It’s finally here!! One Piece Live Action (OPLA as I will call it from now on) was finally released, and oh boy, did it take the world by storm, by “breaking the live action curse”, becoming the most-watched series in 84 countries, dethroning both Wednesday and Stranger Things.
This is definitely a big one for all the fans who want the (notoriously poor in most aspects) live adaptation to succeed and maybe even get into Season 2.
Despite all of this, there are still fans who want the adaptation to be a 100% copy of the original, which is simply not possible due to many limitations (the biggest being that the devil fruit cannot real ????). We all know that they pay attention to every little change, but some of their words may have some value to it.
In this article we’ve compiled every major change we noticed in the story compared to the manga. (Note: These changes are not necessarily bad. This is just an archive of the changes made.)
Garp was not present at Roger’s execution
The biggest change is found at the start of this series. We start the series with Monkey D. Garp showing up and announcing Gold Roger’s execution. Everyone knows this has never happened in manga and anime. Instead, that iconic scene is the start of the anime’s nostalgic opening, “We Are.”
It’s understandable that this was done in the live-action version, to introduce Garp at the beginning of the series as an important character relevant throughout the series. The unfortunate thing is they revealed Garp as Luffy’s grandfather early in the series.
In the manga, this doesn’t happen until after Enies Lobby in Chapter 431. It’s shocking to see it happen when we’re so invested in the story. Revealing this prematurely just cost me the moment.
Garp announces Gold Roger’s execution
Garp investigates Baroque works:
Some other things that don’t fit are Garp investigating “Baroque Works”; “asked” Dracule Mihawk to find Luffy; and most of all, Garp has been after Luffy since the beginning.
In the canonical version of the story, Garp is actually introduced at the beginning without much knowledge about who he is. We only know that he went there to arrest Captain Morgan for his crimes.
Events in Shells Town and Orange Town
Briefly, These things never exactly happened in the manga and that is a major deviation from the classic progression.
What actually happened was that Luffy and Koby went to Shells Town, and after hearing about Zoro, he tried to recruit him. Ultimately, he angered Helmeppo and Captain Morgan, but Zoro and he fought and defeated them, freeing the town from Morgan’s tyranny.
This is again very different from what happened in OPLA, even Nami was involved , trying to steal the map to the Grand Line. While it’s true that Nami stole the Grand Line map, it certainly wasn’t from the Naval Base. Instead It’s from our unhappy clown friend Buggy.
Speaking of Buggy, one thing many OG fans may have noticed is that Chou-Chou and his entire backstory were missing. Maybe, the script writers felt it was too unnecessary to fit the limited time so they didn’t include it, but there is definitely a dog similar to Chou-Chou at the end of the episode.
Similar Lion Ritchie and the former captain of the Buggy Pirates were also eliminatedpossibly due to budget and CGI issues.
Syrup Village
This whole episode was a shock to me. Although the basic plot of the episode remains the same as the manga, most of the smaller details have been changed greatly.
To start the episode, Luffy never saw the ship in the first place. Only after receiving it after defeating the Kuro Pirates did he see it and name it. One Another very important part was left out, which is the three children of the Usopp pirates: Pepper, Carrot and Onions. Led by Usopp.
However, if I had to say the biggest change would be The war was very different.
In the manga, Kuro called Django and the rest of his crew to Syrup Village 3 years after he left to invade. Django, a hypnotist, forced Kaya to sign a will giving her assets to Kuro and killed her. In One Piece Live Action, Luffy and his teammates defeated the Black Cat Pirates on the shores of Syrup Village.
Unlike manga, in live-action, there is no crew, no Django, and the fight happens at night in the mansion. Django’s absence is certainly disappointing since he was a comedic character who joined the Navy and appeared later. (Fun fact: Django is said to have a bonus poster in episode 1, suggesting he exists in the OPLA universe).
Another point is that, in the manga, Sham and Buchi are called “Meowban Brothers” while in the live-action, Sham is female.
Besides these people there are others. changes such as the fact that Merry never died in the manga. In fact, he was the one who designed the Going Merry, hence its iconography and name.
Another thing is that the Marines never appear as mentioned in Garp’s section. All of those are modifications to show Garp’s involvement. Last in the same episode (3) we see Arlong and the Arlong Pirates visiting Buggy. This again has never happened in the manga or anime.
