The trailer for the One Piece live-action Netflix series has arrived in this year’s TUDUM and we finally get to see how the show has adapted Eichiro Oda’s epic manga and anime.

Whether you’re new to One Piece, or a fan since the start, here are a few things you might not have noticed in the recent trailer for the upcoming Netflix show.

Luffy’s Facial Scar

The opening shot of Inaki Godoy as Luffy is our first glimpse of him wearing the iconic straw hat. That’s enough of a sight in itself, so if you were overtaken by that, you might have missed the scar just under his left eye. In the manga, this is from the self-inflicted wound he gives himself in the opening chapter in order to appear tough in front of the pirates who’ve docked in his village. While later celebrating his bravery, he meets their Captain, Red-Haired Shanks, who we also get a glimpse of from behind later in the trailer as he stares down a massive sea monster, The Lord of the Coast.

A Familiar Theme

A slowed down orchestral version of a main theme is an obvious trailer trope, and the teaser for One Piece is no different. It’s a slightly re-imagined take on the original “We Are” theme composed by Kohei Tanaka for the anime.

It’s unlikely to be used as the show’s theme as it’s a lot more reserved and much less fun, but it made us really wonder if the original theme will be used for the full episodes like the recent Netflix Cowboy Bebop adaptation, or if there’ll be something entirely new. The series composer hasn’t been announced yet, so it’s difficult to know what to expect.

Fashion Changes

The Straw Hat crew are constantly changing their outfits depending on the culture and climate in that stop on their voyage, which makes One Piece rare among anime and manga series which will often keep their characters in the same clothes throughout. If this first trailer is any indication, the live action show hasn’t changed a thing.

Luffy’s outfits throughout the trailer have all seemingly drawn inspiration from covers drawn by Eichiro Oda for the manga, or within special illustrations in the One Piece Colour Walk books.

In this short teaser alone we see Luffy wearing four unique outfits, a red shirt and blue dungarees when arriving at the floating restaurant Baratie, as well as a hawaiian-style shirt in scenes with his ship, the Going Merry.

He’s in a blue shirt with a stripe down the shoulder as he’s being rescued from the water by Sanji.

Despite this teaser only being 90 seconds long, we even see a fourth, and more classic outfit of a red button-up vest as he’s delivering his Gum Gum Pistol attack. Speaking of which:

Yo Ho Ho, He Took a Bite of Gum-Gum

We get our first glimpse of rubber man CGI from the series as Luffy throws out his signature move. Though it does look a little uncomfortably close to Space Jam to see human skin behaving all stretchy, it’s great to see Netflix hasn’t shied away from portraying something so integral to the character.

Also, the silliness of characters calling out their attacks is lampshaded with some dialogue between Luffy and Zoro. It’s a core part of the tone of One Piece, with it happening every time a big move is about to be unleashed, but will it be too ridiculous in live action? Will Luffy be the only character who calls out his shots?

Fighting Styles

Luffy isn’t the only member of the Straw Hats who gets a bit violent in the trailer. We see Usopp shooting a projectile with his catapult and it looks ripped from the page. Nami gets a hit in with her staff and Sanji kicks a gun out of someone’s hand while maintaining incredible poise and balance on the tray he’s holding, correctly showing he’d never use his hands to fight.

One of Zoro’s three swords is unmistakably the Wado Ichimonji. The great grade sword given to him by his teacher can be seen sitting in its scabbard as he defends himself against what’s probably one of the clown pirate Buggy’s henchmen. Later on in the trailer he holds all three blades, with one in his mouth, in our first look at his Santoryu sword style.

Ships!

There’s a blink and you’ll miss it shot of the Marine Admiral Garp’s ship, only now the sails on Luffy’s Grandfather’s vessel are black rather than white, but the unmistakable dog’s face figurehead holding a bone in its mouth is still there.

This teaser gives us our first look at the scale of the floating restaurant Baratie, where the crewmate Sanji is first introduced, making Luffy’s ship the Going Merry look insignificant in comparison. We see pirates raiding from aboard the Miss Love Duck, the first big ship we see in the series, and the trailer begins with the Red Hair Pirates’ ship the Red Force docked in Foosha Village.

The Baratie Arc of the series has some great ships, which we’ve not had the luxury of seeing yet. We’ll have to wait a little longer to know what the baddie Don Krieg and his crew show up in, and most excitingly, the floating coffin that the swordsman Mihawk commands will hopefully make for a nice surprise when the episodes drop at the end of August.

Shells Town

The establishing shot of Shells town, one of the first islands from the series, has the same massive tower from the anime and manga. It’s the base for the marines in the area, headed up by Axe Hand Morgan, who we get a glimpse of in a later scene that’s directly taken from the original manga.

We’re introduced to Zoro in the same way we have before, after he’s been tied up in punishment, though here, behind him, is a poster behind with Morgan’s face shown with his signature steel jaw and the German word for seagull, Möwe, printed on the front.

Buggy

And the final thing we noticed was an interesting take on the character of Buggy, the series first big villain and a recurring threat to the Straw Hat crew. He’s a lot more monstrous than he’s ever been shown before. Played here by Jeff Ward, who is clearly taking cues from another live-action adaptation of a unkempt and unsettling comic book clown.

Buggy’s previous incarnation is a self-absorbed egotist, and though it’s impossible to get a read on the character from only a few seconds of footage, this is already clearly an interesting departure from what we’ve seen before.

That’s everything we spotted in the new One Piece trailer, but did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!

Author: Mat Jones. [Source Link (*), IGN All]

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