One Piece Live Action on Netflix has been a huge success, meeting the conditions for a second season renewal in just a few weeks. Everyone was pleased to see a cast that resembled the original characters.
Aside from the Straw Hat Crew, the live-action renditions of certain other characters, such as Buggy The Clown, performed by Jeff Ward, turned out nicely. Five weeks into its run, Netflix’s One Piece is still solidly in the streamer’s weekly Top 10, with 57.8 million views to date.
Buggy is ready for season 2 and is waiting on his revenge on the Straw Hat Pirates. Matt Owens, the showrunner of One Piece, explains why Jeff Ward’s Buggy the Clown did not perish in season one, and how it adheres to the vision of the source material.
Why Buggy Doesn’t Die in One Piece Live-Action Season 1?
Buggy was the first rival to completely overwhelm the Straw Hat Pirates, nearly murdering Luffy. He was unable to complete his task, though. With Buggy vowing retribution on Luffy in the finale episode of One Piece Season 1, Owens spoke with Deadline about why Buggy didn’t die despite being bested by both the Straw Hats and Arlong’s crews. He said:
“Dreams are very important in the One Piece world, and Oda has said before that what’s worse than death is a dream being taken away. So when you see a lot of the villains that we meet, they have these machinations, they have these desires — often nefarious — and the Straw Hats take those away from them. For Oda as an artist, the way that he has described it, that is a fate worse than death.”
Owens explained how Oda would rather prefer crushing the dreams of the villains in the series than killing them. When the straw hats take away the desires of the villains, that is much worse than death.
Oda’s Perspective on the Death of a Character in the Series
Owens also explained how the death of the character is very rare in the series, but when it happens it is even more impactful. He said:
“So that’s something that he likes to focus on in villain confrontations instead, and what it also allows him to do though is, when there is death in One Piece, it’s even more impactful because you’re not dealing with death every single story arc necessarily. That is Oda’s perspective as an artist and creator, and it’s something that we have taken on as well.”
According to Owens, Oda’s philosophy of death in a series is much more complex as it does not happen very often, but it is much more emotional and hurtful, and the creators of Live-Action have picked up this idea and will use it in the live-action as well.
