Eiichiro Oda Saved the Live Action One Piece From Major Changes

It turns out the live action One Piece could have looked very different. Former showrunner Steven Maeda recently shared on the Trash Taste Podcast that early development of the series hit a rough patch when the vision began drifting away from the original manga.

Maeda revealed that after a change in leadership at the studio, the team was asked to cut the episode count from ten to eight while also slashing the budget in half. This pressure led to some drastic script changes that did not sit well with the series creator. Eiichiro Oda reportedly pushed back hard against these revisions and demanded the production return to the spirit of his source material.

Because of Oda insistence, Netflix reevaluated its approach to the adaptation. This intervention ensured the final result stayed true to the characters and story fans know and love. It is a great reminder of why keeping the original creator involved is so important for these big projects.