Before the first season of Netflix’s live-action ONE PIECE came out, I had rarely considered the translation of ONE PIECE into that medium. Eiichiro Oda’s creation thrives so much on the expression and displays of sheer imagination that are allowed by manga and anime that building the bridge to live-action almost felt needless. So there had to be a reason for it to be produced outside of enlarging an already massive franchise. Kudos to the ONE PIECE team, though. It won me over with a genuinely curious (and heartfelt) take. But ONE PIECE , in any of its various forms, cannot rest on its laurels. Because, as fans know, the series changes from here, its storytelling ambition growing at the same rate as its appetite for fantasy. As such, the second season, titled “Into The Grand Line,” will serve as a litmus test for the live-action incarnation. And here are four things to know about the latest installment as the Straw Hats venture forth! NOTE: All images are from the latest live-action ONE PIECE Season 2 trailer and the official Twitter account. 1. Baroque Works Introduces Us to ONE PIECE ’s Modern Worldbuilding Though the live-action series made some adjustments (especially when it comes to the presence of the Navy and Garp and Koby’s ties to Luffy), the Baroque Works saga throws the series’ ability to craft a wider story into overdrive. After the East Blue Saga, which serves as an almost fable-esque collection of tales about Luffy changing people’s lives, Baroque Works is a stand-in for the horizon. There are satisfying adventure plots for sure, but there are also introductions to elements that only pay off later, and nods to things that are yet to develop. Meanwhile, the background and foreground of the narrative increasingly blur, and ONE PIECE becomes a series not just about the Straw Hats, but the vastness and history of the Grand Line. In short, it gets complicated. 2. This Season Demands Emotional Sincerity in the Face of Cartoonishness ONE PIECE has always relied on our ability to push our chips to the middle of the table and say, “I’m in.” It is a series where you will cry about a boat or a little reindeer man as if you, personally, have just been stabbed in the heart. “Into The Grand Line” ups the spectacle, but it is far from empty. The Grand Line is a place where every giant or whale or magic weirdo has a backstory that is simultaneously profound and tragic, and season two will demand our absolute investment. You can’t watch ONE PIECE and consider a bizarre new creature just “too silly” for you to try and relate to. There is a heart in everything. 3. “Into the Grand Line” Is a Devil Fruit Parade A recurring theme of the East Blue Saga is the mysteriousness of Devil Fruits. Some people like Buggy use them, but for the most part, when Luffy shows up and stretches, people treat it like a chimpanzee watching a magic trick. They’re too amazed to comprehend it. The Baroque Works Saga is a smorgasbord of Devil Fruit powers, and from the trailer, it looks like the team behind the live-action series isn’t skimping on them. Some of their showcases so far look legitimately inspired; for example, playing Nico Robin’s Flower-Flower Fruit for creepy body horror is a great direction considering the power and her role in the story at this point. But having these means a change in both the amount of visual effects and the way that many action sequences will develop, so it’s a lot more intricate than just “Oooh, that would be neat.” 4. The Baroque Works Saga Is About the Straw Hats as a Found Family Unit Introducing the new Straw Hat members on an almost island-by-island basis in East Blue provides each story with an inherent emotional arc: how does this person muster the willpower and self-acceptance to join this loud rubber dude on his journey? However, Baroque Works sees the crew as a found family group that now lives together and fights together on a boat. You have to balance the focus between them, as they function as a group and also as they’re granted various emotional vignettes that continue to affirm their thematic place in the story. They all need their close-up.
