One Piece (2023) / Trivia

Acting for Two:
- For the first season, Jandre le Roux portrays Kuroobi and was a stand-in for Smoker's adult self.
- In the Italian dub, Federica Simonelli voices both Nojiko and Makino.
Acting in the Dark: Mackenyu was given a fake script for his audition as Zoro.
Ascended Fanon: Numerous fanfics have Chew being beaten/killed just by being lit on fire, omitting the Usopp Hammer and Usopp Rubber band. That's exactly what happens here.
Adaptation First: This is the first One Piece production to be dubbed in Czech, Dutch, Hungarian, Romanian, Tamil, Telugu and Ukrainian, since the manga and anime were not localized in those languages.
Approval of God:
- Eiichiro Oda personally met with the cast, and has formed a friendship with Iñaki Godoy, even gifting him a Straw Hat in person. In fact, it's been said in interviews that every change made was run by Oda first.
- Colleen Clinkenbeard, Luffy's English voice actress since 2007, tweeted how impressed she was with the Live-Action Adaptation's cast. She would later say, "[Iñaki Godoy] already is closer to being Luffy than I could ever be."
- Much like her English counterpart, Mayumi Tanaka also met Iñaki Godoy and gave him her blessing as a worthy Luffy.
- Mike McFarland, who voiced Buggy in Funimation's dub, was also pleased with the live-action series' cast.
- Tiffany Grant, Nojiko's English voice actress, was impressed with Chioma Umeala's casting.
Cast the Expert: Roronoa Zoro is portrayed by Mackenyu, a trained swordsman and martial artist who appeared as Yukishiro Enishi in Rurouni Kenshin: The Final.
Content Leak:
- A Netflix page for the series was discovered in March 2019, nearly a year before it was officially announced.
- A revised pilot script for the first episode, dated July 7, 2019, was posted on Scriptshadow in March 2020 and was leaked all over social media. It was eventually taken down two months later.
- The involvement of Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro was first reported on less than eight months before the cast was officially announced in November 2021.
Creator-Chosen Casting: As one of the executive producers, Eiichiro Oda had extensive control over the casting as well as the scripts.
Creator's Favorite:
- In the Reverie XI livestream, Matt Owens said that in this first season, Mihawk was his favorite character.
- During production, Taz Skylar himself suggested Craig Fairbrass to portray Zeff.
Cross-Regional Voice Acting:
- Iñaki Godoy (Luffy) re-dubbed his lines for the Latin American Spanish release in Los Angeles.
- Taz Skylar (Sanji) re-dubbed his lines for both Spanish dubs at UniDub in Brazil.
- Aside from Taz Skylar, the European Spanish dub used voice actors from both Madrid and Barcelona.
Dark Horse Casting: Steven John Ward (Mihawk) is a casting agent who typically only acts as a hobby. He only auditioned at the urging of a coworker.
Dawson Casting:
- Most of the East Blue-era Straw Hat Pirate actors were in their 20s when filming began in 2022 while the characters they portray are in their late teens, with Emily Rudd (Nami is 18 at the beginning of One Piece) the oldest at 28 and Iñaki Godoy (Luffy is 17 at the start of One Piece) the youngest at 18; the latter turned 19 towards the end of filming.
- Morgan Davies was 20 years old when he portrayed the 16-year-old Koby.
- Celeste Loots was 27 years old when she portrayed the 18-year-old Kaya.
- Kuina, who was 11 at the time of her death, was played by Audrey Cymone, who was about three years older.
Development Gag:
- One of the outfits Nami wears in the series is heavily inspired by an old concept design, with some slight tweaks such as shorts instead of pants with a leg torn off and a t-shirt instead of a crop top.
- In one scene, Luffy mistakenly calls Buggy "Boogie". Originally, Buggy's name was going to be "Boogie", but Oda changed it because it sounded too similar to "Oogie Boogie", the antagonist of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
- Cabaji confronts Zoro while he's tied to a knife-throwing wheel. Back when Zoro was originally going to be a minion of Buggy's, Cabaji's role in the Buggy Pirates was going to be a knife thrower.
