The Ringer-Verse - Live-Action ‘One Piece’ Season 1 Instant Reactions

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

Charles Holmes is joined by Jessica Clemons and Justin Charity to discuss Netflix’s latest anime turned live-action series, ‘One Piece.’ They give context pertaining to the ‘One Piece’ manga and anime and discuss why American live action inspired by anime is usually so difficult to get right (02:00). Then, they dive into a spoiler-filled conversation in which they share their thoughts on ‘One Piece’ Season 1 (19:00). Later, they discuss where ‘One Piece’ could go for a second season and how anime turned live action could eventually take over pop culture (45:30). Hosts: Charles Holmes, Jessica Clemons, and Justin Charity Producer: Jonathan Kermah Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more, or visit trimfire radio.com. This episode is brought to you by Paramount Plus. Beth and Rip are back in a new series, Dutton Ranch. Kelly Riley and Colehouser returned, and this time they're taking on Texas. As Beth and Rip build a future together, peace will have to wait

as they face corruption, danger, and a ruthless rival ranch, willing to protect its secrets at all costs. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dutton Ranch starring Colehouser, Kelly Riley, Annette Benning and Ed Harris now streaming on Paramount Plus. Welcome into the Ringiverse, your nexus podcast fee for all things pirates.

I'm Charles Holmes and today we're discussing bounties, berries, and devil fruits. Over the weekend, Netflix released their long-awaited adaption, matured-odot's 1997 manga, One Piece, developed for Netflix by Matt Owens and Steve Mata, the eight-episode show, follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who dreams of becoming kids. of the pirates by assembling a crew and finding a long lost treasure called the One Piece. And to break it all down, I'm joined by Jessica

Clemens and Justin Charity. Guys, are you ready to go on this journey with me? Are you ready to be my pirate crew? Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. That did not sound weird. I was debating. Okay, I was debating whether to be the difficult one and it'd be like,

no, I'm too needy. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't know what role to play there. for the appropriate crew dynamic. But yes, an enthusiastic, yes. I'm just happy to join. I'm just happy to be asked. Oh, of course you would be asked.

You have a demon slayer. What kind of pirates are we? What is this? So I've dealt with this my entire life where one piece is everybody has a lore. Everybody is a teenager. And when you're a teenager, you are exactly the right age to dig into stuff that is way too fucking long, that you can become. and nerd about. And for the entirety of my life, parents, girlfriends have been like One Piece.

What is it? Always been bad at describing it. So I'm going to try to describe what One Piece is to y'all, like you're 50-year-old and you can grade me after. Is that cool, guys? Yeah, that's perfect. All right. So this was created 27 years ago by Atira Oda. It is an adventure manga about Monkey D. Luffy in a world of pirates. And essentially, this world, the way you get powers is you eat the devil fruits. And Monkey D. Luffy at a very young age, eats the gumgum fruit. That means he has stretchy powers.

And essentially he embarks on this long journey, trying to become king of the pirates by finding the one piece. We don't know what the one piece is, but everybody wants it. And kooky hijinks ensue. Do I sound like an idiot, or have I gotten the main points of this world? I think you're doing a good job.

Yeah. Yeah, but since we all watch the anime, that's the problem. That's the problem. I think what would catch my mom off guard is probably saying the one piece and then her being like, well, what is it? And you're like, well, we don't know. And she's like, what is it? And I think that's where you probably get people off is when you're like the one piece.

I didn't watch the anime growing up. But it's like, so I'm saying it both as somebody who has watched a lot of anime in general, though. I think you did a good job, right? Aw. That was good. Oh, thank you. So now that you said that you haven't watched it, Charity,

how familiar are you with One Piece? Because I do think that if you are invested enough in anime and manga, even if you did not watch the anime, One Piece is so pervasive in that world that you're kind of like, I kind of get the gist. I get the pirates. I get the Devil Fruits. Like, how much are you aware of One Piece generally?

Well, you know, it's funny you ask it like that, right? Because I actually, I was thinking about this. last week, how I actually made it until like two weeks ago without actually being totally clear on what One Piece was even about. Even as somebody who remembers when One Piece started to pop off back in the day, right? It's sort of, and I think the answer really is just Pirates. It's just like Pirates was the answer to the question all along. But even that I wasn't totally clear on, but you're right. That's despite the fact that, yeah, One Piece, at least from my advantage, right? like growing up and like, you know, getting older and shit in anime fandom, like,

it, One Piece felt like this totally ubiquitous thing where I both knew nothing about it and yet felt like I had kind of absorbed it, you know, through osmosis. Not like Dragon Ball level, but something like right below that, maybe, you know? So, Jessica, how much of a fan or unfan argue of One Piece? I'm not. Damn! No, no, not like that. I should have probably said this better.

I am. I like One piece. I have not. Once I started, I remember when I started watching it, I was like, oh, this is really fun. This is kooky. I'm really into it. But then when I saw how many episodes there were, I turned it off because it was so intimidating. I don't have time to watch that many.

And I didn't, at the time when I was watching it, there was not really a database of what episodes you should. be watching. And so I was like, oh, I don't know. This is just too daunting. It's too much of a requirement. I'm too scared. So I didn't get far enough. I got like maybe 20 episodes in. And then I just like stopped. And I never went back. But I did like what I watched. It's just so intimidating. Charles, tell the people how many episodes. How many episodes is there? There's over 1,000. There's over 1,000. This includes the movies too, right? No, this is separate from the movies. This is just, this is just pure 1,000. So, The best way I can describe one piece to anyone is that this is the type of manga and anime that has kind of gone out of style is the best way I can put it because Atchira Oda, his hero was someone like Akira Toriyama and those original Dragon Ball volumes where it's not people going super saying and kicking the shit out of each other.

It is very much an adventure gag manga where you're watching Goku go to different towns, get different friends, and through the power of like friendship, defeat enemies. And Oda takes that and is like,

what if I make an entire manga like that? And that is absolutely not what American audiences are used to because for a certain generation, we got Dragon Ball Z. And I think for decades after that, if you're from that generation, that cloud your judgment almost

in terms of like, the reason that something like a bleach or a Naruto can totally take over the American zeitgeis is because they are very immediate. They are battle shonen. The battles are there from the first episode of Naruto.

