A very interesting phenomenon can be observed in the Netflix adaptation of “One Piece”: The series has been well received by the public which wasn’t necessarily to be expected after the sometimes malicious reactions to the first trailer and with a usually highly critical fan base of the original. The audience scores stands at an amazing positive rating of 96 percent, on the In addition, there is the extremely strong average rating of 8.5/10 points.
But the enthusiasm of the fans is not necessarily reflected in the ratings: Although “One Piece” started as expected at No. 1 on Netflix’s international weekly charts, despite the hype, it failed to achieve the record result many had hoped for. FILMSTARTS editor Björn Becher has already classified the “One Piece” numbers for you in detail. And now there’s more not-so-rosy news about the series’ Netflix position:
In the US, “One Piece” has already plummeted from No. 1 to No. 2 on Netflix’s daily top ten charts in just one week. “One Piece” was not overthrown by another major series production, but by a comedy special: “Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs”.
Displaced from the first place: is that a problem?
In fact, this special only lasts a short 52 minutes, which makes it all the more bitter that he managed to catch up with a series with eight roughly hour-long episodes in the daily value. It is highly likely that ‘One Piece’ will regain the top spot again soon as the series has a much longer runtime and will likely continue to dominate the weekly charts. But Moving to second place in the all-important US market so soon after launch doesn’t bode particularly well for One Piece. which trade magazines also love clearly indicate.
But let’s not dive into the doomsday prophecies and see what these stats could mean for Season 2 of One Piece. Yes, there is actually no green light for the sequel yet. As always, Netflix looks at the success of the first season, in this case particularly carefully because ‘One Piece’ is a very expensive series.
So far, its success may not have been as stellar as many hoped – but “One Piece” could benefit here from the fact that Netflix just extended the observation period for its all-time charts from four weeks to three months.
Can “One Piece” Benefit From Word Of Mouth?
Due to the hugely positive response from fans – and the series’ reviews are also doing well – ‘One Piece’ could benefit from word of mouth in the coming weeks. The fact that there are good ratings, but no record numbers so far, may be related to the fact that only fans of the manga template or the anime series have tuned in so far.
Now that the live-action adaptation has received its stamp of approval from the fanbase, mainstream audiences have absolutely nothing to do with Monkey D. Luffy’s (Inaki Godoy) Straw Hat Gang can become aware of “One Piece”.
The ratings, which so far are not outstanding, and the fall to second place in the US are therefore a warning sign. But it’s possible that ‘One Piece’ will still develop staying power – and be successful enough for Netflix to order season 2 of the expensive series.
The scripts for season 2 are ready
By the way, there was even a promising update for this. Marty Adelstein, one of the producers of One Piece, to Opposite that the scripts for season 2 are already ready.
Naturally, work on the new episodes cannot begin until the strike of the actors’ unions has ended. But Producer Becky Clements thinks it’s realistic One Piece season 2 could be released in 12 to 18 months. This means that a start in 2024 would even be possible, but then no later than early 2025.
In addition, those responsible would have already received positive signals from Netflix itself for a possible extension. After the launch of One Piece, they were told over the phone that they had exceeded Netflix’s expectations.
Podcast for “One Piece” fans: the German voice of Luffy in an interview
Jan Felix Wuttig from our sister site Moviepilot spoke to Daniel Schlauch on the Streamgefass podcast, who has been lending his voice to Straw Hat pirate Luffy for over 20 years. It’s not just about Daniel Schlauch’s involvement in Netflix’s live-action adaptation, but also the highlights from the new series and why she was able to break the curse of bad anime adaptations. Just listen:
FILMSTARTS video editor Sebastian Gerdshikow also took a closer look at Netflix’s “One Piece” and explains in a video why the live-action adaptation of Eiichirō Oda’s manga template turned out so well. The fact that Oda himself worked on, for example, the Netflix series, may have played a major role in this – after all, he was able to ensure that the new series remained true to the template: