Project Geekology

One Piece: Season 1 (Live Action)

October 23, 2023 Anthony, Dakota Episode 64
Project Geekology
One Piece: Season 1 (Live Action)
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Dakota has returned! Prepare for an exhilarating voyage as Dakota and Anthony navigate through the turbulent waters of the One Piece universe, exploring both anime and live action adaptations(mostly the live action). We pay homage to the complexities of the timeline and consider the weight it has on the saga's ardent followers. Ever wondered about the potential of Artificial Intelligence in entertainment? Marvel's use of AI-generated elements in its intros has sparked quite a debate. Dakota and Anthony wade into this discussion, evaluating the pros and cons of utilizing AI in creative processes.

Our voyage doesn't end there - we venture into the live action adaptation of One Piece. We critique performances, juxtapose the anime and live action versions (manga too), and ponder the characters' on-screen portrayal. How have actors embodied these beloved characters, you ask? From Jamie Lee Curtis's aspiration to be part of the show to Mackenyu Arata's depiction of Roronoa Zoro, we explore how these actors have breathed life into the characters we so adore. We also touch on the creative liberties taken in the live-action adaptation, and our fervent anticipation for future story arcs.

Alongside these thrilling discussions, we also wander into the Star Wars universe, focusing on Ahsoka. We discuss how even without watching Clone Wars and Rebels, Ahsoka can enthrall newcomers to the Star Wars canon.  Join us for this thrilling exploration as we delve into the fascinating world of One Piece and beyond. Dive into an array of engaging conversations, from the curious world of AI to the captivating universe of anime and live action adaptations.

Twitter handles:
Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekology
Anthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswow
Dakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dak

Instagram:
https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9y

Geekritique (Dakota):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbA


Twitch (Anthony):
https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow

Music:
Eric Godlow Beats: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRpkcYps82PdSo0tK5rEIPA

Support the Show.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to episode 64 of Project Geekology. I am one of your hosts, anthony, and I have a very special guest today, a guest that y'all have near and dear to your hearts, and that guest is Dakota.

Speaker 2:

I have returned from the grand line. It was treacherous, it was a little bit less eventful than I expected it to be, but I'm back. I'm back and I'm ready to record and talk about all things. One piece, specifically the live action, but we're going to dive a little bit into the anime and the manga so that we can just dissect this entire universe as far as we can, but we're going to stick primarily with the live action series. Anthony, I'm excited to be back on. I haven't been on in a couple months and, yeah, how have you been?

Speaker 1:

I have been good. You know the audience. They've been hearing me what I've been up to every step of the way. You know I've been kind of whether I'm watching anime or I'm playing video games. I think that they want to hear what have you been up to, what are the things that you have been working on? I know that it's been a significant amount of time to be able to talk about everything, but what are some of the highlights of some of the stuff that you've been doing?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, highlights, highlights. So I'm going to work my way back a little bit because I'm trying to think about what I have spoken about on the show or not. So I did a video on the Spider-Verse, specifically the first two movies in that series, how they're connected to the MCU. There's ten general connections and there's like actual connections that may have ramifications within the MCU. So I made a video about that as well as like its timeline and everything. So that was really fun. That was a good time.

Speaker 2:

I'm currently actually making a timeline video on the first season of One Piece, the live action. That's going to be a lot of fun and it's a little bit surprising, I think you'll find, because I've done a lot of research into the manga. I've done a lot of well, not a lot of research, but I've done some research into the anime to determine what the present day year is and it's not as cut and dry as many fans seem to think it is. So I'm excited to dissect that a little bit and get a little deeper into what the potential timeline and present day year that the live action show dives into. And on like a more personal note, I got a new pet. I have a cat.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I have a dog named Luna.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I just seen her wandering about.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, she's an Airdale. Is she behind me? No, she's not. She's an Airdale terrier. She's a lot of fun, good girl. She's a female cat named or we named her Umbra, because you know we have Luna, the moon, now we need the shadow of the moon, so the Umbra. So we chose Umbra as a name and we've had her for probably two months now.

Speaker 1:

Oh nice.

Speaker 2:

And today, I think, we found out that she's actually a boy, so it's going to be Umbro from now on.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh bro.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she started developing balls and yeah, so that's a pretty sure sign that she's not a female.

Speaker 1:

It's like, hey, wait a minute.

Speaker 2:

We've been tricking us the whole time.

Speaker 1:

There was something that wasn't there before.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So we're not totally sure about that yet. We'll get back to you, but pretty sure, umbra is an Umbro.

Speaker 1:

Nice or Umbreon, you know.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, well, we thought about that too.

Speaker 1:

That was my first thought when you said Umbra, I was like Umbreon, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I also thought of like the planet Umbara which is from Star Wars. That's like that really dark planet in the Clone Wars. Anyway, oh Ahsoka.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Huge part of my life. I don't know if it's been a part of your life, but yeah, oh absolutely.

Speaker 1:

I've been telling the fans about it. I honestly told them, and maybe you can put your two cents into it. But I said that while you can watch it and enjoy it without seeing Clone Wars and Rebels, I recommend at least seeing Rebels. Like Rebels is going to make a clear picture, especially when it comes to these characters and their relationships with each other, because they don't establish it, because it's already been established. You know, it's there in Rebels.

Speaker 2:

What's interesting about Ahsoka is that you don't need you don't technically need to watch Clone Wars and Rebels to understand what's going on. They give you all the pertinent information that you need in the episodes. But you will get a lot more enjoyment out of it if you do a little bit of homework, if you do a little bit of you know watching of Rebels and even Clone Wars. They do have that episode where they jump into flashbacks of the Clone Wars or visions of the Clone Wars.

