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Netflix's live-action adaptation of One Piece brings the popular Japanese manga written by Eiichiro Oda and converts it into a high-ocean action-filled festival of pirates, Devil Fruits, and crazy characters. Initially released on August 31, 2023, the show is centered on the East Blue Saga, or the first arc in the One Piece saga, and depicts the primary Straw Hat crew members with their enemies and friends.
If you are a newcomer to the One Piece realm or re-experiencing it in another avatar, here is a comprehensive introduction to all major characters and their corresponding backgrounds.
Cast and Charater Guide in One Piece
Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy
Step right up and get to know Monkey D. Luffy, the Straw Hat Pirates' fearless leader and the pulse of their beloved world of One Piece! Bringing this rubber-boned hero to life is Iñaki Godoy, a Mexican voice actor who has been in the game since 2016. Luffy's got it all figured out: Become the Pirate King by getting his hands on the mythic One Piece treasure. And how does he manage it? With the phenomenal strength of the Gum-Gum Fruit (Gomu Gomu no Mi), which transforms his body into a stretchy, bouncy marvel!
Godoy totally gets Luffy's contagious energy. He loads the character with wide-eyed excitement and unlimited enthusiasm to a tee, capturing Luffy's loose-limbed and wild-at-heart personality perfectly. Indeed, Godoy is so good at portraying the character that he essentially becomes Luffy, even down to shadowing the famous movements from the original anime and manga. Godoy previously appeared in TV shows like Who Killed Sara?. This is his first international breakout role.
Mackenyu Arata as Roronoa Zoro
Mackenyu Arata as Roronoa Zoro Mackenyu, the son of Japanese-American actor and martial arts icon Sonny Chiba, plays Roronoa Zoro — a three-sword-wielding swordsman master who carries one sword in his mouth. Zoro is the first crew member to join Luffy and is well known for being dedicated, serious, and a competitive swordsman among other swordsmen.
Mackenyu's screen background acting out action roles like Rurouni Kenshin: The Final and Knights of the Zodiac had readied him to play the demands of executing Zoro's violent fighting style and unyielding devotion.
Nami Emily as Emily Rudd
Rudd plays the role of Nami, the Straw Hat crew's cartographer. Nami is a genius cartographer with a sad history regarding Arlong's Fish-Man Pirates. Even though she first joins the crew for her own secret reasons, she later becomes a committed member and one of Luffy's closest friends.
Rudd brings vulnerability, insight, and determination to Nami. Before securing this role, she had appeared in Netflix's Fear Street trilogy, so she has a strong genre-movie resume.
Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp
Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp Gibson plays Usopp, the crew's marksman and tall-tale teller, who is quick with his words and becoming braver. Usopp is both comic relief and a stand-in for the ordinary guy, fearful but trying to be strong.
Gibson brings both the comedy and the tragedy of the role of Usopp. His credits have included Greenleaf and other TV series, but this is his biggest role to date.
Taz Skylar as Sanji
Sanji, the Straw Hat cook in One Piece is portrayed by Taz Skylar, a British-Spanish actor. Known for his chivalry, culinary skills, and powerful leg-based martial arts, Sanji is the final core member introduced in Season 1. Skylar underwent intense physical and culinary training to reflect Sanji’s precise combat and cooking style.
Sanji’s character is a blend of flirtatious charm, deep loyalty, and ambition to find the All Blue, a mythical sea filled with every kind of fish. Skylar’s previous credits include Villain and Boiling Point.
Vincent Regan as Vice Admiral Garp
Garp, the grandfather of Luffy and the senior Marine, is played by Vincent Regan once more. Garp, Luffy's and the senior Marine's grandfather. Garp is dedicated to discipline and justice, though against Luffy's pirating way of life, but is also deeply fond of him. Regan's ability portrays the character's internal struggle between duty and love for family.
An award-winning actor for his performances in Troy, 300, and Snow White and the Huntsman, Regan's commanding presence overwhelms the screen in the character.
Morgan Davies as Koby
Morgan Davies is an Australian actor who plays Koby, starting as a timid cabin boy under pirate captain Alvida and becoming a member of the Marines to seek out justice. Koby's journey is a journey of courage and a sense of moral duty. His relationship with Luffy throughout the series is what drives him along in his development.
Davies, who has also collaborated on The End and Evil Dead Rise, brings dramatic depth to an actor who begins small but hopes to achieve something big.
Aidan Scott as Helmeppo
In One Piece, Aidan Scott plays Helmeppo, the brattish, snobbish son of questionable Marine officer Captain Morgan. He is presented as a baddie, but gradually turns into a multidimensional character as he gets trained by Garp and Koby.
Scott acted in this dual role insidiously first as a comic-book villain and later as a reformed character. He had acted earlier in Action Point and Between the Devil.
Jeff Ward as Buggy the Clown
Jeff Ward portrays Buggy the Clown in One Piece. He is the flamboyant and evil pirate captain who can divide his body into fractions due to the power of the Chop-Chop Fruit (Bara Bara no Mi). The theatrics and narcissism of Buggy are at full force, and Ward's performance is filled with theatrics.
Ward has perhaps most popularly been seen playing Deke Shaw on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and his practice of doing oddball characters makes bringing the wacky personality of Buggy to the screen look believable.
McKinley Belcher III as Arlong
McKinley Belcher III plays Arlong, the leader of the Arlong Pirates and a major antagonist in the East Blue arc. A Fish-Man who believes in species superiority, Arlong’s oppressive rule over Nami’s village leaves lasting trauma.
Belcher’s portrayal is calm and menacing, providing a sense of power behind Arlong’s ideology. His credits include Ozark, Marriage Story, and The Passage.
Peter Gadiot as Shanks
In One Piece, Peter Gadiot plays Red-Haired Shanks, captain of the Red Hair Pirates and the idol of Luffy. Shanks rescues Luffy in the most crucial moment of his childhood and bestows his mythical straw hat.
Gadiot's calm and composed acting is in the best interest of his character as a wise and mighty personality in Luffy's life.
Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Alvida
Paulino, as Alvida, is the pirate captain Luffy meets. Initially presented as dictatorial and cruel, she later consumes the Smooth-Smooth Fruit (Sube Sube no Mi), and her appearance is drastically altered.
Paulino, from The Sex Lives of College Girls, serves up Alvida's sadism and narcissism with a comedic flourish.
Alexander Maniatis Klahadore / Kuro
Alexander Maniatis is slimy Klahadore in One Piece, later uncovered to be the infamous pirate Captain Kuro. Kuro wears the guise of a butler with plans to murder his young ward so that he can take over her money.
Maniatis gives a constantly shifting performance of politeness and threat. The South African was recently seen in G20.
The live-action One Piece on Netflix brings a huge cast of characters, with actors from various ethnic backgrounds taking on some of the most recognizable positions in contemporary manga history. Each casting decision is undertaken to be true to the source material as it is translated for the international masses.
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New cast and new characters in future seasons build upon this ever-expanding universe.
Also read: One Piece Season 2 shares a major Chopper tease in an exclusive first look ahead of Tudum
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