You get what that shit is. In a way with One Piece, it is like, I will ask you this, Jess. You watch the anime. It is a rather slow build. Oh, 100%. Yeah, right.

Like, what was, what were your thought process when you're watching those first couple of the anime, where you're just like, oh, okay, this is like a different speed from like a bleach or a Naruto or Demon Slyer? Oh, well, that's the thing. I have such a short attention span now. And I was like, the animas I watch are usually like, uh, showjuice. So it's like the romance is immediate. And so my speed for anime's, it takes a lot of my attention to like, because even in Naruto at the beginning, I was like, oh my gosh,

It's saying forever to get to the very first fight. And so, because I'm so used to, like, Jiu-Kaisen, where it's like, we're starting with this battle. We're starting immediately with it. So it took so long in One Piece. And I knew immediately, I was like, okay, I don't think I need to watch these parts. There are some parts where I was like, I don't think I need to watch these. And no one's telling me what I should be watching. And so I'm not trying to shit on it at all.

I'm just saying it takes a long time. read every single chapter of one piece is my favorite manga of all time. I tell people, I'm like, should I start it? I'm just like, no, are you insane? No, there's so much. Like, this is coming from someone who thinks, like, Oda is the goat to me. And even I'm like, do you have just endless amounts of time and patience to get through what is

essentially like, it is like, if someone's like, should I start the Game of Thrones books? Oh, God. You're like, maybe just start with the TV show. Even though a bunch of Game of Thrones fans will kill you for saying that, One Piece is at that level of lore and just longevity, that if you're either not from Japan or Paris, it's a lot to start in 2020. Yeah.

But like, and to what I will say about this, the other thing that is weird about One Piece is that from a global perspective, one piece is more successful, I would say, than the contemporaries that, like, we hold up. Like, it is more successful than a demon slayer or a JJK or a bleach or a Naruto. All of those have started and stopped in the time that Oda, like, Oda has been doing this for close to 30 years. So it's hard to describe to someone where I'm like,

no, this is like a billion dollar franchise. If you go to, when I was in Paris, one piece was fucking everywhere. In a way, I was just like, okay, this is like, Americans have not adopted this the way the other globe, like other people in the globe have.

So then why do we think, I'll start with you, Jess. Netflix was like, this is what we want to spend, what is reportedly Game of Thrones numbers. Dude. I will start by saying, I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know what Netflix's like prototype is for throwing things and seeing what sticks because after Death Note and after Cowboy Bebop, I don't understand. I would have been like, I don't know if we should take it. I'm scared. But I do think having him work so close on it is what made it really helpful and worked really well. It's the same thing that happened with The Last of Us.

They had the creator of The Last of Us working really close to it. And I think when you have that support, you have that encouragement to actually try, try, try to make it really good. And it worked for me. I don't know about you guys, but it worked for me with this one piece. So I think Netflix was willing to take it on because they had the creator working really closely with it. Justin, what?

Because as Jess described, you know, they had Oda very, very, here's the thing. Oda is like a damn your godfather in Japan. And anything that is one piece that he is interested in is just, it's not going to get past him. And from everything that I've read about this show, it seems like he was very invested in them getting this right. Why do you think that it is so hard to get American live action anime right?

Because in Japan, they have their own versions of live action animas. But in the West, the stuff like Dragon Ball Evolution, Cowboy, Bebop, Death Note, I have just been so terrible. What do you think it is about an anime live action? that makes it hard for the West to do right. I think two things. The first thing I'm going to say is that I just disagree about the bebop. I thought the bebop show was good, actually. I thought that show got overhaded.

And I kind of get it because I think the original cowboy bebop is of a certain tone and artistic, like quality that making something that feels more like a very stagey Star Trek type show out of it struck people as kind of like the wrong approach. regardless of how well they pulled off that approach. I like the bebop thing. But I think to answer your question more directly, right, I want to say that part of the problem in the West is that

I feel like places like Netflix have taken this very roundabout way to making this one piece adaptation, right? Because when I watch this one piece adaptation, I think, oh, you know what this reminds me of? It reminds me of the Japanese live action adaptation of full metal alchemist, right, which is like a lot of the Japanese live action stuff. What do they do? Well, it's like put a bunch of people in bad wigs and like costumes that look a little cheap

if you look at them too hard. Very cosplay. Yeah, good cosplay. Put people in bad wigs and good cosplay, right? And, and, you know, let them snap. You know what I mean? Let them cook, right? That's the Japanese approach.

And I think in the West, there was this weird, it's sort of like people saw in the West that, okay, well, that style of Japanese live action adaptation for whatever reason, for a long time, didn't and doesn't really resonate with American anime fans. Like, forget beyond anime fan, even in anime fandom in the West. I don't think Western anime fans are watching those Japanese live action adaptations. So I think in the West, people thought, okay, you need to make them more like what, the Western big budget version of like, you know, kind of comic book adaptation-esque, right? Where you smooth it out, you polish it up, you make the budget look 10x, right?

And a lot of that stuff failed, right? Or sort of caused so much consternation. And I feel like one piece is just people working their way back to like, okay, what if you just did, but Japan already does, but it's in English instead of Japanese. and you dust your hands and call it a day. Oh, you throw millions of dollars. Yeah, I blow the budget up for sure. It's like, it's in English, and it is 10 times more expensive to make,

but otherwise, it's costuming. It has some bad CGI. It has bad wigs, and you let people cook. And that's kind of, if you pick the right material, like that's also a big difference. Like, comparing death note to one piece isn't really like to like, right? Because it's like death note is something that people take like death note is kind of you know very network tv in a sense but it's also something that people

take super kind of seriously and bebop more so is something people take super seriously and i want to say kind of the success in adapting death one piece right is you took something that like lots of people love but i don't think people take one piece so seriously that they're going to necessarily like jump down your throat the moment you're like oh they didn't characterized vicious the right way in the bebop rem. It's like people aren't going to do that about One Piece, right? You're starting from like a better position of people's goodwill and their willingness to let stuff slide, I think.

