Given that the most demanding requirement of the 2017 Death Note live-action adaptation by Netflix was to align the killings with the name written in Light Yagami’s diary and yet it failed, surprised would be an understatement for audiences’ reaction when they witnessed the One Piece 2023 live-action. Bringing to life the bizarre yet beloved adventures of the Straw Hat pirates, the series had won over fans less than an hour into its first episode. And by the end of it, had already taken over Netflix’s charts, much to everyone’s surprise.

While many have given their two cents on what worked for the adaptation, there is no penny in the pond more valuable right now than that of Steven Maeda. After all, he is one half of the team that broke Netflix’s live-action anime adaptation curse.

Steven Maeda reflects on how One Piece broke the curse

Given that a week before the release of their dream project, the showrunners of One Piece, were still convincing fans of their good intentions with the live-action, it is clear that they have experienced their fair share of tricky scenarios. Yet, the trickiest of them all was still breathing on their neck: Why did the One Piece live-action work when many others had failed? Maeda, in his interview with ComicBook, finally decided to answer it. According to him, it was “love and care and a lot of money.”

The showrunner smartly strayed away from making any snide remarks about Netflix’s previously failed attempts at making a successful live-action. Maeda focused on what they had done right with One Piece. Starting from the intention down to the zeroes on the budget, the showrunners ticked all the right boxes required to make a masterpiece.

While Steven Maeda stated the major reasons that led to the series breaking the curse, he seemed to have overlooked the most pivotal reason of all: Eiichiro Oda.

How Eiichiro Oda gave Netflix its most successful anime series yet

When Steven Maeda stated what convinced fans about One Piece, he pointed out the love, care, and money with which it was made. The showrunner’s answer, for all its rights, lacks Eiichiro Oda. If the same had been the case with the live-action as well, an overwhelming number of audiences that watched it due to his approval would have disregarded the series much like Cowboy Bebop and Death Note‘s Netflix adaptations.

Netflix’s most popular attempts at live-action anime adaptation, although for the wrong reasons, have been Cowboy Bebop and Death Note. The live-action adaptations of both series lacked the involvement of the original creators, a blessing that the One Piece adaptation enjoyed. It was his presence and constant involvement that allowed the creators to make a series that fans would love and ultimately break Netflix’s curse.

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