According to the latest whisper on the ocean waves – and one which, if true, would represent a disappointing pivot for the series away from its previously-evidenced dedication to source material accuracy – a supposed casting call for the second season of Netflix’s One Piece has suggested that the live-action series is looking to race-swap the Strawhat Crew’s resident adversary-turned-ally, Nico Robin.
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As reported by numerous outlets, including What’s on Netflix, Anime Hunch, and One Piece franchise-specific Twitter news account Oro Japan, the alleged casting call provides details regarding the series’ desired looks for the live-action portrayals of seven new characters set to run into the Straw Hats during their adventures in Season Two, including:
Crocus, the former doctor of Gol D. Roger’s crew and current best friend to the whale Laboon, for whom Netflix is seeking a male actor of any ethnicity between the ages of 65-79
Marine Captain and Smoke-Smoke Fruit user Smoker, his role to be filled by a white male actor between the ages of 25-35
His first mate, the swordswoman Tashigi, who will reportedly be brought to life by a female actor of Asian descent between the ages of 20-29
Baroque Works officer and Kilo-Kilo Fruit wielder Miss Valentine, whose umbrella-twirling villany is set to be portrayed by a white female actress between the ages of 20-29
Her fellow Baroque Works officer, the Bomb-Bomb Fruit master Mr. 5, his hot-headed and arrogant personality on track to be given to a black male actor between the ages of 20-29
For the Alabastan Princess and honorary Straw Hat Nefertiti Vivi, Netflix is seeking a Female actress of Middle Eastern/North African or South Asian between the ages of 17-20.
(While some may argue that Vivi’s desired casting also represents a race-swap, given that her home of Alabasta is a desert kingdom inspired by real-world Middle Eastern societies, it does not qualify for this classification).
And finally, for Robin, the streaming service is looking to give the role to a Hispanic/Latina actress between the ages of 20-39.
Notably, should the role of Robin end up actually going to such an actress, it would represent the first major race-swapping of a main One Piece character during their translation to live-action.
In Eiichiro Oda’s original manga, the Straw Hat’s resident Poneglyph-reader has always been intended as having extremely fair, near-white skin, as evidenced by the mangaka’s first official colorings of both her adult and childhood selves, as seen in both her color spread debut in the manga’s 226th chapter and the cover to its 41st volume, respectively.
Further, answering a fan’s question, “If One Piece was set in the real world, which countries would the [then] nine Straw Hats come from?”, for the ‘I’m Taking Questions’ feature included in the manga’s 56th volume, Oda opined that when it came to Robin, he imagined her as coming from Russia.
To this end, Netflix’s intention to cast a Latina actress as Robin appears to based on the fact that in the serie’s anime adaptation and for reasons currently unknown, its production studio Toei Animation chose to portray her in her early appearances as having tanned skin, only finally correcting their error after the series’ timeskip.
However, rather than this discrepancy representing some secret confirmation that Robin was meant to come from some vague ethnic background – as believed by some of One Piece‘s more performatively activist fans – given Oda’s proven consistency in portraying her with light skin, the truth is that it represents nothing more than a coloring error on the behalf of Toei.
However, though Robin’s alleged race-swapping would represent, as noted above, the first time such a live-action change was made to a main character, it would not be the first such one to be made to the series’ overall cast.
As seen in Season One, despite being portrayed in the manga as having an olive-skinned-at-darkest skin tone, Nami’s sister Nojiko was depicted as outright black, her part played by Nigerian-South African actress Chioma Umeala.
As of writing, filming for the second season of Netflix’s live-action One Piece is set to commence sometime this June.