Do you think One Piece was like a good grab for something like that then? Yeah. I think they picked the right thing. I feel like the biggest success they had with this is picking One Piece in the first place, honestly. That's a good idea. Oh, I mean, I totally agree for a couple reasons. I think the first would be, I always say this about anime adaptations,

you have to think about how like literal U.S. comic books are, which makes them very easy to adapt, where I'm like, Batman is just a crazy man running around in tactical gears. Like it's just, you know, how do you adapt fucking hockey or men or cursed energy? It is something where it's like when you read a lot of battle shonen, they are talking about things that to a Japanese audience or even a global audience, they might have more time to be like, oh, okay, This is interesting.

Like, I like men. Like, but if you're asking someone who's never watched anime to be like, wait, so what, they all have these powers that we can't see and they're, they're friends and they have to believe in themselves, that's the first thing. And I think the second thing, too, is that to what you guys are both saying, we, I think a Western audience views Cowboy Bebop in death note in a way, I don't know that the Japanese do. I remember being a kid, being like, yo, like all this other manga is shit. But if you want that real crack, read death note.

And it wasn't until I was like older. I was just like, this is fine. Like, this is like a fine series. It's not like it's whatever. Or like even Cowboy Bebop is like, yo, this is it. It has the film bro patina of it. Yeah, you become that guy about it. You become that guy about Cowboy Bebub.

Oh, no. Oh, no. And I think one piece. I've been there. I've been there. I've done it. I think One Piece is just different. think one piece is so goofy and it is so clearly

targeted at a younger demographic. It's easier to take it for what it is. Yes. Is Cowboy Bebop are like Boondock Saints? Yes. Yo, it almost did. Like I have a friend. I have a friend who is like

talking who she's not an AMA at all. And I remember once like years ago she's telling me like she was just recounting this guy she knew in college who loved Cowboy Bebop and like insisted on her watching it. And I just, my heart broke when she was telling me

this story. I was like, oh, at some point, Calboy Bebop definitely became that show where it's just like, that guy is constantly like pushing it on.

All the girls that dated a guy that, like, their crack was Cowboy Bebop understands because I did. And it's Cowboy Bebop in neon Genesis Evangelion. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, no, no, no, no. They're as good as people say it is, but, And the way Americans talk about it is like, it almost makes you not want to support it.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh my God. 100%. 100%. We kind of ruined it for everybody.

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Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manage your activity with our consumer protection tools. Sorry, so this is where we're going to get to spoilers about one piece. So if you have not read something that's been around for 30 years or watched it, we're spoiling stuff. So I have to be real with y'all. I did not want this to exist before I even watched it. Yes. I saw the trailer and I'm like,

Why are we doing this? One Piece as a manga is perfect. The anime Gear Fifth just happened. Fucking incredible. Love it. Why are we doing this? And I don't know if it's because I have a soft spot for One Piece and Oda in general, but watched all eight episodes. I don't know. They got to me. And like this is after like months of just like an onslaught of marketing where I was like, I saw Anaki who plays Luffy. meeting Oda for the first time. And it's so, it's so charming. It's like, I don't know what it was. Is this show perfect? No. But when I saw Zorro for the first time, I was like, okay, that's Zorro. They did it.

Yes. So I don't, like, so Jess, you, I think you seem to have warmth to it too. What is it about the show that when you were just kind of like, okay, um, I think Justin's right. It's so charming. The characters are so charming. It's like the, I, I love their casting. for Luffy because it's just, it's this like, not gullible, but like just overly, it matched so well

of like, I was like, I support everything this character is doing. Even if he's choosing the worst people, even if he's going about it the worst way possible, his overly positive attitude is coming through. And it's just as charming as the Luffy from the anime. And I was like, this is just really sweet. And I think it was the characters. It has to be it because I just kept watching. I was like, I'll give it.

I'll give it a shot. I'm going to watch the first episode. I kept feeding it. I was like, where are they going? What's going on? Who is he going to pick up next? What's what's going on? I followed the characters.

They're so charming. It's hard to resist. I'm sorry. Charity, charity, do you feel a similar way? Yeah, it's like cute. It's charming. It's cute. And again, I already had, I'm not a huge fan of lots of Japanese live adaptation style,

you know, of anime series, right? But it's when I made that comparison of the full metal. Malcolm is like I liked that adaptation and this this kind of I felt relief watching you know the first couple episodes of this right I felt the sense of like yeah this is silly this is goofy like these people are in bad wigs like let's go you know like no one's overthinking anything yes uh in in executing this and I feel like the show I don't know I feel like I'm watching something that learned to get out of its own way after this weird track record of these adaptations feeling like they kind of psyched themselves out.

Like, the CGI is bad and I don't care. You know what I mean? It's fine. It's charming. I just, yeah, and I'm like to Jess's point, like, I just like the casting choices and the characterizations and the tone of it. It's just, yeah, it feels right. The crew is so good together. They almost like, I'm a big CGI like this looks rough. But once I was like, this is almost like a Riverdale Arrow CW level. Like, we're going to get a lot of really attractive young people together and their charisma and charm

are going to sell this. And that's what it really was where it's like, to your point, Luffy and Zora, when they're together, I'm like, okay, this has the energy of a Kaluah and a gone. Or like that anime type thing where you're like two dumb boys together

doing like friendship. And you're just like, all right, cool, I get that, you know? But I... I... Where were you saying? No, I was like, it's just so good. They also, they knew what they were doing when they cast of those people. Every TikTok I get is thirst traps of every member of the cast.

And I'm like, oh, I don't think these people have ever seen or read the manga. They are just completely invested in these characters as human beings. It is a very attractive cast. Hey, I'm not going to say that Buggie didn't do it for me. But it like, I'm on it. I'm on it. And I hate it. I hate that I am feeding into it.

I said, wow, I didn't know I like clowns, and now I do. I don't know what it is. But it's like they, they grab the great, they grab people that didn't really know One Piece very well. And it wasn't, it's beyond even like the hot cast. They made it very easy to understand for people that don't know One Piece before this. So I disagree so much. You think? When I was watching it, I was like, because I walked into the gym today and one of the trainers there,

he does not watch any other anime. I can't get him to watch any other anime besides Demon Slayer. That's the only one he thinks everything else is dumb. But if it's on Netflix, he will watch it. And he's just like, y'all, watch that first episode of One Piece. It was shit.