Deleted Role: Dean Damonse was cast as Monkey D. Dragon, but most of his scenes were cut from the final release.
Directed by Cast Member:
- Like in Netflix's re-dub of the anime, the Brazilian Portuguese dub was directed by Glauco Marques, Zoro's voice actor.
- The European Spanish dub was directed by Alfredo Martínez, who also voiced Arlong.
- In the Latin American Spanish dub, Mireya Mendoza is Ririka's voice actress as well as the ADR director.
Doing It for the Art: Much of the cast and crew are all huge fans of the manga and anime, and have repeatedly stated they're making the show out of love of what Oda made first and foremost.
Dyeing for Your Art:
- Langley Kirkwood, Morgan's actor, confirmed that he dyed his hair blonde and gained 22 pounds to play the character.
- Taz Skylar (Sanji) not only took intensive martial arts classes to more accurately portray Sanji's fighting style, he also learned how to cook like a chef.
- Mackenyu (Zoro) actually got two extra piercings on his left ear to match the three earrings Zoro wears.
Executive Veto: Eiichiro Oda is extensively consulted on the making of the series, and he has issued a couple of these along the way.
- Any romance between between the main cast is a "hard no."
- There were to be no changes to the origin stories of the various superpowered characters and they got said powers through the Devil Fruits.
Extremely Lengthy Creation: The TV series was first announced during the franchise's 20th anniversary in 2017. Writing began in 2019 and production began in 2022, during the 25th anniversary.
God-Created Canon Foreigner: The original Mr. 7 was only alluded to in the original manga and anime, with Zoro relating the incident in which the agent tried to recruit him in passing well after the fact, and all that is known of Mr 7's appearance is from a crude doodle Oda drew in a Q&A segment. However, given that all of the features of that drawing are present in this adaptation's version of the character (outside of Dual Wielding cutlasses rather than only wielding one), he was clearly inspired by it. As Matt Owens revealed on Instagram, Oda sent a detailed character design to the product after being reminded by Owens that the original Mr. 7 fought Zoro in Oda's own words.
International Coproduction: The series is a co-production between Netflix, Kaji Productions and Tomorrow Studios in the U.S., and Shueisha in Japan.
Loads and Loads of Writers: The series had about 10 credited writers for the first season.
Method Acting:
- Jacob Romero Gibson channeling the sadness of his mother's death during the filming of Usopp's flashback with Banchina was genuine, since it reminded him of his relationship with his own mother.
- Taz Skylar took professional cooking and kickboxing classes to prepare for his role as Sanji, ending up with a blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do for his troubles. He actually cooked for the production team while the show was filming.
Milestone Celebration: The series was announced in 2017, the 20th anniversary of One Piece and the first appearance of Monkey D. Luffy. Filming began in 2022, during the franchise's 25th anniversary year.
Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor:
- Iñaki Godoy, who plays Monkey D. Luffy, reprises his role in the Latin American Spanish dub.
- Taz Skylar re-dubbed his lines as Sanji for the Latin American and European Spanish releases.
Newbie Boom: Many non-fans of the source material, particularly those who felt its status as a Long Runner was too daunting to get into, enjoyed this adaptation enough to watch the anime or read the manga.
No Stunt Double: Many of the cast did most of their own stunts, with only the most risky stunts being reserved for their stunt doubles.
Official Fan-Submitted Content: Shortly before the series' release, Netflix held a contest for Brazilian Portuguese fans to vote on Luffy's potential voice actors: Daniel Figueira, Lipe Volpato and Vyni Takahashi. Takahashi was eventually cast as the character.
Orphaned Reference: In the original manga Higuma taunts Shanks by pouring his offered bottle of booze over the pirate's head, while in the adaptation he instead smashes the bottle on the ground. However, Shanks still refers to the act as "Spilling a drink on me" on multiple occasions.