Marines in Syrup Village
Baratie
Baratie was definitely a fun arc in the original anime and the live-action recreated it quite well with its own twists and turns. Like in the manga, Sanji is a young genius chef who falls in love with any woman he meets and Zeff is a strict boss who always puts Sanji back in his place. Now for the changes…..
Let’s get this out of the way first. Luffy rejects Sanji’s refusal – Not in live-action. Yes, I know what they are thinking…. and unlike in the manga, Don Krieg is not the main villain of this part.
In the manga, after Sanji fed a hungry Gin, he returned with a defeated Don Krieg, who demanded Zeff’s Grand Line diary and started a war between him and the Straw Hats. Rub in live-action, Krieg is dismembered by Dracule Mihawknever gave him the chance to go see Baratie.
Speaking of Mihawk (he’s perfectly cast btw), another big change is Garp never contacted Mihawk in the manga. As far as we know, there was only one time Garp worked with a pirate and he hated it so much that he never talked about it.
Therefore, this event could not have happened in the manga at all. And again the same as before Arlong and the Arlong Pirates never visited Baratie. They were just relaxing in Arlong Park and doing their own thing.
Final change and The biggest change is the way Sanji leaves the ship. Like in the manga, OPLA tells us Sanji and Zeff’s backstory, no changes here, but unlike in the manga, this time Sanji just leaves while thanking him. In the animanga, Sanji actually bowed his head to the ground to thank Zeff for saving his life all those years ago and taking care of him as a father and mentor.
Arlong Pirates in Baratie
Well, they missed the main part. That whole moment is iconic and really paints the picture of how important Zeff and the other chefs are to Sanji.
Oh yes! And before I forget this again, There is no Johnny and Yosaku in live-action. Completely ignored, though with good reason, as they almost never appear again in the manga.
Arlong Park
Let me just keep this short and end quickly. First, as I mentioned many times above, Arlong and his crew never actually appeared before Orange Island and Arlong Park. This was only done in the live-action version presumably to establish Arlong as the most evil villain to defeat.
The biggest change that happened was Nami’s unfortunate story. In the manga, the residents of Coco Village learn that Nami is working to save them. They just pretended to hate her so she could be strong in carrying out her mission.
Not like that, in live-action no one really knows what she’s doing and they really hated her because they thought she betrayed them. Even her older sister was about to hit her if she didn’t explain.
They also changed the part where Nami is captured by the Arlong Pirates and then they make a deal to free the villagers. In live-action, she willingly goes and works for the Arlong Pirates.
One of the main things OPLA got wrong was the course of events. In the manga, Luffy only helps Nami. No questions are asked, no backstory is heard, nothing. In fact, when Nojiko was about to tell their story, Luffy refused to listen and left. This shows that Luffy will do anything for his teammates without reason.
But in live-action, Luffy first heard the full story of what was happening and then proceeded to help Nami. This just takes away from the moment and simplicity of Luffy’s actions.
Another thing that was missed was the iconic scene of Luffy using Arlong’s shark teeth (which could have been a funny scene to clear things up). In addition, the mermaids in live-action are also very small compared to the source material. In the manga, Arlong is almost 1.5 times taller than Luffy. That alone gives him a very intimidating presence.
In live-action, Arlong isn’t much taller, which is understandable (where did they find an 8 foot tall actor). But that still doesn’t answer why they did that. Not using CGI and the like to make Arlong at least a little bigger.
One important character missed in Arlong Park will be Hatchan, the octopus fish-man, who later becomes a nice guy and is quite important in the Sabaody Arc. In fact, he was the reason Luffy punched the heavenly dragon. Because of his omission, it makes me think what OPLA will do if and when they reach that arc.
More broadly, this means that Zoro vs Hachi never happened in live-action. Usually, what works out is that each villain has a crew member who takes on one of the Straw Hats. Kurobi faces off against Sanji, Chew faces off against Usopp, and Hatchan is said to face off against Zoro.
The Straw Hats destroy the gate to Arlong Park
Oh yes…. Most importantly DO NOT WALK TO ARLONG PARK!!! sjsdfsdfasdasd….. How could they forget that???? It’s one of the most iconic scenes of the entire anime!!!!