And I was like, okay, I think that this might be the problem where if you are not used to watching anime, or you... Oh, okay. Or if you don't... If you don't understand the quirks of manga or anime,

I do think that first and second episode are very much like, wait, what's going on? He's stretchy now. He ate a fruit, but he can't swim. It's just like, there's so many things that like, as like they were using shorthand for for someone who's in this world. I'm like, all right, yeah, I got it. Cool, go, go. I know all this shit. I don't know how someone who's coming to this fresh would understand any of this. Charity. Am I being too negative about that? No, I mean, are you being too negative? I think you can't micromanage your friends.

Like, maybe ultimately they'll move on to something else and they'll get a more better developed sense of what kind of anime they like. And it just isn't One Piece, right? Because, like, I remember, again, when One Piece was blowing up as an anime series, like, I just wasn't into it. I don't know what I was watching at the time,

but it wasn't One Piece. When was it blowing up for you? It was probably like the dude. Because I remember as a kid, the bad, it was like, I think it was the four kids dub. Yeah, I mean, it was so bad. I honestly think if you want to be like, why did One Piece not blow up in the West until years later?

I think it goes back to that dub being so utterly trash. Like, I'm sorry for whoever worked on it, but it was very, very bad. And I do think that what this show does have going for it is that I understand why Netflix was like, we need to go to American creators to make this. Not because American creators would make One Piece better. They did not.

But one of the showrunners here has worked on episodes of the X-Files and Lost and CSI. You could tell in this show, I'm just like, okay, they know how to make a TV show. They know how to like do the, all right, we're doing the flashback now. All right, this is our B-plot. This is our... And to your point, Charity, I think a lot, like Death Noter. even Cowboy Bebup a little bit got lost in the sauce a little bit

where you just have to make a TV show. Like at a certain point, you just have to let go and make a functional TV show. And if I can give this credit, I'm like, okay, this moves. Like, this makes sense. They get from A, B, to C,

and I kept watching. Now, if I'm going to be real, though, guys, is there a little bit of this show visually that wanted to have its cake and eat it to? So I think that there were so much about how they designed this world that was very, very smart. But there were moments where they're like, we are going to try to make the ships realistic. And we're going to make everything very dingy and dirty and brown and pirates. And I'm like, oh, yeah.

And then, like, certain characters would show up with, like, cat ears and, like, fucking bad blue wigs. And I'm just, like, I feel like you wanted to do it both ways where you wanted to on. how goofy and rightfully so this series is. But also like sometimes it looked like Pirates of the Caribbean. And at other points, it looked like Power Rangers. And I was just like, that was the part where I was just, I think you should have leaned to one versus the other besides going straight down the middle.

And it did not diminish my enjoyment of the entire season. But there was a like, I'm like, if you guys get a second season, I think you need to pick. One versus the other, because there were certain points where I'm just like, the straw hats all looked good. Some of their villains. I was just like, yikes. What are you doing?

Jess, you're the positive one. Was there any kind of like, when you were watching some of the episodes, be like, I get what you're trying to do. But it looks. No? No, it wasn't because it was, it all felt really silly, kooky for me because it wasn't giving like Pirates of the Caribbean. It was definitely still like, these ships are ridiculous.

We're going into the mouth of a giant like fish ship. These characters look very silly. I just kept going at it from that viewpoint of like, yeah, this is like, they're trying to adapt, like, even costume-wise from the show, which is fine. I'm also like so positive about it because I'm like, give every kid more material of what to work with in the outside world. If any kid wants to cosplay, they have so much ability to do. so now. And I even watched

it. And when I saw that like Marine that had the ears, I was like, ooh, that's easy. I'm going to do that. So I don't know. It didn't strike me as too crazy. I was like, I think it's fine. Charity as the ringers resident, how would you call it, malcontent.

Malcontent. Just get. Yeah. I'm joking. I think I'm with, I think it was just. Like, I didn't really, again, it made me think the contrast you just drew, right? That Pirates of the Caribbean thing. It reminded me of the thing that I get what people said about Netflix's cowboy bebop, right?

To me, the contrast I remember drawing with that show is kind of like sometimes that show wanted to look like Star Trek TNG, the TV show. And sometimes it wanted to look like Star Trek TNG one of the movies. Yeah. You know, and it's sort of, but I didn't even mind that about bebop, which is something that has way, like I know a lot more about and care a lot more about. And I think with this show, yeah, I get that tension to your identity. is real, right? Pirates of the Caribbean versus Power Rangers. But that's also something that, like,

I don't know that they have to pick a side in a, you know what I mean? I don't. I actually don't think they have to pick aside. I think they can, I think maybe it can be characteristic of this show, of this series in a good way if they refuse to pick aside. And if they just kind of

lean straight down the middle into that anime bullshit quality, right? I don't know. I don't know. I don't want it to look. Yeah, I don't know. I really, I like it sort of mashing up the realism and the cartooniness. Like, I just think it gives the show a vibe. Do you think it'll be like much crazier in the second season since we're getting more

characters that aren't really humanistic? We have like a skeleton man, a deer. A, I don't know if we're getting a second season. No, we will say that. This is not insider information. We are going to talk about what the future of this show is, but I will say, kind of a roundabout way to answer your question.

I don't know if the eight-episode Netflix model was the best way to introduce one piece because watching this, I was just like, I kind of either want an old, like, network 20 episodes of this, or I would have just rather them done the movie where it's like I felt like at the end of the eight episodes, I'm like, oh, I kind of just wish that we had gotten more of the crew together and we had gotten more of their chemistry. And it almost felt like as soon as their journey started, it was over.

And I was just like, I kind of wish they would have just done the two-hour movie version of this. Or if you are going to do such a classic setup of like everybody gets a backstory and we're knowing everybody's childhood and you're going to know all the shit about it. I'm just like, you could have just done like 15 episodes. and I would have, even if it looked worse, because I had already recontextualized my mind to be like, yo, this is Wednesday, this is, like, Riverdale, this is Arrow. You can do those long-running shows

because I knew I was just like, okay, once I saw the big Sea Beast, I think of the first or second episode, I'm like, okay, this is the level of CG I were getting. It's never going to get better than that. So already, I was just like, all my wants are out of the door. I just have to love this show for what it is.