The Other Darrin:
- In the Latin American Spanish dub:
  - Monkey D. Luffy is voiced by his live-action actor Iñaki Godoy instead of either the late Diana Pérez (who voiced him in the first season of the anime's 4Kids release), Karina Altamirano (who voiced him in the second season of the 4Kids release), Ayari Rivera (who voiced him in One Piece Film: Gold), Mireya Mendoza (who voiced him in the first four seasons of the Netflix re-dub as well as Ririka in this series) or Desireé González (his voice actress since the Dream 9: Super Collaboration Special!!).
  - As with Luffy, Sanji is voiced by Taz Skylar instead of his regular voice actor since 2006, Noé Velázquez^notewho voices Koshiro here.
  - Usopp is voiced by Pablo Moreno instead of Alejandro Orozco, who has been voicing the character since 2020.
  - Carlo Vázquez voices Buggy instead of Manuel Campuzano (who voiced him in the first three seasons of the anime's Netflix re-dub), Mario Rosas (who voiced him in the fourth season of the Netflix re-dub onwards) or Gabriel Ortiz (who voiced him in the 4Kids release).
  - Arlong is voiced by Dan Osorio (Smoker's voice actor for the anime's Netflix release), replacing Óscar Gómez^note and Ricardo Méndez, his voice actors for the anime's 4Kids and Netflix releases, respectively.
  - Emilio Treviño becomes the third person to voice Koby, after Adriana Casas and Angélica Villa, who voiced him in the anime's 4Kids and Netflix dubs, respectively.
  - Nicolás Frías voices Zeff instead of Daniel del Roble (Netflix)^note or Jorge Santos (4Kids).
  - Brandon Santini takes over for Ernesto Lezama (4Kids) and Fidel Garriga Jr. (Netflix) as Nezumi.
  - Ricardo Brust replaces Gabriel Pingarrón (Netflix) and Arturo Casanova (4Kids, died in 2021) as Gold Roger.
  - Arturo Mercado Jr. voices Kuro/Klahadore instead of Armando Coria (Netflix) or Jorge García (4Kids).
  - Humberto Solórzano and Óscar López respectively voice Kuroobi and Chew instead of Salvador Reyes and Alan Prieto, their voice actors from the Netflix re-dub.
  - Boodle is voiced by Jesse Conde, who replaces Alejandro Mayén (the voice actor who played him in the anime's 4Kids release) and Herman López (who voiced him in the anime's Netflix release before he succumbed to spinal surgery complications in December 2021).
- In the German dub, Uwe Thomsen reprises his role as Roronoa Zoro from the animated productions, as his previous actor, Philipp Brammer, suffered a fatal mountain accident on July 28, 2014.
- In the Brazilian Portuguese dub:
  - Monkey D. Luffy is voiced by Vyni Takahashi instead of either Vagner Fagundes (DPN Santos) or Carol Valença (UniDub).
  - Gold Roger is voiced by Ricardo Rossatto instead of Leonardo José due to the latter succumbing to lung cancer in 2021.
- Since 2001, the Italian release of the franchise's animated productions have been primarily dubbed in Milan. For the 2023 series, the work was instead dubbed in Rome and everyone was inevitably recast, with Luffy going from Renato Novara to Leonardo Della Bianca, Zoro from Patrizio Prata to Manuel Meli, Nami from Emanuela Pacotto to Veronica Puccio, Usopp from Luca Bottale to Alex Polidori and Sanji from Lorenzo Scattorin to Alessandro Campaiola. In a curious case, Novara voices Shanks in the live-action series.
- Within the series itself, Don Krieg has two separate wanted poster designs, one used for his introduction and one that can be periodically spied as background set decoration. The photo used on the set decoration poster depicts him with someone other than his on-screen actor.
- In the Japanese dub, besides the fact that the live-action adaptation is the first Japanese voice-acted One Piece work outside the anime adaptations and stage productions, some of their voice actors have been recast:
  - Hiroki Tochi replaces Jurota Kosugi, who has previously voiced Arlong in all Japanese One Piece media.
