Since airing on Netflix on August 31st, One Piece has remained in the Top 10 Most Watched TV series worldwide. It has gradually moved down from it’s number one spot after just over three weeks at #1. Now entering into week six, it’s currently sitting at Most Watched Globally number 4. For the United States, it remained in the top 10 for just over 3 weeks.
Having announced a season 2 only two weeks after airing on Netflix, there’s already discussions about things to consider in season 2 and beyond. Hirsch Whitaker, one of the cinematographers on the live action series, expressed concerns he has as the series receives more seasons and years out of adapting the One Piece story. In the manga and anime, characters don’t really age up until a certain point later in the series. Whitaker’s concern is getting to the time-skip point as the actors age, considering how young the main cast currently are. In the manga, Luffy starts out as a 17 year old and after the time skip he’s 19. The time-skip doesn’t happen until around chapters 597-598, episodes 516-517, or season 14-15. The actor who plays Luffy in Netflix’s live action series, Iñaki Godoy, is already 20 years old.
“[For] Season 2, there’s just, there’s so much material to be made based on the show. It’s gonna be like ‘Harry Potter’ though, they’re gonna have to do it fast before everybody gets too old,” Whitaker explains, as he compares a similar problem that was faced with the Harry Potter movies with the actors aging with each movie.
Five weeks after the series aired on Netflix, an announcement was made in celebration of the success of One Piece. Monkey D. Luffy will be making a special appearance at this years Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In previous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades, characters from animes such as Pokemon and Dragonball have made appearances. On October 4th, Toei Animation tweeted out the announcement of Luffy setting sail over the streets of New York City at the 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.
President and CEO of Toei Animation Masayuki Endo also released a statement, saying, “We’re thrilled to have the celebrated anime franchise One Piece join the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with our Monkey D. Luffy giant character balloon. Over the past 24 years, One Piece has built a huge global audience and today, the franchise is now more popular than ever before — both in the U.S. and around the world. We’re excited to introduce One Piece to the tens of millions of people that watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade every year – especially the friends and families of current One Piece fans!”
What do you think about Netflix One Piece still being in the top 10 most watched TV series? What about Whitakers’ concerns about the actor aging? Or Luffy making an appearance at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Will you be tuning in the see him on TV? Or perhaps be there in person? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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