have quite a bit of story to bring to life. We might even see game stories or films make it into the series as additional entries due to Netflix not abiding by classic seasonal structures. Yet, it seems unlikely as Oda is heavily involved with the series and, as revealed by Owens, wants the core story to remain. Still, G-8’s inclusion might also help define a seasonal arc, as they can build up to the Water Seven arc and keep the massive Enies Lobby for a follow-up season. It’s also an arc storyline that fits right in with any other arc, for some even more so than the Davey Jone Fights. The big twist of that arc would be a perfect way to end that to keep viewers on their toes. So, one of the best filler arcs ever put to the screen might help the live-action adaptation’s structure and remain within Oda‘s original vision. Also, it would just be great to see more of Jonathan in the series.
Netflix has the tendency to greenlight a plethora of projects to bank its growing success on. It recently started venturing into live-action adaptations of classic animes. While their attempt with Death Note was questionable, the upcoming Cowboy Bebop series seems promising, but we’ve only seen the cast so far and a tease of the soundtrack. A personal highlight was the announcement to adapt the manga series One Piece.
Eiichiro Oda‘s manga series started all the way back in 1997 and still continues to this day. The upcoming series was initially announced back in 2017, it wasn’t until 2020 that they got the backing of Netflix for the series. There hasn’t been a lot of details revealed since its announcement but with hints at its production starting soon, it’s the perfect timing to explore how much we actually know about the project and what is heading our way.
As the letter above showcases, the mangaka behind the series is an active executive producer on the series and will oversee its production. X-Files‘ Steven Madea joined the project as its executive producer and is currently still the only official talent attached to the project. Cowboy Bebop‘s Becky Clements will also act in the same role on the series. Agents of SHIELD and Luke Cage writer Matt Owens has publicly confirmed his involvement with the project during the podcast The Reverie, and was mentioned on the official Twitter page. He even confirmed that Oda supervised the scripts. In March, the working title “Project Roger” was revealed on Madea‘s Instagram account.
This brief tease was also followed by a brief interview by SyFy with Tomorrow Studios’ Marty Adelstein, who was working on the Snowpiercer series at the time and Netflix’s adaptation of Cowboy Bebop. He also gave the following update on when we can expect casting to begin and production:
We were supposed to start filming in August in Cape Town, South Africa. We anticipate the date being able to film [now is] September, at the latest. We have basically all 10 scripts written. We will start casting when we go back. My suspicion is June 1, but we will start doing our casting. We have a lot of names that we’re talking about, and we should be in production in September. We have been working very closely with Sensei Oda. So, we’re going to get started, and this one is very big. I mean, Snowpiercer was a big production; this is even bigger.
Marty Adelstein
There hasn’t really been any news since with only glimpses and rumors hitting the internet. If they are on track, they should be finishing up casting in the coming weeks before starting production in Cape Town Film Studios. There are rumors floating that Junie Lowry-Johnson joined the project as casting director alongside Black Sails‘ Marc Jobst as director, but these were never confirmed. The only movement that has been seen from the production is what looks like the Merry Go being built from all the way back in March as well.
There hasn’t been much of an update since until Illuminerdi dropped the character descriptions, which hints at the ongoing casting process. It seems the only one they could hint at is Ludi Lin for the role of Zoro, but that’s it. If their schedule still holds, we might hopefully get the official castings in the coming weeks before they officially start produciton on the project. It’ll be interesting to see if we get any set photos featuring the cast and when we can expect the project to finally hit Netflix after an almost five year long wait.
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand, Marvel Studios is exploring new ways to tell their stories. One of their focuses for the future appears to be towards animation. What If…? is only the beginning of what Marvel Studios has planned for the MCU’s future. It got confirmed by Variety in an interview with Victoria Alonso. Now, while what the future holds remains to be seen, we wanted to explore what could potentially be one of the ideas that Marvel Studios could be looking at as we speak.
Anime is currently one of the most dominant corners of pop-culture media in the world. Having an anthology series of short films similar to Star Wars: Visions, with multiple anime studios tackling Marvel characters, could provide a new take on characters we all know and love. So with that in mind, here are seven studios and characters we would love to see for a potential Marvel Studios: Visionsanthology series.