Okay, yeah, I feel that. It's interesting to be like the eight-piece model. It felt like, and maybe this is just me, maybe this is just me. It felt like they were still kind of conscious that they might not get a second season. So they wanted to give us enough that it's like, hey, you guys want to come back because we have five other characters we haven't introduced. And I genuinely am that person. I'm like, I can't wait to see those extra color characters. I'm going to tune into the second season.

I can't wait that the story is now starting. Like, I'm ready for them to ship, go out, actually do it. Let's go. So I'm like, but I feel like they were very conscious that maybe it won't get a second season. There was definitely that anxiety running through. To your point, what they do, because I know the series so well, is that they shrink so much of what makes One Piece, One Piece. To me, One Piece very much. is you have to enjoy how much lore there is.

In the same way that, like, when you're reading Lord of the Rings, part of it is, like, I'm going to know everything about the elves and then everything about the hobbits, and I can read, like, quite literally everything. And for a TV show, you just can't do that. So very smartly, instead of having to wait a year,

like, there was points in my college life where I just didn't see any of the straw hats for four years I was in college, because Oda was just writing the same arc for like four or five years. And I was just like, what the fuck is happening? That's how long I've been reading. And they very smartly were like,

we're going to fuse characters, they're going to meet sooner. I think they realize very, very quickly, we need to get these hot people. We need to get this cast together because that's the actual show. Right now, did y'all know this? People are shipping Nami and Zora.

And Prince, oh my, oh my God. Yes, I'm on TikTok where they're doing that. They're doing this Disney Princess. is why are people doing this? Can you explain? So for Emily Rudd and I want to pronounce his name, Zorro was played by McKennyu.

They are just, their chemistry is very electric as you go. And it was actually revealed by Oda. Oda was like, my big rule is that none of the straw hats can be in a relationship. There's no, no relationship, no nothing. That's what I've been

reading. And I do think Netflix knows what it's doing. in terms of the marketing of this where they put the straw hats out center. You, I think part of the marketing is that this show seems targeted to people

who like a Wednesday who are just like, oh, cool, like teens or just like, oh, okay, teens kissing all their teens. And Oda was very smart about being like, fuck all that shit. They're pirates. There's no kissing. No kissing.

But you can make them as hot as possible. And they're still tuned in. I mean, I don't know if you guys have read Time Skip One Piece, but let's just say every woman looks the same and they have gigantic titties and fad asses. If there's a time skipping Netflix,

I wonder if Oda's just going to come down from on high and be like, all right, guys, listen, CGI budget. That's going all to the fucking anime titties. I don't know what to tell you. This is out. All right, but Charity, getting back, Big Barry series, getting back.

could, I think what you both said something that I agree with, where the success, even if this show was not for me, I was charmed by it. And I was just like, this is not going in the graveyard in terms of like the live action curse. I think that they, everybody from the cast and the directors or the showrunners, I'm like, you made a bunch of smart choices. What I want to ask you, could you do this same thing with like a Naruto or a bleach? Because what we were saying before, one piece, even though it gets, as I describe to people all the time, if you read a manga or watching anime long enough, at some point a 13-year-old boy is going to get so powerful that he punches God. And we just got to that place in One Piece this year. Naruto and Bleach get there very, very quickly, almost immediately. It's just like, these boys are strong as fucking, there's so much going on. Could you do a live action?

eight episode series of either of those because I think those to me are almost more daunting than one piece in a way. Yeah, I feel like maybe let's rejigger your question a bit, right? Because you ask specifically about Nautotone Bleach, but is the question really about is there a particular style

or certain styles of anime that are especially conducive to someone like Netflix not fucking it up, right? Is that actually the question? Is it like a style? question because that's kind of where my head is at. I don't know if specifically I can imagine them doing a good bleach live action adaptation.

But I do come away from this like one piece being effective with this sense of like, oh, right. And I said this earlier in the combo, right? I just think that there are certain kinds of anime, either both in terms of like what style of anime is it? And also what kind of fandom does it have, right? Does it have the one piece fandom? Or does it have the Evangelian fandom? Right? Because those are two different sets of expectations of two different kinds of intensity and sort of pedantry to them. Right. And so to me, it's like, could they do one piece? Yeah, because of what we said earlier about like what the stakes even are for adapting one piece and sort of the kind of good faith. I think people are

maybe willing to approach this kind of adaptation with. And I think it's that. It's like, I think of this as a vindication of the idea of like, you just, these studios need to pick the right titles, right? It doesn't have to just be

the kind of more goofy, cartoony stuff. Like, I remember back in the day, there was like this huge rumor that, um, it was like Guillermo del Toro was supposed to adapt Monster, right, for HBO. Monsters is a super different series in One Piece, right? It's like a thriller. It's a Nalkyur-Aawa joint, right? But it's like that show, like, I mean, that manga, right? I remember I've been to that entire series in like a day

and a half, right? But that, at the end of the day, it's manga, it's anime, but also it's really just like a thriller. It's like a psychological thriller with a surreal bent to it, like a lot of the Ur-Sawa stuff is. And it's like, adapt that. Adapt the thing that either, like, you can imagine fans not subjecting it to that kind of tedious, like they didn't do this exactly right? Or adapt an anime or manga that's already kind of like pretty realistic and pretty sort of like Western,

you know, in the first place. Like, I don't know. Those are the main lessons I feel like I'm coming away from this with, right? It's about like, it really matters what you pick to adapt. What would you say? Like,

if you could think of like a manga or an, anime because I do agree with you charity that I feel like there are like Vinland Saga or something like that where it's just like this is about Vikings. People have done Viking shows before. It has a very cinematic

quality to it where it would not be as hard to adapt something like that. Grounded, right, yeah. Because it's very grounded in a way that like Naruto Bleach are not grounded Demon Slayer JJK. I'm just like how would you do that? Like is there

are there any like anime, even if it's like a shojo or a manga that you're like, yeah, you could do like a fruit baskets or something like that. I'm not saying, no. Don't do it. I'm not saying that.

I'm just giving you. Well, set up budget. Set a budget. Because if you have a billion dollars, make Utna. Do live action utna and just get like a bunch of WMBA players and give them swords and just really

go nuts. You know what I mean? Like, that's how you would do. You could do. I was thinking, when you were talking, I was thinking about the different animas. It's so hard to do showjoues that like, not to be that person that aren't problematic. A lot of them are, you guys.

