Netflix’s anime adaptation One Piece has deservedly become a hit. Not only because the makers show a lot of love and respect for the original, but also deviate from it very cleverly in some places. An example is villain Arlong (in the adaptation: McKinley Belcher III). In order for it to remain with fans in season 2, the adaptation has to break with the template again. Beware, spoilers!
One Piece villain Arlong has to put the Netflix pirates to the test in season 2
Arlong is the leader of a group of fishman pirates who want to conquer the waters of the East Blue and, among other things, brutally subjugate the village of Kokos. He has heroine Nami (Emily Rudd) enslaved as a child and her mother killed. He is not only an exciting villain, but also an important one for the main characters. But after a duel with Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), he never appears again in the anime. That’s a mistake the Netflix adaptation shouldn’t repeat.
Netflix
Arlong (McKinley Belcher III) in the Netflix series
It’s a mistake because Arlong is a gauge of Nami’s development like no other character. He could do it in a moment of weakness ambushed with her childhood trauma and question pride in their careers. It could show in Season 2 or Season 3 what strength Nami has actually acquired. In a series whose main theme is fighting for one’s dreams, a character like Arlong has extreme potential.
One Piece: Arlong delivers the best scenes in the Netflix series due to an important change
In the One Piece anime, the absence of the character may not matter because new villains with interesting characteristics are constantly appearing. The Netflix implementation has to limit its focus and achieves exactly that through various changes compared to the One Piece template.
One of them gives Arlong an exciting new motivation. While in the anime he is just a hateful racist, in the Netflix series he becomes a cruel avenger for the subjugation of the fish people. The monologues in which he smugly attacks the arrogance of the human race, are among the best the adaptation has to offer.
Toei Animation/Crunchyroll
Arlong and Nami in the One Piece anime
It would be all the more wasteful for Netflix to simply let him disappear after the season 1 finale. In addition to his importance to Nami, he has in the live-action version a schizophrenic mixture of oppressor and oppressed, where the power relationships in the One Piece world can be explained in many ways.
Season 2 of the Netflix series is now a done deal. For the coming seasons, the producers have countless villains from the original at their disposal. I for one hope they focus on the most exciting ones. And Arlong is definitely one of them, also thanks to his own contribution to the adaptation.
Podcast: That’s why Netflix series look so cheap
These questions have been coming up for years: Why do all Netflix series look the same and sometimes even cheap. In the (spoiler-free) episode we define the “Netflix look” that series like One Piece, Sandman and The Witcher have in common.
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In the second part of the episode we explain three reasons why Netflix series and films look like this – and why you sometimes don’t even notice their big budget.
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