I loved OnePiece on Netflix, then I read the manga...(ft. Merphy Napier)

I watched the One Piece live action adaptation when it came out last year and totally fell in love with it. I decided to read the East Blue saga to see how the Manga compared with the show. Today, we are going to talk about it! Of course I had to bring-on my friend and One Piece expert, Merphy Napier. Let me know your thoughts below!

Merphy's manga channel: @merphynapier42
Merphy's book channel: @merphynapierreviews

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[Bookborn]

A quick note to address a lot of comments: Because I know that seasons 2 (and maybe 3!) are being filmed and thus will be coming out in a reasonable amount of time, I don't mind waiting for the show. But obviously if that changes, and it starts being YEARS between seasons or whatever, I'll switch to manga first! So... no worries, it won't be ten years before I finish lol!

[baning]

Merphy being the one to correct character names is a whole new experience

[applejackjk]

"it's just the first hundred chapters" is the most One Piece thing to say.

[merphynapier]

Thank you so much for inviting me to chat! I feel we barely touched the surface of all there is to talk about, but it was so much fun and I can’t wait for season two!

[pete-treedish]

I’m a simple man I see a 1+ hour long one piece video I watch it

[beckhampang]

You know it's hilarious how Merphy went from book reviewer trying manga for the first time into now known as a one piece enthusiast

[yutubnyaDimi]

"The fights are too long"
*Merphy makes funny faces

Peak content

[MonkeyDVictory]

I found it so funny that Murphy became some kind of ambassador of One Piece. She's everywhere.

[SoulmatesFire]

One Piece made you smile, I think Oda would be so happy to hear this because its the core of his story. This is the feeling he is trying to convey through his characters.

[sneakinynja]

My favorite part of this was Merphy trying so not be a brazen fanatic while talking about Buggy. She didn't start actively worshipping his throne and I know that must've killed her on the inside. 😂

[pierrelehnen]

The thing with ChouChou (and other characters too) is that in the manga the author always goes out of his way to make you care for them and make you really want them to be saved, instead of just trusting that "oh it's a dog, people will want a dog to be saved". And that is a big part of Luffy's character as well, that was kinda lost on the show. Luffy learns about Chouchou and thinks "wow this dog is something else" and then fights for him. He sees the mayor doing what he can for his city and thinks the same thing. It's only because he recognizes those characters that he decides to fight for them. Chouchou is also a vital point of Nami's story because when Luffy fights for him, that's the moment that starts breaking her whole view about pirates always being evil. In the show they boiled all of that down to Luffy telling Zoro they had to save the random people that were left in chains by Buggy. All those characters had no weight in Luffy's fight or any of his motivations (they barely even got any lines), but the show still used them to show Luffy as "a different kind of pirate" to Nami. They got saved simply because they existed and needed saving, which is something I think manga Luffy wouldn't really bother doing.

I don't mind characters being cut, but the for the next seasons I really hope they spend a few minutes making us care about the characters that stay and play a part in the story, because that is part of the magic of One Piece and I feel that without it the show will get old long before the story is completed.

[zackfross]

Merphy is like the Nick Fury of the One Piece Fandomverse.

[sohumshah]

Lmfaoooo Merphy hiding spoilers under the cover of jokes 🤣

[Ryroe]

I live for this. One Piece has become every booktuber's first manga - and for good reason. Welcome on board :)

[ScootsYoutube]

LET’S GO!! Bookborn joining the Strawhats journey wasn’t on my bingo card 🏴‍☠️😁

[ujmqaz]

To be honest, first starting One Piece (the manga), I also had the idea of it being "a monster of the week story that would go on forever". But, what changed that mindset was when the strawhats made it to the Grand Line. Its a real sense of progress on the journey to everyone's goals, and that was the moment I was like "ah, there's going to be an ending that we can see them make concrete steps towards achieving."

One Piece is pretty good at having this sense of "I know where were going to end up, trust me", you can see it in the scene Mihawk first shows up. The story is saying "this is where Zoro is going to end up. Every time he gets stronger, measure him to Hawkeye to see how close he is to his goal."

In any case, it's definitely fun to see someone going from LA to manga - it's a very unique perspective!

[AzenHawke]

I bet Merphy was dying of laughter inside when they were talking about new crewmates

[HerculesOfHate]

The Usopp hate always hurts when I hear it even if its just an initial reaction. A self insert character representing the crux of humanity and its flaws and weaknesses but also shining a light on overcoming those weaknesses to persevere is such a wonderful idea to add to such a fantastical story. He really is such a great character, but the story is a comedy so i feel a lot of people get too lost in the weeds and cant see through the goofiness. Luckily i know that most people learn to appreciate him more through more of the story but still makes me a sad pup to hear the disinterest in him.

[jeffreymeehan]

Merphy's right in that the general One Piece fandom doesn't really care about how you begin/continue your journey through this story. We just love that you're set sail on this incredible voyage that we all love! Welcome aboard: always great to have a new nakama!

[klairvoyance]

Saw this comment on another video but I like how the Oda uses the East Blue villains to draw an outline around the way Luffy sees the world. His idea of treasure being contrasted against Buggy (& Chouchou haha). His idea of loyalty being contrasted against Kuro. His idea of power being contrasted against Don Krieg. And then with Arlong finally all of this together. Still loved the live action's take on the East Blue Saga tho!