One Piece Season 2 on Netflix Holds Nothing Back

When Netflix announced the live-action adaptation of One Piece, we all asked ourselves the same question: was it really necessary? Was there a need to tear Monkey D. Luffy and his iconic crew, created by Eiichiro Oda, from their origins and subject them to a treatment that has almost always massacred the original material, even in the case of now iconic and transgenerational works like Dragon Ball? Hell no, there was no need. But then, after we all sat in front of the screen with skeptical looks, Netflix's first season of One Piece brought more than a few smiles to our faces, and above all, it surprised us with its ability to adapt the exaggerated and always over-the-top imagination of the Japanese mangaka to live-action. In fact, perhaps the most sensible criticism that could be leveled at the series was that it didn't dare enough, that it didn't let go completely, abandoning all shame. Thanks also to a screenplay that relies on a manga arc where exaggerations are not lacking, this second season of One Piece seems to have, finally, cast off its moorings and fully embraced its freakish nature.

• The Plot of One Piece Season 2
• The Spirit of Pirates
• One Piece Season 2: The Beauty of Being Monsters

The Plot of One Piece Season 2

One Piece Season 2 picks up from the conclusion of the first season, which covered the saga called Romance Dawn, and continues by telling the stories that lead the Straw Hat crew towards Alabasta. Trying to limit spoilers to the bare minimum, after putting Arlong and his gang in their place, Luffy makes a stop in Loguetown, the place where the famous Gold Roger (or perhaps… Gol D. Roger?!) was executed, making the acquaintance of the Marines and Captain Smoker. From there, they bravely set sail for the Grand Line, managing to reach it unscathed, only to end up moments later in the stomach of a whale.

With the whale added to the long list of friends made along the way, the Going Merry moves along the Grand Line, discovering enchanted places, but also the machinations of the Baroque Works, an organization of eccentric assassins who seem to have our heroes in their sights. Unaware of her origins, the Straw Hat pirates have welcomed Vivi, the princess of Alabasta, aboard, and after escaping from Whiskey Peak and Little Garden, they finally head to Drum Island, desperately searching for a doctor who can cure Nami, who is suffering from a life-threatening illness.

The Spirit of Pirates

Since its arrival on Netflix, social media has been filled with memes about One Piece Season 2, with many users wondering – in front of out-of-context screenshots – how one could watch such a series as an adult. And frankly: I understand it. Oda's aesthetic choices, plot developments, and characterizations are all deliberately exaggerated, over-the-top, right from the start. It's Oda's signature style, conceived, moreover, to work in an adventure comic that is perfectly tailored to a story that lives on few shades of gray and many polarizing contrasts. Where good and evil are on two distinct fronts, usually a glance at a character's look is enough to understand which side of the barricade they are on. The risk was that by jumping from ink (or animation) to live-action actors, the style could appear too camp, too cartoonish or childish not to seem ridiculous or cringe on screen. And indeed, if one limits oneself to looking at a single frame out of context, that effect can very well be achieved.

Instead, as a whole, One Piece works incredibly well, and even better in this second season. Of course, in that Luffy dance that's going viral, there's a wrong reverse shot, but that says more about the technical care Netflix puts into its products than about the quality of One Piece.

For the viewer who has made it this far, the strange dance of a boy dressed in a straw hat performed in front of a giant whale that is moved to tears is a capsule of the essence of One Piece brought to the screen: the beauty of being what you want, not caring about others' judgment, fighting honorably for what you believe in, and always defending the weak against bullies. Luffy's lightness and naivety are part of a perfect narrative mechanism, which beneath the extravagance of its characters, beneath the circus costumes, impossible powers, and all the amusing gimmicks, embeds a story that teaches how everyone's freedom is the main value and tyrants must be overthrown. In short, pirates fighting each other are a colorful and engaging bait to talk about something else, and One Piece does it with a power that has few equals in contemporary literature, even on the big screen: it's no coincidence that around the world, when people protest for rights or better conditions, there is always a black flag with the Straw Hat pirates' skull silhouetted against the white and blue sky. What other series today would put its characters in these costumes, in these adventures, in these scenarios, to tell the audience that a king is just a man and a crown is a hat?

One Piece Season 2: The Beauty of Being Monsters

The Season 2 of Netflix's One Piece is an adaptation that has no particular problems reworking the original material. In the first episodes, events are necessarily compressed: Oda's narration on paper is largely diluted, but despite some minor differences, all the main scenes are faithfully reproduced. More freedom, however, is taken in the last couple of episodes, dedicated to the introduction of a fundamental and beloved character, Tony Tony Chopper. It must be acknowledged, however, that the creators found a way to respect the meaning and direction of the original story, adapting its development to situations more suitable for screen adaptation and even enhancing the flashbacks (much more contained than in the manga). The only criticism I feel compelled to make concerns the opening graphics of the episodes, where a One Piece logo adapted to the episode's theme is reproduced: although many are really cute (they somewhat resemble the initial gags of The Simpsons), not all the pirate skulls used are coordinated with the series' graphic style.

There aren't many other criticisms of this block of eight episodes of the Second Season (yes, I didn't like Chopper's human transformation much either), but overall One Piece succeeds in what was the most complicated and daring mission: to replicate the insane visual style of One Piece in live-action without distorting its iconoclastic and adventurous spirit, perfectly summarized in Luffy's pose with the pirate flag attacked by the tyrant Wapol on Drum Island: it's not exactly the same as in the comic, but the rendition is identical. But nothing would work so well without the chaotic conviction that the entire cast conveys in their very strange characters, far more indispensable for the show's credibility than the CGI effects, which are still of good quality. Ultimately, just as Chopper's story that closes this season teaches, the starting point for being at peace with oneself is to accept one's nature, make it a strength rather than a shame, and find someone who likes you for who you are.