Speaker 1:

That was so awesome.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and the finale. Without using anything or spoiling anything, they definitely tease a major arc in the Clone Wars. And you know what's funny, like my parents watched it. They haven't seen any of the animated series. They loved it, they really loved it. They thought it was like real fresh Star Wars to them and that's exciting for me to hear you know. Like that this can be viewed not only, as you know, like a follow up to Rebels, but also just a solid entry into the Star Wars canon, even for those who haven't seen what came before. So that's exciting and, yeah, I would love to talk about it in more detail in a future episode, if you'll have me.

Speaker 1:

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

And it'd definitely be awesome to talk about some of the influences of heir to the Empire you know into that.

Speaker 2:

Oh, dude, it's totally like leaning directly into that storyline, like and you know that Filoni has his standalone Star Wars film that are not standalone, but it's it's like a you know, he has his own Star Wars film lined up and everything is leading towards like an heir to the Empire adaptation for canon. So it's really interesting. I'm excited to see what happens of it.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely man.

Speaker 2:

Also, loki just started up. I don't know if you've watched the first episode yet.

Speaker 1:

No, but I need to hop onto that. When it comes to like watching stuff, it depends on what it is. Ahsoka, I was like right on top of it. But, when it comes to some of these other shows Loki I'm excited for, but I have to be in the mood to want to sit down and watch something because I don't want to sit and watch something that I know that I'm going to enjoy and not really give it the time of day that I want to give it. You know totally.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, I totally feel that. Yeah, and it's interesting, for some reason, like the Star Wars shows have like a tighter grasp on me when it comes to like I got to watch this immediately versus the MCU shows, even though, like a lot of my content on YouTube is about the MCU. I've always felt a closer connection to the Star Wars universe just because it's what I grew up on. You know so. But I got to be honest, loki's season two's premiere is solid. Like it's really a return to form, and you know, the first season of Loki is amazing.

Speaker 1:

Right, yeah, it was, it was amazing and I mean we talked about it. We have an episode on that first season and I'm pretty excited to hop into that. I think part of it stems from maybe some Marvel fatigue, because there's just a lot of stuff that they've been just like pumping out. That's just like very subpar.

Speaker 2:

Sure, yeah, a lot of their stuff that could be like knocked out of the park has been really lackluster. I mean secret invasion what a waste, in my opinion. I really believe that that had some serious potential and it lost a lot of people. It was just week in, week out of very like all the reveals in secret invasion were super wrote, like you were able to pick them out a mile away like, oh, that's Nick Fury, oh, that's not Nick Fury, oh, this is just a scroll thing. But it was never surprising to me, which is like what spy thrillers are supposed to be, and that really I think I did a number on the MCU because they pushed it as something that's so huge and so big and then it was just such a nothing. Very, you know.

Speaker 1:

I know that when the show first started I think a couple of episodes in, you felt it was a little promising to you. Like you felt good.

Speaker 2:

It was, and then I guess it was promising.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like it dragged on and just people just really started picking that show apart like anywhere from. Like the AI intro, that was a little ridiculous yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean you kind of you kind of have to read the room a little bit when it comes to that kind of stuff, like online it may be, you know, off of Twitter or off of X now that's not a big deal but like, when it comes to like the Twitter sphere, which is pretty, it's probably the most influential of the social medias in terms of, you know, relaying ideas and stuff Like AI is like, is not a popular thing right now online just because it is taking up creative ideas. It's not replacing, you know, manual labor, it's not replacing, like, desk jobs. For the most part, ai is replacing creative endeavors and I think that that a lot of people see that as like a serious issue going forward, you know, and especially like the development of AI and being indistinguishable from, you know, actual creative work from humans, and I think that's a very big fear and it should be a big fear for any creator out there. But the idea of Marvel using it as one of their intros or like using it in part as one of their intros, because it wasn't totally AI people think it was 100% but like they definitely use artifacts to make it its own thing, and I actually I'm going to be a little controversial here. I actually do like the intro to a degree for that, because it's unique.

Speaker 2:

A. It broke a standard that probably shouldn't have broken, because I don't think that Hollywood should use AI in that manner, but it worked in the sense that, from a thematic point of view, the shape shifting scrolls could be anyone and anywhere and it loses its like lifeness. No, it's not the word. It loses its ability to be lifelike, and I think that that's kind of what they were going for and that like everything was shifting and like changing, and I think at the time that they made that intro it wasn't as frowned upon as it is nowadays.

Speaker 1:

But anyway, you and I, we talked about AI a little bit and it's not a good replacement for stuff, but it is a good tool, you know.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, and you can definitely not going to take out a drill and expect it to build a home. You know you need to have the actual person to work it. So it's a good companion to have and, honestly to tell you the truth, it's almost like a really good Google, Like, I mean, if you need to find out answers. Sometimes it replaces the need to search Google for hours, when you got AI right there, you know.

Speaker 1:

So, there's different ways that it's being used and I would say taking shortcuts and stuff that you shouldn't take shortcuts in, I could see where the problem is.

Speaker 2:

Totally, and I do think that the ultimate idea of it, like replacing creative endeavors, is a scary thought, you know, like the. So we're recording this October 10th it's a few days out from the WGA, the Writers Guild of America, has finally ratified their new agreement with the Association of Motion Pictures and TV producers. They'veone of the agreements that they came to together was not to use AI in a certain capacity, you know, like to replace writers or anything like that, because it was actually like a proposition that was proposed once the strike started. Well, we can use AI to replace the writers, and that was just such a scary thought because, like no writers do good work, they shouldn't have to fear for their jobs for that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no exactly.

Speaker 2:

So that's like contractually in their thing now, so they can't be replaced in that respect. So AI has the potential to do a lot of good for mankind. Ultimately, I want to say, like it has, like there's more possibility for like a net good than a net bad, but there will be bad along the way. You know, like there's going to be stumbling blocks that people are going to hate and it's going to be an uphill battle for sure, and I'm not totally for it, you know. I'm going to be honest.