1. Studio Bones – Avengers
Kicking off the list, we have Bones, the studio responsible for hit series such as My Hero Academia, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Mob Psycho 100. Bones’ seems to love exploring large-scale fights with multiple characters. Yet, they also manage to focus on character interactions that best fit the overall story. So having a shot anthology film of the Avengers facing off against a common threat could potentially be an absolutely interesting concept for a studio like Bones to tackle.
2. Studio Sunrise – Guardians of the Galaxy
With projects such asCode Geass and Cowboy Bebop, Sunriseseems like a perfect fit to tackle a Guardians of the Galaxy story for this anthology series. Imagine a new take on the Guardians with the jazz-infused stylings of Cowboy Bebop. The art style of that particular show also could be applied to this Guardians story for a more retro feel for these versions of the characters.
3. Studio Trigger – Captain Marvel
The aesthetic and style behind the studio Trigger is one that is uniquely colorful and pleasing. This reason alone is why Captain Marvelcould potentially be a good fit for a story animated by this studio. With shows like Promare, BNA, and Kill La Kill under their belt, a one-shot story with the space adventures and cosmic abilities of Carol Danvers could easily translate well into the art style of this studio.
4. Ufotable – Black Panther
Ufotablehas provided anime fans with one of the most incredible and popular anime adaptations in recent history: Demon Slayer. The way they animate action and motion with a perfect blend of colors put them on the map. With that in mind, I believe that a story with Black Panther could perhaps be an incredible combination for this series. A story set within the boundaries of Wakanda and their culture applied to the artistic styles of Ufotable could bring forth some of the most imaginative and unique visuals with some incredible hand-to-hand combat.
5. Madhouse – Ant-Man and The Wasp
Perhaps you’d recognize Madhouse for their work in multiple series such as Overlord, One Punch Man, Death Note, and Hunter X Hunter. But, perhaps, one of the most curious things relating the studio to this pitch is that Madhouse is one of the studios that has already adapted Marvel as an anime before, including characters such as Wolverine, X-Men, Iron Man, and Future Avengers. Rather than have them rework one of these concepts, however, it would certainly be interesting to see Madhouse develop a story with Ant-Man and The Wasp told in the anime format, as their micro-scale dimensions could hit big in this world.
6. Mappa – Doctor Strange
If you’re a big fan of Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen, then you’d know why MAPPA is an excellent studio to tackle the magical antics of the Sorceror Supreme. Doctor Strangeuses some elements and aesthetics that would fit right in the anime domain. MAPPA’s skill in designing memorable action sequences with unique visuals makes them the perfect fit. In addition, they offer the kind of creativity that would make Strange’s magic stand out even more amongst his Marvel brethren.
7. A-1 Pictures – Spider-Man
Lastly, but certainly not least important, you have the studio behind works such as Sword Art Online, Blue Exorcist, and The Seven Deadly Sins (Let’s just pretend that last season didn’t happen).A-1 Pictures tackling a character like Spider-Man is one of the most out-of-the-box choices on this list. Yet, I feel like Sword Art Online draws parallels in the form of the series’ main character and our famed web-slinger. Plus, the fluidity of Kirito’s movement shows what would be possible if A-1 brought the web-slinger to life in animated form.
The future for the Pokémon series has been quite the question mark in Hollywood. We got the 2019 film Detective Pikachu starring Ryan Reynolds and Justice Smith. We never got an official announcement for a sequel or spin-off films after the film had moderate success at the Box Office. After a long bit of silence, the series makes a grand return as Lucifer‘s Joe Henderson is set to write and executive produce a live-action series for Netflix.
The streamer has been on the hunt for big-name franchises to compete with the ever-growing competitive market. They’ve dabbled in Anime for quite some time and even became the home for most of the iconic animated series featuring Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu. There’s no word if they will adapt the Anime into live-action or take a completely new direction to make it stand on its own terms.
Variety points out that the series will be akin to the 2019 film. Sadly, no further details are available but Henderson’s work on the popular Lucifer season makes him a great choice. There’s a lot of potentials to explore the vast world filled with these creatures. Each season ould explore a different region from the games, or they even explore a brand new one.
Pokémon joins the many Anime live-action adaptations that the streamer has been trying to bring to life over the last few years. They’ve been working on bringing Cowboy Bebop, One Piece, and even Gundam to live-action. Only Bebop has entered some form of production with a release remaining uncertain. Here’s hoping this project doesn’t end up in development hell for some time.
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