I barely knew One Piece – now I’m in love

Luca Fontana

17.3.2026

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Over a thousand anime episodes in 30 years – and I’ve barely watched any. Nevertheless, Netflix’s adaptation completely gripped me. Maybe exactly because this crazy pirate world feels like one big adventure for newcomers.

I have a confession: I never got into One Piece. Neither manga nor anime. And this despite the fact that, like so many other nineties kids, I used to wait longingly for the anime slot on RTL2 channel after school to watch Dragonball, Pokémon, Digimon and so many others. But One Piece was the only show that never ensnared me.

After that, anime disappeared from my life for a long time, until my enthusiasm for it flared up again a few years ago. It kind of returned for everyone, really. Since then, I’ve enjoyed discovering new anime universes – but I still gave One Piece a wide berth.

Why? There’s more than one reason – over a thousand, to be exact. That’s how many episodes the anime now has. The manga’s still running too. And full honesty? That’s intimidating if you – like me – absolutely have to follow through with everything you start. So, the massive pirate world of mangaka Eiichirō Oda remained foreign to me for a long time. At least until the Netflix live-action adaptation changed all this.

Because, now that I’ve finally powered through both seasons at record speed, I suddenly can’t get enough of it.

Looking in from the outside

I bet you’re wondering: «How does it actually feel to enter this world without any prior knowledge?» I can tell you: it’s liberating. I see how fans react to certain scenes from Season 2. «Why did this character pop up so early?» they ask. Or: «That lightning thing was much more epic in the anime!»

When I looked it up, I enjoyed the corresponding scene in the anime. It was solid. Sometimes on par, sometimes better, but sometimes less gripping than the live-action version. Nostalgia’s a tricky thing, after all. It can cloud our view. I say that without malice: it’s a real, powerful emotion that sometimes has you comparing it to an original that’s grown bigger in your head over the years than it ever was on-screen.

I don’t have this problem. I watch One Piece and don’t ask myself what was done differently. My only wonder: what’ll happen next? It’s a luxury I enjoy to the full.

But yes, it is sometimes a curse. Especially when I feel like I’m missing out on something. A wink to fans, an Easter Egg, a hint towards big stories coming up or characters that mean more to insiders than they do to me (Brook!! Uh, yeah… Brook?) Just enough to suspect there’s more to the story. But not enough to understand what exactly.

The promise – and a truthful dissection of Season 1

This is probably the reason why I wasn’t even that hyped after Season 1. «I like it, this strange world,» I thought to myself. No more. No less. Now, after Season 2, things have changed: «I love it, what a wonderfully bizarre, wacky world!»

After all, for a newcomer like me, the world of One Piece only feels as big as Season 1 promises from Season 2 onwards.

Looking back, the first season almost seems like a prologue. It introduces the crew, establishes their goals and sets the journey in motion. Narratively, however, it’s still a prelude. The actual goal’s still out of reach: the Grand Line.

This legendary sea route, separating the four oceans of Oda’s world, is the place where pirate king Gol D. Roger is said to have hidden a legendary treasure – the One Piece. His death heralds a new era of pirates. Suddenly, everyone’s looking for this treasure – motivated by wealth, power and fame. Everyone always talks about how incredibly dangerous and crazy the Grand Line is.

Essentially, Season 1 is one big promise, repeating ad nauseam. To be honest, it was a bit exhausting at times, especially for someone like me who doesn’t have an anime or manga in the back of their head whispering, «Just wait, it’s going to be good.»

In Season 2, Luffy and his crew finally reach the Grand Line, where the madness really begins. Everything that still seemed halfway normal in East Blue – those fish people were the most exotic thing – is radically outdone here. Islands suddenly consist of endless cactus landscapes, are populated by dinosaurs and giants, or lie under eternal snow and ice.

And as soon as the Straw Hat Crew head for a new island, I wonder what absurd concept awaits them this time. Then it comes – and it’s usually even more absurd than I imagined. As someone with no prior knowledge of the anime, this is a real gift: no spoilers in my head, no expectations to disappoint. Just pure amazement, island by island.

It is precisely this unrestrained imagination that makes me understand why One Piece has inspired millions of fans for almost 30 years. The world isn’t just massive – it’s unpredictable and approaches its own craziness with a seriousness that works surprisingly well. I regret only starting now, after all!

Cosplay, smoke and snot

Sure, the live-action adaptation still has its peculiarities. Much of it seems deliberately artificial, almost like cosplay – the costumes, make-up and characters are so exaggerated they barely pass as realistic. This was the case in Season 1 too: Netflix’s One Piece doesn’t even try to squeeze its crazy original into a grounded, Nolan-like version of realism.

This also applies to Devil Fruit powers, which take centre stage even more in the second season. Here’s an explainer for anyone stumbling into this world as cluelessly as I did: eating one of these legendary fruits grants supernatural abilities. Just one thing: the user loses their ability to swim. A fair trade, but a dangerous one when you’re constantly on the high seas.

Captain Smoker, for example, turns into pure smoke – consequently smoking not one, but always two cigars simultaneously. Other characters have skin impervious to damage, or have powers that are so absurd you can hardly believe them. I’m deliberately not saying what they are. Only this much: they involve boogers.

Netflix puts all of this on show with a hefty budget, even if the CGI shows its limits here and there. For a TV series, the result is still pretty impressive. Especially for someone like me, who has no anime or manga original in mind and simply takes the shots as they come.

Straw Hat at heart

Despite all these crazy ideas, something else remains central to the series: the Straw Hat Pirate Crew. Season 1 spent a lot of time telling the backstories of individual characters. Their scars, their dreams and their reasons for ending up on this ship in the first place.

Season 2 no longer has to do this. Instead, it thrives on the dynamic that came from this. Arguing and squabbling, misunderstandings and reconciliation, the loyalty that holds the crew together, even when everything around them is getting out of hand.

That’s what One Piece offers. Even to someone like me, who stumbled into this world with no prior knowledge and no nostalgia. I can’t judge whether the characters are faithful to the anime. Or the plot, the world, the creatures and monsters. I can only judge what I see. And what I see inspires me for every adventure.

That’s how I stay tuned in – always following the clouds, on the trail of a legend.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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