I'm so sorry. Yeah, it goes with seriously. You have to, yeah, exactly. Fruit baskets, pretty bad. So, and I read that one, but one that you could do, I think really well actually is spy family. And I think spy family has so, it's, grounded enough, the fights are you can do them. And I think it is coming from a lot of the

charming characters. And getting that perfect daughter is so, you guys can do it. You can do it. You can do it. And they're probably already thinking about doing this. Honestly, I don't even have to say it. They're probably like, how can we make this live action immediately? But I think grabbing stuff like Spy Family, I don't think it's hard to do it with like Jitsu Kaizen or like Psychopass. I'm trying to think of like. You could do psychopaths. You could totally do Psychopath can frankly be better than the original cycle path. You could do it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I love psychopaths. So I'm like,

you could do it. I would love to see it done. I don't think JJK and like Demon Slayer would be so hard. It's so beautiful. It's hard to like translate those ones into like movie or TV. I feel like there's too much world building, not enough time to do it within an hour and eight part series. So well, that's a good question. The reason why I know I started off being like, you know, one piece, like, One Piece Live Action is not for me. And the reason I say that is, in the same way that video game adaptations a lot of times don't work, when I'm watching a video game movie or TV show a lot of times, I'm like, I would much rather just play the video game.

It works so phenomenally in this medium. I don't want to take it out because why would I? I feel very similar about anime and manga, which makes the live action part of it difficult, is because, because. I would rather just watch the Demon Slayer. I would rather read Jiu-Jitsu Kizan. I would rather do all of these other things because I think sometimes what we forget is

a lot of the most popular ones, these are made on a weekly, bi-weekly basis as comic books first. They're not thinking about like, oh well one day when this, when Hollywood comes a call in, like, no, it's just like these, it's hard to describe this, but in the U.S., nobody gives a fuck about like

reading actual, actual comic books anymore. 100. But in Japan, France, Brazil, all across the world, people still give a fuck about manga. Go into your local Barnes & Noble and take a picture of how big the manga section is and then take a picture of how big the comic book section is. And I think that to me is like, I would much rather read or watch a manga or anime than watch a live action because the thing about Demon Slayer is it's so stylistic and it's so based in the art style. I'm like, any way you do this in live action

is almost going to be lesser in a way that the first Iron Man is not because I'm like, I'm sorry, but it's a dude in an iron suit. Like, it's... I have not seen that many Iron Man comics where I'm just like, man, they're going to ruin the essence of Iron Man.

How dare they? But you're speaking... I feel like what you're describing, though, is not really... Like, I get what you're saying, Right. But it's almost taking for granted the idea that the person who is hypothetically doing the live action adaptation of the thing you're thinking of is just going to go in and do a down the middle mediocre job. Right. But when I think of the hypothetical revolutionary girl Utena adaptation, I'm thinking, yo, they need to go and find an insane person to do this. Like find an insane person and give them $800 million. There's no insane people left. Hollywood took them all off, Justin. There's probably someone in the shadows.

There's someone in the shadows lurking in a sewer that can do it. Batman is disrupting this now. I'll ask you, I'll put it to it. Revolutionary Girl, Utana. I'm sorry, Charitya, I will say. I've tried to watch it twice now. I've gotten further each time. I know it's very influential.

I cannot make it through. But who would be the director? Who could do it? Like, is there a director alive that you can think? of, you're like, they're crazy enough to be able to pull something like this off. I mean, fresh off the success of Barbie? I mean, me, me, me. I think the answer is obvious, my friend.

Credit a girl week's revolutionary in theaters, 2026. Stop the fucking podcast. I've had a fucking enough. It's this goddamn nonsense. Wow, that's crazy. Ota-sama. This episode is brought to you by Two Good and. company coffee creamers. How do you take your coffee? Piping hot, ice, strong, frothy. But if you love

rich, creamy goodness and delicious flavor in every sip, try two good in company creamers. They're made with farm fresh cream and real milk. Each serving has just three grams of sugar, 40% less than the leading coffee creamers. Two good creamers are available in sweet cream, roasted vanilla and lavender. So which one are you trying first? Find two good creamers at your local retailer in the creamer aisle. So we were talking about a second season. Before we talk about if there will be a second season, this season basically adapts 100 chapters of the manga within eight episodes.

There's there's fights that they just completely skip. So how does one piece go on in its second season? because the villains and the pirates do not get smaller from here. They get goofier where their next crewmate, spoiler alerts people, is a little reindeer called Tony Tony Chopper. Who's going to be their doctor? I love Tony, Tony Chopper. He's my fucking favorite.

But I'm just like, I do have a question where I'm just like, do they have the CGI budget for a little, like, reindeer in the same way like you were bringing it up, you were also bringing this up. One of their crewmates is a fucking living skeleton who's their musician

and another one is a robot who's powered by Coca-Cola. It's, how would, how does one piece continue? Because if,

let's say they're going to adapt about a hundred chapters or so each season. I don't know if you can do a paramount war. I don't know if they're ever going to be able to explain hockey, because I'm just like, how do you explain this fucking power system to a bunch of Americans? This show didn't even feel comfortable calling One Piece of manga. So at the end, they're just like the comic book created by

H.I.R. Oda. Like, that is like the level of like they're being very careful. How do you adapt one piece outside of the very grounded or grounded for One Piece first 100 episodes? I'll go to you, God, I was like, don't start with me. I'm genuinely, I don't know. That's why I asked you. I was like, I don't know how they're going to, that's why I was like, I think they were so prepared to not get a second season that they were like, hey, we're just going to like, kind of leave it up in the air. It's kind of good. We have three other storylines because we ended with like buggy reconnecting with another villain.

