Here’s what Eiichiro Oda likes least about the One Piece series on Netflix.

“I made very few concessions,” said Eiichiro Oda shortly before the premiere of the One Piece live-action. The mangaka supervised the series from start to finish, chose the casting of the Straw Hats himself, and even reserved the option of not giving the green light to the project until he was completely satisfied. And even though he was satisfied in the end, there was one small detail that bothered him and his instincts rebelled against until the very end.

The big change for the One Piece series on Netflix

“There were a couple of things that took some persuading,” explained Steven Maeda, the showrunner of the series, in an interview with ScreenRant. “And if there was something that Oda-san was really, really unhappy with, we found a way to change it. But there were some things that we tried and got into the show that initially, he was a little gun shy about. One of those was [that] we’ve structurally moved a couple things up that don’t happen until much later chapters.”

“And one of them, for example, was bringing up Garp as a more present character in the first eight episodes,” Maeda explained. “Bringing in Koby, bringing Helmeppo, and having that Marine pursuit be present and on the Straw Hats’ tail almost from the get go from episode 2. It was a big change, and I thought it was something that we really needed in order to keep the stakes up and let it feel like it wasn’t just a fun adventure where we were meeting different antagonists and different villains and pirates, but there was an actual kind of organized presence and fearsome presence that was behind Luffy and pursuing. That was definitely a big challenge.”

In any case, Oda was in favor of the final result and defended the changes in public. “I am sure that, after its premiere, some will comment that a character is missing, a scene or that there are small details other than the manga,” the author confessed in a letter to fans. “But I know those comments will come from his love for One Piece, so I’ll try to enjoy even those comments. By now, I admire the production team and cast so much that I can’t wait for them to receive the recognition they deserve from the entire world. And if someone has a complaint, I will be by the side of the whole team to receive it!”

What do you think of Garp in the Netflix adaptation?