Speaker 2:

I do think that it's an excellent tool. It's a crazy tool, but I also think it's a tool that we're getting so quick and so readily that it's really dangerous. You know, at the offset, you know, like all of my wife's kids in school use chat, gpt for pretty much everything, and it's an entire class that's now useless almost because she can't determine, like, whether or not, like a kid is writing her essays themselves or if it's a computer writing them and sometimes she can tell because obviously, like not all of them have a super, like a really intelligent lexicon of vocabulary or whatever.

Speaker 2:

Right she can tell like if it's not their words.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, right. It's like, yeah, you need to go through and take out the stuff that you know that you wouldn't actually say what does?

Speaker 2:

this word mean you have no idea.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, right. But yeah, that's exactly what I mean, like taking a shortcut and stuff that you probably shouldn't take a short in is a bad use of chat GPT, but using it as a tool that can help make your work a little bit easier, your workload- a little bit easier, but yeah, I could see it.

Speaker 2:

I could see it.

Speaker 1:

I mean, you see that I use it for editing. You know, I use it to help actually close a lot of the gaps and to take out filler words. We're creating this episode. I'm not using chat GPT to actually create the episode so it's a tool that I'm using to make my work easier and honestly it transcribes the whole episode and honestly makes it easier to edit, because I'm not looking at just a bunch of wavelengths, I'm looking at words.

Speaker 2:

Well, speak for yourself, because I'm writing down all your questions into chat GPT so that I can just read out what it thinks in my voice. No kidding.

Speaker 1:

You know, I can hear on my phone.

Speaker 2:

We've been talking. We've been talking quite a bit about chat, gpt and Oka and Loki and even secret invasion and and my cat umbro we should probably jump into. Oh, and also I've been playing a little bit of Baldur's Gate. That's, that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

Yes, man, that's so good. Dude, he's awesome. Yeah, crazy, crazy game.

Speaker 2:

All right, so let's jump into our discussion of One Piece the Netflix series. Going into it, anthony, like did you have high hopes?

Speaker 1:

Oh, I know that, absolutely not. Absolutely, I had no hope in this being good.

Speaker 2:

Did you even know?

Speaker 1:

that it existed before it like popped up or so, yeah, I know that it existed for a little while now, but I wasn't sure. I was like, okay, yeah, whatever. And then I saw the trailer and I feel like the trailer doesn't really show enough of the show and it makes it look like a bad anime adaptation. In my opinion, interesting, Interesting. And look at the Cowboy Bebop. When the Cowboy Bebop trailer looked really good, but the actual show fell flat.

Speaker 2:

And I mean but there's a lot of reasons for that, but it's just.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I had no hopes for it. I saw the trailer. I was just like I don't know. And then just my past experience with live action adaptations for any anime I've seen the Death Note wasn't a big fan.

Speaker 2:

That was a bad one.

Speaker 1:

That was a really bad one the live dude. There's like a live action attack on Titan movie. I seen that I'm like no, and I mean Cowboy Bebop. There's also they did bleach. Yeah, they did bleach. I didn't get to see bleach, but I've seen enough live action adaptations to say that it just doesn't work Like you remember, you remember Dragon. Ball Evolution, that Dragon Ball. Evolution Dude, that took the source material and was like, yeah, whatever, but she's going to take the names from this anime, and I mean dude, like I don't understand it.

Speaker 1:

They did the same thing with the Halo show. It's like, dude, you have the source material. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel. If you want to take some liberties and add some stuff to it, that's fine, but stop trying to create this whole thing that already exists Right.

Speaker 2:

Okay, now that I have that opinion of you you've experienced live action anime series before I just want to, preemptively, you know, like before we start talking about One Piece proper, I want to just you know, like a couple months, probably about six months ago, I was sitting with Anthony in Florida. We were having a drink and he like turned to me, he goes, I'm going to start watching One Piece. Or he said I started watching One Piece, I'm going to watch it. And I looked at you. I looked at you like you were crazy. I'm like dude, that's a thousand plus episodes. But what are you doing? And and you're like I don't know, man, it looks pretty fun. And I thought you were crazy. I was just like all right, well, have fun, let me know how it goes.

Speaker 1:

I think in that moment I was in the alabasta saga.

Speaker 2:

Oh, so you've gotten pretty far.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I had gotten pretty far. Right now I'm in the Sky Island saga. I'm in Sky Pia, the Sky Pia arc.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, like I'm pretty decent, I'm still like earlier on in the anime, but I'm deep enough to like be invested Because, like I'm almost 200 episodes in but honestly I could be further into the anime. But I take breaks, like I'll take, you know, maybe like a couple of weeks off and then like I'll hit it hard again, you know.

Speaker 2:

Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean it's a lot, it's a thousand episodes of TV.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I messaged you a couple of weeks back, Yo. I don't remember what I said, but it amounted to early reviews for the live action. One Piece are saying it's an excellent adaptation. What did you think when I said that?

Speaker 1:

When you told me I was just like what? So I had to look it up myself and I'm like, dude, what there's. And everybody's literally saying the same thing. I mean, there were some reviews that were kind of like on it, but for the most part most of the reviews were pretty happy with it and saying that, oh, this show has broken the curse. And I'm like, do we what? Oh, I need to see this.

Speaker 1:

then I was going to watch it anyway, but I didn't hold out much hope for it before seeing all that stuff. Not to say that reviews will stop me from going to see anything, but a lot of the times reviews are right about some stuff, yeah they're at least indicative of like how you can expect to receive it.

Speaker 2:

You know, especially if it's like a reviewer that you like trust or you know like that they're excited for it, like, all right, I like what they're into Usually. I'll probably check this out. So I heard early rumbling so I'm going to group chat with a couple of reviewers on Twitter and I heard early rumblings that this was like to take a line from the show not the king of the pirates, but like king of the anime adaptations and I was just like, really, all right, well, I got to check it out then and yeah, it turns out I loved it. I kind of savored it, watched maybe like one, two episodes tonight, watched it over the course of about a week.