So I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, we still have that coming. And then we still have the Marines. We still have Kobe. We have crocodile. There's been rumors that crocodile is now a woman and she was at in the first episode. That is where they're going. But crocodile is a villain

whose main power is turning into sand. That's going to be a lot of money. God, it's so expensive. That's what I want to know where I'm... Justin, do you have... Because now they're getting into what I was calling like the Naruto or the bleach problem where I'm like, hey, once every fight,

everybody has a bunch of powers and they're all going at the same thing. time, you are getting into the MCU of it all. Yeah, but that's a good problem to have. That's such a, that's a good problem to have. They should not overthink it. That's the thing. You're raising it as if it's a prohibitive thing, but these are good problems to have. I'm sure Odo will figure it out. And everything else, it's like, what's the worst that can happen? People on Reddit make threads about how like, oh, this, how are they, you know, it's like, it's just more to discuss

and more to look forward to. Like, I honestly think that the sort of fundamental success of the first season is that they don't appear to have overthought exactly these questions and they're being rewarded for not overthinking it and psyching themselves out. So I take a lot, like on principle, I take a lot of what you're saying, but I also think that like, oh, figure it out. Like people have been abridging anime forever, right? Like, I mean, yeah, I just think they're going to figure it out. I like that optimism because it's also like, I,

I don't know. I don't think they're going to keep doing like origins for the next five characters, but they will. I do have faith that they will figure it out as well. It's not that I don't think that they, like, they won't figure it out. I do think that it is a lot, like it is a, let's get into the second season of it all. Because if I'm in Netflix exact,

what this show has to do is astronomical for what it's rumored to have cost, what it looks like it costs. the reason that I think Netflix picked this is because Netflix can see their own numbers. Obviously, they have the original One Piece anime. They are probably like, even if this is not the most popular series on their platform, they're probably like, we see the hours of people that if you start One Piece and you fall in love with it, you will watch thousands of episodes. And they're like, this isn't just a U.S. thing or a Japan thing. This is across the world, whether you're in Africa, whether in South America, it has that level of fan base.

But watching this, I was like, I don't know if that fan base is enough because the successive Game of Thrones, A, was that it was on HBO, so it could grow organically, but also Game of Thrones, the real success of that is it could get people who would never pick up

a book about dragons and prophecies into this world. and I don't know if One Piece has crossed that threshold yet just because those first couple episodes, if you're not aware of One Piece and you're just a Netflix person who just clicks play on whatever is number one, number two, number three in the country, I don't know if it's capturing that fan base yet.

We don't have the numbers yet. So do you guys think that this will get, a second season because it will have to do just as well as Wednesday, I would assume, or better than Wednesday for them to be like, all right, we're going to sink a lot more money into this, especially with

the strike going on and all that shit. Yeah, two things. Two things. Let me tell you. I was looking at the Google numbers when I was searching it, and it was crazy how high the movies are because of this series jumping. I was looking it up before,

the show dropped, and no one's searching for One Piece right now. But then after the series dropped, it was, I was like, let me go look at the numbers for One Piece. And it was all the movies were like trending as like number one searches worldwide. And I was like, oh, people are now watching the series or just seeing what the social is for it and going and looking it up and looking into it. So I think it's a lot bigger than what we're assuming. But also, comparing it to Wednesday is so hard. I'm like, I understand why we're like comparing it to Wednesday in Stranger Things numbers. But if we're comparing it to Wednesday, it to like the other. Netflix does give second seasons to a lot of shows that are like

wild as hell, right? It's not just like Wednesday and Stranger Things. And this is not me saying that one piece is a failure at all. I'm saying that they want a global smash. And if we've learned anything, especially within the last couple of years, I think we're seeing it over with Disney with the MCU shows. And like the Star Wars shows, it is harder to get smashes. They have not been able to replicate the success of Mandalorian. And I just think it is a harder arms raise. So I am wondering I'm like, I would like to see what they do

with the second season, but I view charity, do you think it is something that it is leaning towards this will get a second season? I do. I also think that you're underestimating a bit potentially, right?

The thing you're talking about the accessibility of it all, right? I don't know. It sounds like you're maybe more in the mindset that I was when I was like a late teen, right? Where there was still like, I had lots of friends who were in anime and yet it was not what it is now. Whereas now, it's just like, I think you underestimate the zoomers, man. Like they, I feel like more of them actually do, if only passively and maybe for like a specific portion of their childhood, have some basis in familiarity. with like the, at least the big, obvious

anime stuff that popped off in the West. Like, Drake could make a song called, you know, like, Girls Love One Piece. You know what I mean? Like, it's, like, I don't think it's as, I think it's definitely not comic book stuff, right? Like, it's not, One Piece is not Spider-Man, obviously, right? But it's, it's not as niche. I just don't think it's as niche as you're maybe making it out.

Oh, I don't, I don't, it's not that I, want to say that it is. It's more so me wondering because the the push that, the Netflix push that they gave this my girlfriend who has seen one MCU movie in her entire life does not get... Proud of her.

One single flying fuck about any of this. She's like, so that One Piece show coming out. And I'm like, wait, what? I'm like, how do you know about that? He's like, I don't live under a rock. It's everywhere. It is. And then I was... It's like, you cannot escape it. And that was my reason where I'm like, no, Netflix either wants or thinks

that this will be a global smash. And it was funny, I'm like, if it is, I would be super happy. I want everybody to get into One Piece. But I am just wondering, I'm just like, are we there yet in America where I think we are probably like 10 or 15 years away from everything just being anime and manga?

Like the way that like the MCU and Star Wars have been like running everything, I think we're getting 10 or 15 year olds who are just like, once they're in their 20s and 30s, they're just like, this is all I care about, this is all that I want, I don't give a fuck about the quality,

just keep it coming. And I am just wondering, I'm like, is the live action, even I don't want that. I do. You speak an evil into the world. No,

it's a lot less complicated now. Let everybody have a little piece. Because like in 2001 and 2003, I was watching just like the most random things. And I was like, this is so confusing. Yeah, I was just watching anything that they would give me. And I was just like, this is hard.

This is hard. It's a hard life. And now it's a lot more. It's like, oh, it's everywhere. You can enjoy it and get into it. Let everybody get a piece of it. If it wasn't open, I wouldn't find it. Anime teens right now, to me, are less annoying than comic books teens in my.

Of course. Oh, yeah. Which was a one. It was a one. It depends on the anime. But yes, 100%. 100%. 100%.

