The casting announcements of One Piece live-action season 2 have shaken the entire One Piece fandom by announcing some of the major characters in recent days. From Dr. Kureha to Captain Smoker, these castings have hyped up the interest of the fans who are eagerly waiting for the release of the second season on Netflix.
It has already been confirmed that the second season will follow the Alabasta Saga, which holds much importance in the series’ overall narrative. Thus, the casting of the characters that are specifically related to the Alabasta storyline is of the utmost significance for maintaining the authenticity of the original plot.
However, the recent announcement of the casting of Nefertari Cobra, the 12th king of the Arabasta Kingdom, has raised some questions in the minds of One Piece fans. This is because Eiichiro Oda, the series creator, took inspiration from Ancient Egypt for Alabasta, but One Piece live-action seems to ignore this major aspect while assigning the role.
Eiichiro Oda’s Inspiration For Alabasta Kingdom and the Nefertari Family
In the SBS of One Piece volume 17, Oda was asked about the Alabasta Kingdom and the inspiration he took for the Nefertari family in the series. The manga creator revealed that while he did not have much knowledge about Ancient Egypt, he modeled Alabasta after the Country and also used names from Egypt for the characters of Alabasta.
Oda stated:
I see… Is that what it means? Nefertari, I mean. Nice. I most certainly used ancient Egypt as a model for Arabasta, so I just flipped through a book about Egypt and picked out names that sounded nice. I see… I picked out a good name (for a person). Okay! I’ll acknowledge it! You are a rival to Knowledgeable Himeko!! I see…
Oda is known to take inspiration from real-world concepts and origins for One Piece and Alabasta was one of the first few storylines that pointed out this aspect of the narrative.
He also believes in maintaining the authenticity of the origins that he chooses from which is why the different worlds portrayed in One Piece carry more than just similarity with the real world.
One Piece Live-Action Might Have Ignored The Authenticity of Alabasta
Eiichiro Oda’s Egyptian inspiration for Alabasta was quite an intriguing element of One Piece for the fans. However, it seems like the live-action series did not follow the steps of Oda while casting for the role of Nefertari Cobra for the upcoming season.
It was recently announced that Heroes actor Sendhil Amithab Ramamurthy will be playing the role of Nefertari Cobra in the second season of One Piece live-action adaptation.
While the actor is a great choice for the role, he does not fit well for the authentic representation of the Alabasta Kingdom and its King.
However, it has been already confirmed that Oda is the one who is overseeing the castings of One Piece live-action which probably means that he is the one who chose the actors and assigned them their roles. Thus, there must be a reason why the mangaka went with Ramamuthy and fans just need to trust in his decision.
One Piece live-action is available to watch on Netflix.