  - Hiroshi Iwasaki (who voiced Kurozumi Orochi and Dr. Hogback in the anime) replaces the late Joji Yanami as Boodle.
- For the European French dub, everyone was recast due to the anime and live-action series being dubbed in different studios (specifically, the anime’s second dub by Toei was produced in Belgium from 2008 to 2010 and again since 2015, while this series was dubbed in France, where the anime’s second dub was produced from 2010 to 2015). For example, Luffy, voiced by Stéphane Excoffier since 2008, is voiced here by Oscar Douieb.
- In the European Spanish dub:
  - Monkey D. Luffy is voiced by Jon Samaniego instead of Jaime Roca.
  - Roronoa Zoro is voiced by Sergio Liebana instead of Jorge Saudinós, who voices the first Mr. 7 and Patty here.
  - Laura Pastor voices Nami instead of Diana Torres.
  - Usopp is voiced by Edson Ferrero instead of Pepe Carabias.
  - As in the Latin Spanish dub, Taz Skylar voices Sanji instead of Alfredo Martínez. Oddly enough, Martínez replaces Francisco Andrés Valdivia as Arlong.
  - Miguel Ángel Jenner takes over as the narrator instead of Juan Carlos Lozano^note and Miguel Ángel Pérez.
Production Posse: Director Marc Jobst and cinematographer Nicole Hirsch Whitaker previously worked together on Jupiter's Legacy, another Netflix series.
Promoted Fanboy:
- Executive producers Marty Adelstein, Steve Maeda and Matt Owens, along with actors Emily Rudd (Nami) and Mackenyu (Zoro) as well as cinematographer Nicole Hirsch Whitaker and composers Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli are longtime fans of One Piece. Rudd and Mackenyu even stated that they were portraying their favourite characters from the series, which was a dream come true for them.
- Iñaki Godoy arrived to a meeting with Oda not only overjoyed to meet him in person, but with a piece of fanart and letter thanking Oda for making One Piece in the first place.
- The legendary Jamie Lee Curtis is a One Piece superfan, and has been very open about her wish to portray Dr. Kureha in Season 2 — and given that Matt Owens has been open about his offering her the role (the only thing preventing any official contract at the time being the SAG-AFTRA strike), it's essentially a soft confirmation that she'll be portraying Kureha.
Real-Life Relative: In the Latin American Spanish dub:
- Carlos Eduardo Guilbert, who voices Luffy as a child, is the grandson of the late Herman López, who voiced Boodle in the anime's Netflix adaptation.
- Ananda García voices the younger Nami, while her mother Kerygma Flores has been voicing Nico Robin since 2007.
- Constanza García, who voices the younger Nojiko, is the daughter of Xóchitl Ugarte, who voiced Kuina in the anime's 4Kids adaptation.
Recursive Import: As a Netflix original and a foreign adaptation of the original manga, the live-action series is also dubbed in Japanese.
Recycled Set: One reason the show filmed in South Africa was to take advantage of several ship sets leftover from Black Sails. The ships were then redressed to fit One Piece's needs.
Recycled: The Series: The series marks the first live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's manga.
Role Reprise: Tons for the various foreign dubs.
- In the Japanese dub, Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy), Kazuya Nakai (Zoro), Akemi Okamura (Nami), Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp), Hiroaki Hirata (Sanji), Shūichi Ikeda (Shanks), Masane Tsukayama (the second Gold Roger), Mika Doi (Koby), Koichi Nagano (Helmeppo), Yoko Matsuoka (Alvida), Shigeru Chiba (Buggy), Jin Domon (Lucky Roux and Merry), Mariko Kouda (Kaya), Wakana Yamazaki (Nojiko) and Mahito Oba (Narrator) reprise their roles again from the anime.