100% I agree But on the aggregate On the average When I talk to a teen who's just like I'm into a demon slayer I'm just like oh we can have a respectful Conversation about you Oh my God

It's sorry just side note I literally when I went I thought It was a really long time because I was in this house I stay in the house I'm like a hermit And when I had to go see the Jitzu Kaysen movie I was like okay I'm gonna go see it Because I need to go see it before other people do

And I was the oldest person in that theater I was next to kids that were literally like, hey, is your mom going to pick us up after this? Yeah, and I was like, damn. I thought we were all old watching this. Yeah, when I saw that Demon Slammer movie, I was like, yeah. Oh, my God.

You guys are so brave and courageous. I still feel shame. So I'm not going to, like, here's the thing. I'm just like, I know y'all aren't wearing B.O. up in this bitch. I'm not about to be stuck in here for 90 minutes. It was rough. It was rough.

It was rough. Well, no, it's just like the thing you say it is like vivid to me. I'm having like a flashback to, yeah. When I want to pick up a manga from my local bookstore, I smell the whiff from a mile away when I'm walking there. And I'm like, God, sometimes I want to be like, guys. With children are our future. I love this.

I love this stuff as much as you guys, but understand this. We are not going to get more people into this world if we're stinky. Yeah. So I'm wrapping this up. Do you think one piece, the live action one piece, will break the anime live action curse? There is no curse. There is no curse. No, there's not.

It's not comparable to the video game. It is not a curse. There is definitely a, all right, name me a good live action anime adaptation. Bebop. Cowboy Bop. Netflix. Yeah, it was good. I'm sorry.

I'm going down on that ship. But think about it. It's like, the reason I say it's not a curse is because, like, you were talking about this before when you were making the point about, you know, the video game. adaptations, a lot of times you'd watch from be like, I'd rather just go play this game, right? But I think a lot of that is kind of chalked up to video games being this medium that only really in recent years started to make games like The Last of Us, right? That were kind of trying to meet like linear, dramatic narrative storytelling halfway.

Whereas like anime's not like that. And manga certainly not like that. Like, you know, 35 year old businessmen have been reading manga on trains since like the 50s, right? Like, so the kinds of story, like, I just think that anime and manga have always had more, like, they've had the fundamentals, right? They've had the source material that you could work with and stuff like that. So to me, it's the stuff that has been tough for anime adaptations has always been about what stuff pops off in the West. What are the stuff that Western studios choose to try to make work? Right.

I think Dragon Ball Z was like a tough thing in whatever year that was to be like, yeah, this is the thing we're going to turn into it. Like, that was a rough call, whoever made that call, right? So I don't think it's, it's not the same thing where it's like, oh, is there some inherent quality to this medium that makes it hard to adapt to another medium? It's just like, no, I just think in the West. Really? I, no, I don't. No, I'm, I personally think that, like, I would rather read a manga. then read an American comic at this point.

Like, artistically a story. Yeah, but that's, you level of storytelling. I've only like manga, yeah. I do think that there is a level of like the type of stories that Americans would want to see on the screen are not the type of stories that would be adapted well to live action. Because I think that the American audience has a different, I think stuff going to live action in America

is proof of concept. and proof of success in a way in, I think, other countries, they still appreciate comic books. They still appreciate manga and anime for what they are. And live action is just another spoke on the wheel of something

that they love versus in America. For people to stop clowning comic books to such an extent, we had to have the MCU. The X-Men movies had to work. Where it was like the, there are a bunch of people who will never pick up in American comic

who think the MCU, is the coolest thing ever. And I don't think manga and anime are like that, which I think makes it a different equation where I'm like, I don't actually know if there needs to be that many successful American live action anime for me to give a fuck about it.

I actually think that I'm just like, if y'all make some good ones, cool, I'll be there. But I don't need it to become the MCU. I almost don't want it to in a way. Because I think that they're perfect pieces of art as they are right now. Am I being too careful about my little glass menagerie that I love so much? I at least I'm with you on that because I do not want it to over-scale.

Like the last thing I want is to be 56 years old, co-hosting a podcast about the live-action adaptation of Klanad. You know what I mean? Like in 2060, whatever. Oh, we're going to be there. You know what I mean? Don't do that too. I don't mind it with anime, unfortunately.

but I do mind it with comics. I was like, damn, am I going to be 80 talking about what I'm going to be? Starlin Witch came back? Oh, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if I should tell you this, Jess, but probably not getting the X-Men anytime soon. And this is my job is waiting until they come back.

We will be closer to 40. Think about that. We're going to be closer to 40 talking about this shit. Every time they're like 20-6, I'm like, here it goes. It's going to be 20-20. 20, 30, 2040, and I'm still going to be here. I won't even get into that part.

All right. Last question, because you guys have been wonderful. Would you recommend one piece after watching it? Charity, I will start with you. Hell yeah. That's my answer. Absolutely. I'm going to go with a, I will need to know more about your taste.

leaning more towards no. Are you at the DMV answering this question? It is. It is because I love One Piece. I'm glad that this exists. In terms of just like... Guys, guys, it's been an emotional fucking weekend. My girlfriend is like, why do you look so distraught?

And I'm just like, because One Piece is my little bit. I'm confused. And I want this to be great. And it's just kind of fine. But I'm into it. And like the hot people are doing hot. people things and Zorro's doing shit for me and Saji came up and I want the two boys to kiss. It's been a wild roller coaster, okay?

But thank you to Jessica Clemens and Justin Charity for walking me through this roller coaster. Thank you for Kerm as always behind the boards, killing it on production. And y'all will see me later on Midnight Boys. You'll see Jess on Buttonmash. You will see Justin Charity not on X. Do you even know that it's called X now? Hell yeah, but I can't see what's going on there. It's the hidden kid.

You got out. You were the canary and the coal mine that are in the car. I know, exactly. Well, guys, we will see y'all soon. Bye. Summer is here, and Ralph's is your destination for hot savings. Find unique items at low prices with a wide assortment of products from our exclusive brands. Fire up the grill with cookout classics like burgers and brots.

And don't forget, delicious produce like fresh melons or beat the heat with frozen treats while chilling poolside. Whatever your summer plans, Ralphs makes it easy to enjoy high quality fresh food at affordable prices. Ralph's serving SoCal for over 150 years. You can't reason with the sun. Trust us. We've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's Omnyshade technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear.

Level up your summer at Columbia.com to spend more time outside and less time slathering on allotion. You're welcome. Columbia, engineered for whatever.