In directly responding to the obsessive hopes of series shippers far and wide, Netflix’s live-action One Piece co-showrunner has revealed that one of series creator Eiichiro Oda’s core demands for the adaptation was that there be absolutely no romance between the members of the Straw Hat crew.
Maeda provided this new insight into the mangaka’s understandably rigorous standards while speaking to TVLine‘s Andy Swift about the recent buzz from certain audiences around the chemistry seen between actors Emily Rudd and Mackenyu in their respective roles as Nami and Roronoa Zoro.
Pressed by the outlet on whether or not the ease in which the actors got along onscreen was hinting towards an eventual romance between the two heroes, the showrunner adamantly declared that any such reading of their relationship as both friends and crew members was “not intended”.
“One of the mandates from Eiichiro Oda was against romance on the crew,” he told Swift. “That is a hard no, as far as the manga and the live-action show are concerned.”
“[If fans are seeing hints of a romance between any crew members] it was because they just had great chemistry together,” he added. “But that certainly was not the intent. One of the fun things about watching television is what you read into it and what you bring to the table when you’re watching a show.”
Refusing to let go of his obsession with finding deep romance within a shonen series, Swift then turned his speculative attentions towards the unexpected friendship that sparks between Koby and Helmeppo upon their enlistment to the Marines and relayed the sentiment, “Let’s be honest, if One Piece were any other Netflix original series, Koby and Helmeppo probably would be a thing by now.”
In turn, Maeda shut down this line of thinking and assured Swift that their friendship was nothing more than a true “bromance”, and that despite their stories receiving a slight expansion from the original manga, they would not suddenly be revealed to have romantic feelings for each other.
“I wanted Koby to have a relationship that grew and changed as they went along, becoming unlikely allies after being hardened enemies at the beginning,” Maeda assured Swift.
It should be noted that Oda’s aversion to romance within One Piece, particularly among the Straw Hats themselves, is not limited to Netflic’s live-action adaptation.
Rather, the mangaka has consistently held that such storylines have no place in his series because its target audience is, primarily, young boys.
Asked by a fan during Jump Festa 2009, “Who does Nami like [in a romantic sense]?”, the mangaka asserted, “Hmm, in a romantic sense? I don’t think there will be any romance among that crew. Nami probably sees all the good aspects/qualities of those guys, but One Piec isn’t a romance.”
“Maybe a lot of girl readers ask this kind of question,” he then blunlty observed, per a transcription of his appearance provided by Viz Media. “Boys are not interested at all. One Piece is basically a shonen manga, manga for boys, so romance isn’t depicted.”
All eight episodes of Netflix’s live-action One Piece are now streaming.