Speaker 2:

Super solid, bro, just so impressive. And it got me into One Piece, because prior to that I had maybe seen one episode of One Piece, like episode 700, something for some reason, and I didn't understand a thing about it and I've never read any of the manga, but it got me really into it and since then I've been reading the. I just ordered volumes five and six of the manga and they should be coming either tonight or tomorrow. So I'm excited about that.

Speaker 1:

The live action adaptation got a lot of people to go and watch the anime or pick up the manga. So now there's like a whole new wave of One Piece fans. But yeah, I made the decision earlier this year, before the release of the live action adaptation or like even before they were talking more about it and releasing the trailer. I'm just going to go and watch One Piece. Why not? Miguel has been watching it.

Speaker 2:

He's been telling me.

Speaker 1:

Dude. I've seen bits and pieces of One Piece throughout the years. I remember seeing some of it when I was a kid and, thinking back, like you know, this anime looks really cool. I want to watch it, but I just never got to it. Before we knew it, dude, we're over a thousand episodes in now, but there are reasons that keep me going. To tell you the truth, the episodes really aren't that long, especially when you get to certain arcs. They'll have the intro music and then they'll have a whole recap and before you know it, you're skipping like three minutes of the episode. Then you got the outro, which is like another, like almost two minutes.

Speaker 2:

That's true For the most part.

Speaker 1:

there's a lot of episodes that it brings it from a 22 minute episode down to like 17, 18 minutes and, honestly, how many people will watch a 17, 18 minute YouTube video, like several of them, you know, over a period of time, so that's a good point.

Speaker 1:

Dude, One Piece. It's not as intimidating as a lot of people think it is. Sure, it's a lot of episodes and you still have to go through a good bit of it, but it's not super long. Like the episodes aren't super long, Dude, I blasted through like 60 episodes last month.

Speaker 2:

No more Wow.

Speaker 1:

Wow, really Like 70.

Speaker 2:

Dang, yeah so okay, A couple years ago, maybe five, six years ago I was really big into Crunchyroll. I was watching pretty much all the new releases, whenever you know they would come out. Crunchyroll has weekly releases for each new season of anime. They uploaded a good chunk of one piece to their service and they were releasing new episodes of one piece. I was just like, instead of watching a 100, it was like 700 something episodes I'll just skip to the first of the most recent one and it was like the end of the arc of, like Dress Rosa. So I was just like I have no idea who any of these people are, what the heck they're talking about. But it was impressive animation, at least you know. At least I enjoyed it. But yeah, I didn't watch any more after that.

Speaker 2:

So this was really my introduction proper and I'm glad that I chose this route because it's gotten me really excited about diving into the manga more and diving into the anime. Because even you know, going from the manga to the anime, I'm noticing some variations. You know, like it is an adaptation of the manga, it's not a one for one. You know there is some wiggle room in terms of like how the story is adapted and like what the characters say to each other, and I find that that's really cool.

Speaker 2:

You know, I find it's really interesting and it also makes it a little more easier or a little more palatable when I notice the big changes from the manga to the live action, Because the live action is said to be an adaptation of the manga, not an adaptation of the anime. So, yeah, so it's interesting, Like I'm noticing especially, like, starting with episode three with, like, the black cat pirates, that whole arc, while it's very similar, you know, like the final battle, instead of being like on the beach, is inside of the mansion. You know, I think that that's really it's an interesting choice and I think it worked really well for the episode or the story that they were trying to tell, you know.

Speaker 1:

Right. So they definitely took some liberties that I felt like didn't hurt it. But, I do say so. One of the biggest things that this live action adaptation had, versus a lot of these other adaptations, is the fact that Oda was behind it. Yeah, the actual creator of One Piece. So this, you know, he was behind this live action. You know I was saying that he would even, you know, go for reshoots and which is crazy.

Speaker 2:

It's crazy to think like how, like much of a hand he had in like making sure that this was done right.

Speaker 1:

Which is awesome, because that shows how much respect the show runners have for the source material, which is super important. Like this adaptation, liberties can be taken and they can be done tastefully, but you have to do it in a way that respects the source material and that's exactly what happened. And, dude, I absolutely enjoyed it. I've long gone through the East Blue Saga. It missed out like one little piece in the East Blue Saga that's going to be in the next season, but yeah, that doesn't mean that it was cut out, you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're clearly going towards that. Yeah, it's really interesting that, like they chose to, you know, get the creators opinion on pretty much all steps of this and, like you said, he was calling for reshoots and certain stuff, like, if it didn't work for him, it didn't work for the crew, which is so cool. Before we start talking about, like, individual characters, I just want to say like the sets on this show were like insane, you know, like the location shooting, the sets that they built, like the Baratier restaurant.

Speaker 2:

Dude, that was the coolest set ever. I want to go there. That's like, if they ever make like a one piece Disney World or amusement park, that needs to be there. There needs to be like an outdoor bar that like is in like the fish's mouth Dude, that's such a cool idea and ugh, dude.

Speaker 2:

So much about this show because I rewatched it recently while I was doing my notes for the video that I'm writing. Everything is like just fun to look at. You know, like they chose interesting camera angles. There's a lot of like moving cameras that like make the action more dynamic. There's a lot of really close ups on people's faces that like really showcase the emotion of the scenes.

Speaker 2:

At the end it almost makes you forget, like how corny and how campy all of this really is Like if you really think about like what you're watching. It suspends that disbelief because the characters believe it. Like you could tell that the story and all the cast and crew were super earnest about telling the whole story that they wanted to tell and like making it faithful to the source material as far as they could. You know, and I think that earnestness came across so well on screen that it just any like camp or any corniness that like floated up, like with buggy or the black cat, pirates or whatever, I didn't care, it was cool, it felt like part of the world, it was part of the world building and I can't wait to see, like, what they do with characters like Chopper moving forward. Like how the heck are they going to do that?

