I will be the first to admit that Anime and Manga are the biggest blind spots in my geekdom and I had no idea what "One Piece" was even about prior to starting this adaptation on Netflix. I had my eye on it though, and the positive reviews convinced me that I should try it. I'm glad I did as I enjoyed this series quite a bit.
Monkey D. Luffy (Inaki Godoy) is an enthusiastic young man, looking to find the mythical treasure "The One Piece" that will make him king of the Pirates. As he goes, he recruits other individuals to his cause including Nami (Emily Rudd) a thief and map maker and Roronoa (Mackenyu) a master swordsman and former Pirate hunter. Luffy and his "Straw Hat Pirates" make both friends and enemies as he tries to begin his quest and is pursued vigorously by Vice Admiral Garp (Vincent Regan) whose Marines are the scourge of all pirates.
What's not instantly apparent from the series is that, beyond the colourful sets and costumes, there's a real fantasy element that came as a surprise to me. I won't specify precisely what I'm talking about, so any other complete novices, like me, can have the same surprise but it really opened up the possibilities of the series when it happened. There are also background fantasy elements such as certain characters being anthropomorphised animals that is never even discussed, until it becomes a plot point. It might have been insufferably twee in the hands of another production team, but I really think that there's something about the balance that they get spot on.
You still might not care, but I was totally committed to the series due to how earnest and open-hearted Inaki Godoy plays the lead character. It's an enthusiasm that just drags you in and there's real chemistry between him and the rest of his crew.
I really enjoyed it and am happy it's done well enough that it'll be back for at least one more season.