- The Latin American Spanish dub brought back many of the previous voice actors from the anime's Netflix dub, like Georgina Sanchez (Nami), Dafnis Fernández (Zoro), Raúl Anaya (Shanks), Mauricio Pérez (Lucky Roux), Erica Edwards (Alvida), Daniel Lacy (Helmeppo), Victor Covarrubias (Krieg), Maggie Vera (Belle-Mère), Adriana Olmedo (Nojiko), César Beltrán (Morgan), Marco Guerrero (Higuma) and Gerardo Vásquez (Narrator).
- The German dub also brings back most of the voice actors from the animated productions such as Daniel Schlauch as Monkey D. Luffy, Uwe Thomsen as Roronoa Zoro, Stephanie Kellner as Nami, Dirk Meyer as Usopp and Hubertus von Lerchenfeld as Sanji.
- The Brazilian Portuguese dub keeps nearly all of the UniDub voice actors for the Straw Hat Pirates (as well as Wellington Lima as Arlong, Priscila Franco as Nojiko, Silvio Giraldi as Shanks and Carlos Silveira as Zeff), with only the exceptions being the ones for Luffy and Krieg.
- The European Spanish dub brings back Juan Carlos Lozano as Gold Roger from One Piece Stampede.
Self-Adaptation: Eiichiro Oda was extensively involved with the live-action series' production to make sure it stayed true to his creation.
So My Kids Can Watch: Nicole Hirsch Whitaker, the cinematographer for the show's first two episodes, cited her son being a One Piece fan as a reason for her involvement.
Those Two Actors: Taz Skylar (Sanji) wrote and starred as Miles in the stage play Warheads, while Craig Fairbrass (Zeff) played his father figure, Deeks.
Throw It In!: The scene where the Straw Hat Pirates do the barrel pledge and restate their dreams while it synchs up with their younger selves saying their dream wasn't originally in the script. It originally was going to have just the adult Straw Hats say their dreams, but one of the editors cut together the version with younger Straw Hats involved and when the showrunner, Steven Maeda, saw the scene, he was so amazed by it that he decided to keep it in.
Troubled Production: Like most projects of The New '20s, production of Season 1 was delayed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Work on Season 2 was delayed by the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
Uncredited Role:
- The actor who plays adult Captain Smoker is not listed in the credits. It was later revealed through behind the scenes footage to be Jandre le Roux (Kuroobi's actor) standing in, as the scene was a last minute addition.
- Dean Damonse's casting as Monkey D. Dragon was publicly announced before the first season release; however, his only appearance is in "Romance Dawn" as the man in the green cloak witnessing Gold Roger's execution, and he is not listed in the episode's credits.
Underage Casting:
- The 76-year-old Garp is played by the then-56-year-old Vincent Regan. He even tells Koby he's been a Marine for 50 years.
- Michael Dorman was 41 when he filmed his scenes as Gold Roger, who was 53 at the time of his death.
- Grant Ross was 36 when he filmed his scenes as the 46-year-old Genzo.
Voiced Differently in the Dub: A curious example happens in the Japanese dub: Due to both the change of format from animation to live-action, and the fact the live-action series is adapting the earlier parts of the manga, the returning voice actors had somewhat deeper tones compared when they began voicing those characters two decades ago, on top of being also chattier, since they need to explain more things that aren't too evident in the live-action series, compared with the animated show. This is more evident with some characters like Luffy, since his voice actress, Mayumi Tanaka, had to dub him with a somewhat deeper voice than she normally voices him in the anime, as well with Nami, Zoro, and above all, Buggy, which uses Shigeru Chiba's trademark voice for evil villains, rather than the one he uses for more comical characters.
What Could Have Been: See the franchise page.
Working Title: According to an Instagram post by Steve Maeda, the first season's codename was Project Roger. It was switched to Project Panda shortly before filming began. For the second season, the production codename was "Project Renaissance".
You Look Familiar: Nicole Fortuin plays Ririka in "Romance Dawn" and also appears as a fishwoman towards the end of the season.

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