Speaker 1:

Right. So I've had some people that they've had a couple of gripes about the anime as far as that, and oh no, they've had the live action. Yeah, they've had gripes about the live action because of that, and you know these are people who watch anime. I'm like dude, like you, watch the anime. That zaniness, that camp is there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're just there. The difference is that's a cartoon, you know, like that's literally Exactly.

Speaker 1:

I would even say that the live action dials it back a bit, because the anime goes over the top with it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, quite a bit so.

Speaker 1:

I would say they make it a lot more believable with it being a live action, because some live actions lean too much into the craziness of anime and it doesn't come off right you know Right doesn't come off genuine.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think a big portion of like why this worked was the actors themselves. You know, like the character or the actor who played Luffy in Yaki Godoya I think his name is Dude such a good actor, he was so fun to watch on screen. You know, like every interaction he had with his crew, you know whether he had a smile on his face or it was like near the end of the season where he's, you know, like telling Nami, of course I'll help you. Like dude, everything was just like pitch perfect for the character of Luffy. It felt so right, at least for a live action version of him, you know.

Speaker 1:

So I totally agree and I say that he has that lovable, that like Luffy is lovable, kind of dumb, sometimes he's a Luffy. Yeah, he's definitely a Luffy, he absolutely is. But when you need for him to be serious, Luffy is there and they really capture that here in the live action where you know pretty much both sides of Luffy and he really does do a great job with that character. Honestly, the rest of the cast I've experienced these characters now for almost 200 episodes, so you know, and a lot of people have been with them for now over a thousand.

Speaker 1:

So to really see that they got these personalities down packed is really just refreshing, because that's really what's important. The setting is important, obviously, to make sure that they got it right, but you also want to make sure that these characters are tapping into their actual characters that they're portraying.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and sometimes actually, I find that the live action is, in some ways it's a closer approximation of what the manga had to say than the anime, or sorry, like the live action was closer to the manga in some areas than the anime was. You know, like I'm kind of going all over the place with the discussion, but bear with me, it was on my mind when you were talking At the end of the first episode. They've got the map to the grand line, they're about to sail off, and then Kobe goes I'm going to join the Marines. And you know there's that, like you know, heartwarming send off from Luffy, like we're friends now, we had it, we shared a meal. Well, he doesn't necessarily say that in the manga, but the manga, what happens in the manga, is very similar and that Kobe does say that near the boats, and you know, like there's a nice send off there.

Speaker 2:

In the anime there's a whole scene where, like, kobe and Luffy start fighting so that Kobe can like pretend to be Luffy's enemy so that he can join the Marines, and that's just like something that they totally made up for the anime just for the sake of it. But you know, in both adaptations it kind of highlights Luffy's ability to you know show up in like the character that he needs to be. You know, like in the anime he was very much he played the part so that Kobe could get the job to like join the Marines. In the anime it was just, you know, it was a nice send off because these two characters like had grown to care for each other even in the short span of time that they had.

Speaker 2:

So I don't know, it's cool how, like all these different adaptations exist and in some ways, like the live action is closer to the manga, in some ways the anime is closer to the manga. But they all stem from the same story and you know, it's exciting because this whole world of like one piece is kind of like opening up to me. So I'm just excited to like get further into it, closer to where you are. Obviously I'm only like four episodes into the anime, so I don't have too much to say about like what happens after that point. But I'm like 35, 36 chapters into the manga now. So I'm fairly deep in there, but still in the East Blue.

Speaker 1:

Nice, nice.

Speaker 2:

Yes, let's go through the characters and see how you liked each character versus what you are used to from the anime so Nami.

Speaker 1:

So I feel that Nami her name is Emily Rudd Right, and so I personally feel like she did a really good job, as Nami and Emily Rudd is actually, she's actually an anime fan and has been keeping up with one piece for a while now actually.

Speaker 2:

Really Even outside of, outside of the show.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, right. So I remember seeing on her Instagram that she had made a post about Nami, like some years ago, and I was like, okay, it was like it's crazy how it ended up where it ended up, with her being Nami.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

But I think that she you know that the mannerism she has, especially in those earlier episodes where she's kind of just with them to get what she needs she needed that map for the grand line so that she can.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, she's still distant at that point.

Speaker 1:

Right right, she's not part of the crew, even though like it's Luffy, just like an anime is like all right, you know we're a crew and Nami and Azoro are both like we're not a crew, you know.

Speaker 2:

I love that stuff.

Speaker 1:

They got it downpacked pretty well, and something that I really like that they did with the show is that the Oda had explained where each and every one of these characters are from, and they went with that version.

Speaker 2:

You mean like in the like from the manga, or just like.

Speaker 1:

So Luffy is actually Brazilian. Oh, you mean, like, actually like nationality, nationality, right right, luffy is Brazilian, nami is Swedish, sanji is English, zoro is Japanese. Obviously, usopp is actually African, chopper is a reindeer.

Speaker 2:

I love it. I love it Spoilers. For me, is Chopper actually a reindeer, or is he like someone who ate a devil fruit?

Speaker 1:

Chopper is a reindeer that ate a devil fruit.

Speaker 2:

It's so stupid, I love it.

Speaker 1:

Chopper. So Chopper is one of those lovable and like wholesome characters in the show and his story is actually like really sad when you get to it. Oh because he I'm just a little like. A little like history on him was that he was a reindeer that was born with a blue nose, so like kind of like a Rudolph situation where he was being rejected by the other reindeer.

Speaker 1:

And then so he eats this devil fruit that allows him to turn into like a person. So he got rejected even more by the reindeer and then rejected by people because, like, that's a monster, you know.

