Eiichiro Oda embarked on his journey with One Piece in 1997, publishing it in Weekly Shonen Jump. The series swiftly garnered immense popularity, eventually rising to become one of the magazine’s most iconic series and ultimately establishing itself as the world’s preeminent manga.
The series would go on to receive an exceptionally successful anime adaptation, a show that has now exceeded 1,000 episodes and continues to captivate audiences. Within this world of pirates, treasures, dreams, and camaraderie, what truly strikes a chord with people is the remarkable cast of characters.
One Piece fundamentally revolves around the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a rubbery and determined pirate, on his quest to discover hidden treasures and attain the title of ‘King of the Pirates’. Along this incredible journey, he confronts formidable sea creatures, a resilient clown, a deranged butler, and even fishermen.
Translating Oda’s vision into reality was undeniably a formidable undertaking, but the team responsible for Netflix’s adaptation of One Piece proved themselves more than capable of meeting this challenge. In an interview, Netflix’s One Piece production director, Richard Bridgland, talked about how they wanted every minor detail to have a backstory.
Also Read: 10 Movies and TV Shows of ‘One Piece’ Live Action Cast Anime Fans Must Watch
One Piece is No Different from Producer’s Previous Work
In an interview, when production director Richard Bridgland was questioned about this project in comparison to some of his prior work or his previous television shows. He answered that it was quite similar to his previous works, which involved extensive research and artistic endeavors. He said:
In some ways, it was very similar because of my work process with research and drawing and all of that. But what was unique about working on One Piece is that it was important that all the sets had stories. So to make sense of them, I had to give backstories to them, and I was always guided by the One Piece lore and everything, so I didn’t just make stuff up.
He continues:
For instance, with Windmill Village, where Luffy [Iñaki Godoy] comes from, for me, it was very important to understand how Luffy became a pirate, and how he could come across pirates, how much he loved the sea and loved sailing, and all of these things. So, although Windmill Village in the manga is next to the sea, I just thought, “Well, what about if he actually lives over the water?
It’s like one of those fishing villages you get in Indonesia or the Philippines or something where the village is actually built out over the water. His room is just above the water. It would make sense of so much stuff.” Also, how he gets to meet Shanks [Peter Gadiot] because the pirate ships would be pulling in, and it’s a kind of refueling stop for the pirate ships. There were lots of things like that.
He further explained why and how they considered every single detail to be just right, providing some examples.
Richard Bridgland’s Favourite Set from Netflix’s One Piece
Somewhere in the interview, when the production director was asked about his favorite set in the series, he answered with a pleasant smile, saying:
Oh yeah, I’ve been dreading this question. [Laughs] First of all, there were so many sets. This is such a big world. It was like designing four feature films because every two episodes is one part of the East Blue world, and then we move on to a completely new part. We don’t see anything from the previous part. We see Garp’s ship and we see the Going Merry a bit later on crossing over, but otherwise, you just move on to all these different sets.
So, you know, it’s a tough call, but I’ve got to say, I think the sets that I enjoyed, that have kind of really lasted with me and that I’m most affectionate for, I think, probably are the Baratie sets, the exterior Baratie. I think it’s such a striking image.
We were thinking about how we could show more of the ship because we liked it so much, so I came up with the idea of putting the bar inside the fish’s mouth. Having had a few drinks at the dorsal bar myself, I think it is actually probably the best bar I’ve ever been to in the world. [Laughs] So it was pretty unique.
He explained that in a big show with so many sets and scenes, it’s tough to select one as a favorite. However, he liked the Baratie’s set, the cruise restaurant in the middle of the sea, because it was a unique idea to have a bar inside a fish’s mouth.
Source: Collider
