So with the One Piece Netflix adaptation haven recently returned for Season 2, plus the recent announcement of the One Piece LEGO special coming this September, I’ve been thinking about One Piece getting an animated American adaptation.
However, not in the sense you may be thinking.
Instead of being a retelling of the original, it would instead be an wholy action-adventure episodic comedy.
Which is a style I know One Piece can work really well with.
And it already has, via the spin-off One Piece Party.
The series would take a lot of inspiration from all sorts of pieces of comedic Western animation.
From the classics like Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Popeye, MGM, Woody Woodpecker, Rocky & Bullwinkle, and Hanna-Barbera.
To modern contemporaries like the Steven Spielberg-produced Warner Bros. cartoons, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n' Eddy, Dexter's Laboratory, Chowder, The Emperor's New Groove, Sam & Max, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Wander Over Yonder.
As for the look the show.
The animation would be reminiscent to lot of early 90s television, particularly of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Television Animation.
Being very fluid and lively.
As the for character designs, they would harken more to the early days of One Piece.
However they would slightly tweaked to....
A) Be more expressive and lively.
And B) Bring more diversity to the characters' looks.
I think @lintushadow_art would be perfect for that job.
Their art strikes that balance being faithful to the early looks of the One Piece characters, while making them much more expressive.
As for the characters appearance's, they would have some changes to how they look.
-Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, Brook and Jinbei would look the same in terms of their outfits.
-Luffy would have tan skin and possess a slim (almost gangly) but muscular frame. He's also now the second shortest of the Straw Hats.
-Zoro would have his original skin tone back.
-Nami would be wearing this (minus the metal arm) and sport a rounder face and more athletic build.
-Usopp would have dark skin and long dreadlocks, possess a lean and muscular build, and be wearing this.
-Sanji possesses a lean build.
-Chopper would now sport a build more like this (but he's still the smallest.....and the sweetest).
-Robin would have a more oval-shaped head, have her tan skin back, a more outward nose, a more muscular build, and this would be here outfit.
-Franky's physical build would be more akin to how it was in the pre-timeskip, and he would be back to having more a pompadour look.
And now, we come to the voice cast.
The series would use voice actors from Los Angeles, the voice acting capital of the world.
Not only that, but it would also feature VAs you commonly see more in Western cartoons.
This series would features an all-star voice cast, featuring VAs from all generations of voice acting.
But before we talk about the new voices, let's talk about the returning ones.
First we'd have Franky, who would still be voiced by Patrick Seitz, since he's already based in LA.
And then there's Zoro, who would be voiced again by, believe or not, Marc Diraison, his voice actor from the 4Kids Dub!
Yes, the same one that gave us this gem
That's largely because....
1#) He's already based in LA, haven been moved there in 2013 to continue his voice acting career like many of his fellow 4Kids voice actors.
2#) He's honestly the best English voice Zoro has ever had. Plus the only one to actually make him sound like a young man. No offense to Christopher Sabat, but he just makes Zoro sound too old.
As for everyone else.
Their voices would strive to either be fairly similar to the Funimation, or still feel like they fit the character.
Luffy would be Kari Wahlgren, who while mostly known for voicing female characters, she has voiced a few male characters, primarily young boys.
But I think she has the capability of voicing a teenage boy.
Nami would be voiced by Kate Higgins.
Usopp would be voiced by Jason Marsden.
Sanji would be voiced by Josh Keaton.
Chopper would be voiced by Kath Soucie.
Robin would be voiced by Jennifer Hale.
Brook would be voiced by Jess Harnell.
Also, fun fact, Jess is also a professional singer as well.
And lastly, Jinbei would be voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
And lastly, we come to the topic on where it would air.
And admittedly, that's sort of a tough one.
Now the no-brainer answer would definitely be Netflix, but I don't know.
I feel like maybe that might be a bit too much One Piece, given how it already has both the original anime and the live-action series.
I'm honestly thinking that it could air on Adult Swim, maybe as part of block with Cartoon Network classics and action comedy-oriented Adult Swim originals in order to not feel too out of place.
But anyway, that's all for now.
Let me know what you guys think about this concept.
I'd also like to hear some ideas about potential episodes and even some casting ideas as well if you have any.