Speaker 2:

It's hilarious. Oh man, it's terrible. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So Jamie Lee Curtis is putting out there that she wants to be one of the doctors in that like Chopper arc, the arc that like introduces Chopper.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, that'd be interesting.

Speaker 1:

Her name is Dr Correa and like when you actually get to like meet her, I could see Jamie Lee Curtis playing that character.

Speaker 2:

All right, all right, that's interesting. I don't know if she's supposed to be campaigning right now, considering the screen actress guild is currently on strike. But hey, respect the grind, I guess. So let's go up to Zorro, Just oh, before we get to the Inyaki Godoy I believe he's Mexican, but I thought he was Brazilian too. Like he had that. He has that look, that curly hair, that was very common for Brazilians and obviously the skin tone is very similar.

Speaker 1:

Well, he's from that region of the world, sure.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, South and Central.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So what do you think of Makenyu Arata as Roa Noa Zorro?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think he did great, right, I think, yeah, I think he did fantastic.

Speaker 2:

He's fun.

Speaker 1:

I like his vibe so I've been. I know that this is going to sound blasphemous to some people, so I've been watching the one piece anime like the dub and a lot of. That is because I meet some of these voice actors when I go to these anime conventions. And Chris Sabat does Zorro's voice.

Speaker 2:

Oh, does he.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, dude, he does. Everyone All might Vegeta, yes.

Speaker 2:

He does, zorro.

Speaker 1:

So seeing Zorro on the screen, they really like nail it. He looked great on the screen, especially when you got to the Beraudier and he fights against Mihawk and he does the three sword stuff, the three sword stuff, what a great scene and if you look at that scene side by side with the anime, it's like so very close Really.

Speaker 1:

You think it was on purpose, or so I think that's one of those scenes that I think there was like certain scenes that they wanted to make sure that they nailed it, like there's other stuff that they knew that they could take liberties on, but they wanted to make sure that certain things were on point with the anime and maybe the manga, whereas, like when Nami asked Luffy for help, like that was like pretty much like almost one for one between the anime and the live action.

Speaker 2:

Really. So that's cool because I know that the I was listening or I was reading some comments made by one of the producers of the series and he was saying that like he was a big one piece fan, like the anime first, you know, before getting into the manga. So that makes a lot of sense and actually when you think about, like the most anime scene of the entire first season, it's that fight between Rouran Ouzoro and Dracula Mihawk, the fact that he pulls out a little knife and it's just like using it to stop three blades.

Speaker 2:

It's just crazy. It's the most anime thing you could possibly think of. That would never happen in any other medium ever. So it that makes sense that they, like you know, obviously used inspiration from what was already there on the anime. So that's cool. What do you think of Usopp? Jacob Romero Gibson played Usopp.

Speaker 1:

I think he did a great job too. Usopp's one of those. He's an interesting character because he's one of those characters that, like he likes to boast like, oh I'm captain Usopp, I'm the greatest warrior there is, and then when things go down, he runs, you know. So that's what Usopp does. You know he'll go and he hides. But I will say, to be all fair, when you need to count on Usopp, he does follow through for the most part, and there's a lot to love about Usopp and I feel like the live action adaptation did that pretty well, I mean, minus the really weird nose that he has. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

I think that they're okay with.

Speaker 1:

You know, like removing that crazy nose, I think it just makes it a little bit more believable what I really liked about I can't see it because his nose was a little bit on the skinnier side, Like you know, like it would like a wider nose, like he had, like a skinner nose. But I feel like as long as he looked the part and he had the character's personality and he did really well, like he was very believable as Usopp.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I really loved the relationship that he had with Kaya. Yeah you know like he really cares for this person. You know this by the way, if you guys haven't, you know, actually sat down to watch the live action one piece. I don't want to like spoil this for you. It's really really good. Like it's. It has absolutely no right being as good as it is. So I 100% highly recommend watching this. If you're a fan of the one piece anime or manga, definitely watch it, because this is definitely getting a second season.

Speaker 1:

And yes, yes, it's been confirmed.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it's become one of Netflix's most popular series within you know, like a very short time. You know this is going to end up being one of those stranger things Wednesday Squid Game types things where it's just like it becomes a movement. You know, in terms of like this is like a holy grail of Netflix properties. I highly recommend giving it a shot because, even if you think it's a little bit corny, just push through it. I promise you, by the end you're just going to be like you're going to be in tears. You know like by the end of episode seven, you're just like holy crap, this is amazing.

Speaker 1:

I agree it has no right to be that good, because most of the time they're not good. You know these anime adaptations really just are not. You know, yeah, I know it's. I agree it's a great time. It really brought a lot of people into the one piece scene that most of the time wouldn't give anime the time of day, you know 100%.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, my, pretty much my whole family. I haven't gotten my parents to watch it yet but, like, both my brothers have seen it. Austin, you know my brother Austin, he's such a like contrarian, you know, like, oh well, I don't really like one piece. I've given it a shot a long time ago and I really don't like it. But he really liked the first season of this show, so he's given one piece a second chance, obviously, but anyway, yeah, it's a surprisingly good show and no, not even a good show, it's a surprisingly great show from a production standpoint, to a camera standpoint, to an adaptation standpoint, and obviously the story is as good as it is in in I would say that the manga is, you know, like, I think they do a really good job of adapting what was originally told into a live action media.

Speaker 2:

I was, I was saying something about like Kaya and Usopp and their relationship. You know, kaya is this girl who's been slowly poisoned over the course of a couple years and Usopp is, you know, just like this town liar who you know comes and tells her these like tall tales of, you know, heroics and piracy and when it comes down to him, actually like you know, being a pirate or you know, being a heroic individual? He doesn't really. It's not something that comes natural to him, but in the moment he does what needs to like happen and I love that. Like by the end of the season you get a couple scenes of him, you know, doing what you know a hero would do, and I think that that's pretty good. Everyone gets their shot.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, see that that's what Usopp's character is like. Usopp will be that guy, that kind of runs and cowards. It's like all right, well, like no, let's go. But then he will have his moments of heroism. It's funny because in the anime that's his thing he is known as the liar, because he'll just like keep on running through towns. The characters that they missed in this one was his little like. He had these little buddies in the anime and they were called the Usopp pirates.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he had like three little kids who were like his crew, right, right.

