The currently super-hyped One Piece series on Netflix is one of the very few live-action adaptations of manga and anime series that actually turn out pretty good. However, while most of the credit goes to creator Eiichiro Oda for creating such a remarkable storyline, not all of his hard work is behind the tremendous success of the live-action series.
This is because the non-animated version of One Piece on Netflix holds a darker and incredibly better story than its anime and manga versions drawn out by Oda. This majorly includes the slightly more mature tone used as compared to the animated one as well as the immense focus given to Nami’s backstory, making it darker and proven by her own sister.
Netflix’s One Piece Paints A Darker Version Of Nami And Nojiko’s Backstory As Compared To The Original Story
Although Eiichiro Oda is already renowned for writing tear-jerking backstories for his characters, Netflix’s live-action version of One Piece might have taken it to a different level.
At the end of season 1 of the series, Monkey D. Luffy and fellow Straw Hats found that Village Coco, Nami’s hometown, had been taken over by the evil pirate Arlong when she was just a child. Thus, to buy her village’s freedom back for the sum of 100 million Berry, Nami agreed to be Arlong’s cartographer and ended up suffering for years under the same person who killed her mother.
On one hand, in the manga/anime created by Eiichiro Oda, Nami’s sister Nojiko rejected even the idea of her sister being so callous and soon found out the true reason behind her siding with the Arlong Pirates. This had Nami grow up knowing that she was still loved and believed in by her beloved sister.
However, the live-action action Netflix version, on the other hand, provided a darker take. According to this, when Luffy and the Straw Hats meet Nojiko, they find her furious at Nami for betraying their village, only to later find out that she only did it in an attempt to save them instead of selling them out. Thus, in this narrative, Nami had to grow up bidding the fish-man all the while withstanding being wrongly hated by her own sister.
Netflix’s One Piece Is Darker Than Either Of Eiichiro Oda’s Manga Or Anime In Other Aspects As Well
Besides Nojiko and Nami’s story, Netflix’s One Piece held some other differences that ended up giving the live-action adaptation a darker edge as compared to the original manga/anime painted by Eiichiro Oda.
This includes the scene in the live-action where, when Nami helps Luffy get into Arlong’s tower a little before Arlong’s final fight with the Straw Hat captain, Luffy discovers a set of shackles at the same place where Nami used to sit as a child. When asked about it, Nami explains that the fish-man removed them for her 12th birthday gift and allowed her to stop wearing them ever since.
In comparison, the manga/anime series does not include any such gory details and only includes stuff like flashbacks of Arlong forcing Nami to draw maps for him as the most devastating parts of her backstory. This way, with the chains representing Nami’s lack of freedom, the non-animated version provided a deeper and more tragic backstory for the beloved character.
Furthermore, the Netflix version has adopted a slightly more mature tone as compared to the manga/anime series written by Oda with some of the sillier aspects removed from the story altogether. All of these changes, in turn, made Nami’s betrayal of the Coco Village a bit more justified and easier to accept.
All in all, allowing Nami’s backstory to be given a harder edge has reduced any emotional blow-softening from the original series, thus making Netflix’s One Piece a more depressing and intense yet much better piece of art.
Source: Screen Rant
