Iñaki Godoy, the actor who plays Monkey D. Luffy in Netflix’s One Piece, single-handedly eased Eiichiro Oda’s biggest concerns about the live-action adaptation. One Piece tells Luffy’s story as he and his gang of pirates attempt to find a treasure that could turn Luffy into the King of the Pirates. Oda created the One Piece manga in 1997, and the book has been ongoing ever since. Two years later, it was adapted into an anime with over 1,000 episodes and counting. The manga is soon to be adapted into a live-action version, which is to be released on August 31.
In a meet-up video released by Netflix, Oda met with Godoy and explained that he eased his greatest fears about the upcoming live-action One Piece. Oda was worried that they would never be able to find a suitable Luffy. While speaking with a teary-eyed Godoy, Oda explained that he found Godoy to be the perfect candidate to play Luffy. Check out the video and quote below:
“Back then, 26 years ago when I started One Piece, it wasn’t possible to adapt a manga like this into live-action. But, at a certain point in time, the quality of CG and VFX really started to improve, and you could bring anything to life. After seeing many such things, I decided to take the plunge, figuring that if we find a reliable team, we could pull this off and adapt it into live-action. My biggest worry about the live-action was whther we would be able to find someone like Luffy. But I was watching various audition tapes, and when I saw you, I kind of started laughing. You’re just like the character I draw in the manga. I intuitively thought, ‘That’s Luffy’… I can’t imagine anyone else playing this role… I am so grateful that you were born to be just like Luffy.”
Iñaki Godoy Is The Perfect Luffy
Luffy is a character with an energy that can be hard to replicate. He has to be courageous, while also rarely considering the true seriousness of a fight. He has to be a light-hearted teammate with a rough element to him that enables him to stand tall against hardened pirates. He has to be a humble character with an understanding of his own strengths and weaknesses, but he also needs to have the overpowering desire to become the sole King of the Pirates. Any adaptation of One Piece depends on Luffy’s characterization.
Those conflicting elements are exactly why Iñaki Godoy is the perfect Luffy. He has a love for One Piece that lets him connect with Luffy and truly come to terms with the character’s many seemingly contradictory traits. At all times in the One Piece trailer, Luffy feels energetic and interested in everything around him. Godoy perfectly captures the character’s infectious joy. It helps that Godoy is a relatively unknown actor, much like Luffy is an unknown — but still remarkably skilled — young pirate.
Eiichiro Oda’s biggest concern for the live-action One Piece was ensuring that the right Luffy was cast. With Godoy taking the role of Luffy, the show will likely be in good hands. As the show’s success depends on Godoy getting Luffy right, the August 31 premiere of Netflix’s One Piece will determine if the adaptation will be able to match the heights of the anime and the manga.