Speaker 1:

And like he would just like run through the town like oh, the pirates are coming. The pirates are coming, you know, and they were called him Captain Usopp. Yes, they called him Captain Usopp.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that kind of makes sense why he, you know, calls himself Captain Usopp in the live action. But it doesn't really make as much sense in the live action because they kind of skip those characters. Yes, but yeah, so that's, that's one thing. That's a small issue that I have. You know, there's there's a couple things here and there that I'm not huge on, but like nothing that I hate. You know, I don't think there's anything that I hate. Was there anything you actively disliked, Anthony?

Speaker 1:

Not that I can say. Like I said, they did cut out a couple things in the barrage. There was actually a big thing that was actually kind of cut out in the barrage scene. Did you get to that in the manga?

Speaker 2:

I haven't. I'm almost there, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2:

But you can, you can tell me.

Speaker 1:

I don't know how it is in the manga, but you know how Mihawk cuts down that pirate named Don Krieg.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

So Luffy actually fights Don Krieg in the anime. Yeah, there's like this whole thing where they show up, so you know that pirate that Sanji feeds. Yes, he's actually somebody from that crew, so that's what you're saying.

Speaker 2:

So that's kind of right, right.

Speaker 1:

So that ends up kind of playing out into the whole thing. But yeah, luffy fights Don Krieg and like throws down. There's like this whole crazy like guy in this giant metal ball in that fight. Yeah, there's like there's a lot that goes on in that fight. But I will say that the way that they went about it was, it was kind of cool and showing the power that Mihawk has.

Speaker 2:

Sorry, and sliced the ship. Yeah, my cat's running around just making all kinds of weird noises, bro, add it again. Yeah, dude, he sliced the ship like from like 50 feet away. How did he do that? Power of anime, power of anime. And God was on his side. Yeah, dude, I'm really excited to dive deeper into this. Like just digging into like the history of this world is like super fun, like going, because I, in my video that I'm making, I'm going back to like all the flashbacks so this is like 22 years ago, 10 years ago, eight, nine, seven years ago and I'm kind of like piecing it all together and like how it would have landed chronologically and it's fun. You know, I'm having a really good time exploring like the back history of all these characters and like what's going on with everyone. What did you think of Sanji? Oh, dude, sanji was so good. He had like a real presence, like a like a like a camera presence, you know he had a real presence and he did really good with Sanji, the actor.

Speaker 1:

what's his name? His name is Taz Skyler. Taz Skyler did a really great job as Sanji. He got the mannerisms, the hand in the pocket and that's Sanji. Sanji's thing is kicking and that's what he did.

Speaker 2:

Is it because he doesn't want, to like, mess up his hands for cooking?

Speaker 1:

I'm pretty sure that that? I think that that was something that he said. I think that that was his explanation, Okay, but yeah, and I love that they had him cook and plate and it looked very gourmet and when he came on I was so impressed with the kitchen. On the Going Mary, which is the name of the ship. Yeah, I was like dude, this is an amazing kitchen.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like all these spices and stuff in there looked amazing.

Speaker 2:

I know, dude, all the sets were amazing. You know, from the Going Mary to the Baratier to Buggie's little tent like circus dance, that they changed that story quite a bit too, but I had a fun time with them. What did you think of some of the enemies that they had, like Buggie and Axehand Morgan?

Speaker 1:

I think that they did a really good job. That fight during the Axehand Morgan part was really good. That's where you got the first taste of like true combat in that from the live action, from like the anime.

Speaker 2:

And I was like man.

Speaker 1:

It was in that moment. I was like dude, I'm going to love this so much. And then you got to Buggie and you finally got to experience some of the weirder devil fruit powers, which is the chop, chop fruit, and how he could break his body apart.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. What's amazing about that for me is that you know, if you look at some of the future stuff that happens in one piece, some of the future characters that are just so insane and crazy, yes, I have faith that they'll do it with at least some level of respect to the source material, because they were able to do Buggie so well. You know, like they didn't. It wasn't just a guy in a clown outfit, it was a guy in a clown outfit who could be sliced and diced any which way, and it was the craziest fight in probably the entire show, just because it was so. It was so weird.

Speaker 1:

But they did it really well. So the next devil fruit power that we'll be experiencing it will be in log town with Captain Smoker.

Speaker 2:

And they tease him at the very end.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, they do. That was him.

Speaker 2:

Okay, all right.

Speaker 1:

Man ate a fruit and started chain smoking.

Speaker 2:

It is what it is.

Speaker 1:

It do have like three cigars like in his mouth. He has like cigars lining his jacket. It's so crazy. It's going to be interesting to see his live action counterpart.

Speaker 1:

But, they did Arlong really good and Arlong actually showed up earlier in the live action that he did in the anime. So in the anime, like I said, the big villain that they fought was Don Krieg, but Arlong shows up at the baradier and so like he kind of like shows himself. But I really think that they did a really good job. He was imposing, he had the swagger to him. It really did well in the live action for its anime counterpart at least.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I totally agree and I think what you're trying to say is that for the sake of brevity, you know, because it's live action, it's a lot harder to get a thousand episodes of live action than it is to get. You know, like they had to condense quite a bit so they had to make some creative cuts and like overlap story arcs, so they overlapped what they were doing with Arlong and Don Krieg. You said yes.

Speaker 2:

Throughout the baradier so that it could, you know, thematically weave into the Arlong park stuff and the Cocoa Village. Yeah, dude, I think they did a phenomenal job with all that, because you know, I haven't gotten that far into the manga, I haven't gotten that far into the anime, but it worked from like a thematic story point and did it work for you? I know that you said that like they changed quite a bit, but like did that work for you, or would you have rather they kept the Don Krieg stuff?

Speaker 1:

So when I saw that Don Krieg was in there, I was like, oh, you know that I think it'll be cool to see how that fight plays out. But it didn't play out in the live action. But with the direction that they went with, I was like, oh okay, and at least with Arlong showing up, At least it made sense, because that's where they were headed anyway.

Speaker 2:

Right. Yeah, so it's like they just kind of killed two birds with one stone. Yeah, so I'm excited to see where the show goes Now that the writer strike is over and hopefully I think that they've been really hard at work to get the acting strike over as soon as possible. I think the goal is to film the next series, I think early next year or early, let me see, because I know they had plans for it. Anyway, yeah, I know that they have plans, obviously, for way down the line. I think that they said that they have at least six seasons planned if Netflix will give it to them. So the fact that they were able to cover most of East Blue throughout this season is pretty cool, you know.

Speaker 1:

Yes. So I'm wondering how they're going to go about. Obviously, next season they have to get through Log Town and them actually navigating to the Grand Line, and then there's like a whole lot that happens between pretty much that point all the way up into, so like the whole of the next saga is going to be the Alabasta saga, which I don't know if they're going to be able to do all that in one season, because there's a lot of yeah, because it's pretty big. It is pretty big.

Speaker 2:

But would you have thought that they could do all of the East Blue in one season?

Speaker 1:

I wish it was what. Eight episodes. It was eight episodes. Yeah, had they added another episode or two, I feel like they could have, maybe.

Speaker 2:

Finished the entire arc or whatever. Right, right, I see what you're saying.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Well, I'm excited to see where the show goes, hopefully the next. You know now that it's a proven success Because you have to understand like Netflix only bought one season of this to start off, just to test the waters.

Speaker 1:

This has turned out to be.

Speaker 2:

This turned out to be a huge hit and they spent a lot of money on the first season. With the second season, maybe they'll give them more episodes to play with, maybe they'll give them a little bit more money to like flesh out the CGI and the sets and stuff. So I'm excited to see what they do with it.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, you can't have a one piece live action adaptation without throwing some money into it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you kind of have to. It is a beloved series.

Speaker 1:

I mean it's one of those ones that honestly now spans over generations.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, you know what I'm really excited about. Now that they've proven that they could do a decent live action adaptation of an anime, I'm really excited to see what they do with Avatar, the Last Airbender. I'm nervous, I'm really nervous. Obviously, obviously, I'm nervous.

Speaker 1:

So what makes me nervous about that is because one of the things that made this live action adaptation of one piece work the most, I feel like Oda being a part of that project is really what is pretty much one of the biggest things that contributed to the success and the fact that the studio seemed to be firing on all cylinders, like everybody just was putting in the work that they were supposed to.

Speaker 1:

you know from direction, you know from the production side to the acting side, to those who put up the sets, all the special effects, like everybody did such a great job. And remember, with the whole Avatar thing there was some strife that happened between the creators of Avatar and Netflix.

Speaker 2:

So you're right. Yeah, when you're right, you're right.

Speaker 1:

I mean so we'll see. I can't argue with that logic.

Speaker 2:

I can't argue with that logic.

Speaker 1:

But we'll see. All I know is that if they mess this show up, I'm going to boycott Netflix until the next season of One Piece.

Speaker 2:

Oh, I like that. I like that a lot. All right, Anthony, it's good talking to you about One Piece this evening. What do you want to talk about next? Yes, absolutely, you know. What do you want to talk about next time? That's a good question. Yeah, you know, we're diving to a soap.

Speaker 1:

Now that a soak is out, all the episodes it finished last week by the time that episode, by the time that episode comes out, it's going to be a good little two or three weeks, yeah, exactly. So, all right guys, make sure that you get in your soca if you want to listen to the episode, because I'm pretty sure that we're going to be talking a good bit about that. I definitely want to watch. Do it again so that I can be fresh on that 100%.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, a soak is a good time. Don't sleep on it if you haven't seen Rebels or Clone Wars. But also we do recommend checking out at least Rebels, or like watching a highlight reel of what happened in Rebels on YouTube or whatever, before going into a soak. But yeah, thanks guys. We appreciate you listening to us here for our 64th episode of Project Geekology. We're about to head out of the East Blue, head straight to the Grand Line and to Arabasta, or Alabasta as the anime calls it. Have a good one.

Speaker 1:

Actually, before we sign off, Dakota, what is the One Piece?

Speaker 2:

The One Piece is the Friends we Made Along the Way and all of Goldie Rogers' treasure. Well, actually I'm going to ask you because I'm not huge on like the One Piece fandom, so I don't actually know too much about like what happens. But I do know that there is this one guy called Mont Blanc Noland who had, you know, told the king of you know, his nation that he had found a city of gold. And by the time that the king came to like look for the city of gold, it had supposedly sunk into the sea and he was labeled as a liar. Could the One Piece be this city of gold?

Speaker 1:

You know, I'm actually in the arc that deals with that now. Oh yeah, so I haven't got to the part to where they find the gold, if there is gold. But I am at the part where they found out what happened with the city, or the part of the islands where the city was.

Speaker 2:

So Noland might not be the liar he's suggested to be interesting. Okay Right.

Speaker 1:

Right, right. Some stuff happened between the time of his discovery and the time that he brought all the people over. So fascinating.

Speaker 2:

I can't wait to get to that. Okay, Anthony, have a good night Friends. Have a good morning wherever you're, whatever time you're listening to this. I hope you guys enjoyed it and see you on the next one.

Speaker 1:

Alrighty Bye.

Speaker 2:

Bye.

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