One Piece Season 2 Has A Golden Opportunity To Turn A Joke Anime Character Into A Major Villain

One Piece season 2 will end at Drum Island, meaning the Netflix show has the chance to turn a joke anime character into one of its best villains. Easily Netflix’s best live-action anime adaptation, One Piece season 1 covered the East Blue saga and is now moving to Arabasta. Surprisingly, though, One Piece season 2 will not cover the actual Arabasta arc. It will instead only cover Loguetown, Reverse Mountain, Whisky Peak, Little Garden, and Drum Island, thus saving the Arabasta segment for season 3. This means that Drum Island will be even more important in live-action.

The fact that Drum Island will be One Piece season 2’s final arc means that it will have to deliver not only a good adaptation of Chopper’s origin story but also a set of episodes that conclude the season on a high note. In season 1, the fight against Arlong for Nami’s freedom was the closing act of the story, with Loguetown being saved for season 2. One interesting outcome of One Piece season 2 not covering Arabasta is that Wapol might have to be a more serious, high-stakes villain compared to his anime counterpart.

Wapol Could Become One Piece Season 2’s Final Villain

Wapol Is The Big Bad Of Drum Island After All

Given that Wapol is the main villain of the Drum Island arc, he may also be the final villain of One Piece season 2 considering the show will not get to Arabasta just yet. Born as prince of Drum Island, Wapol grew up to be a fool, selfish monarch who was willing to do the most awful things to keep his power. This includes banning all doctors but one from his country so that people would have no choice but to come for him when needing medical help, which Wapol believed would keep him in power forever no matter what.

While Wapol’s plan to cast out doctors was quite sinister, the character himself was always portrayed as silly and pathetic. However, while One Piece‘s cast is full of silly characters that can be threatening depending on the situation, Wapol might need to be portrayed as a scarier, more effective antagonist if he is to be the final villain of the season. Drum Island will not be “just an arc” in season 2 but rather its final chapter and prelude to season 3, meaning that everything about it should feel big and have high stakes.

Buggy The Clown Proved Netflix’s One Piece Can Make Funny Characters Menacing

Live-Action Buggy Felt Both Silly And Scary

One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda is a master at making silly characters feel threatened and vice versa, which is something that the Netflix show captured very well. A live-action series is expected to feel slightly more grounded and serious than an anime, and One Piece managed to do it without losing track of what makes the source material so great. For example, One Piece’s live-action Buggy the Clown was as funny as his manga counterpart but in a different way. Live-action Buggy felt very menacing despite his silliness, which is exactly what they should do with Wapol.

Although Buggy eventually becomes more important to the story than anyone could have expected, he is introduced as somewhat of a joke villain. Netflix’s One Piece could have easily made fun of Buggy without portraying him as an actual menacing antagonist, a mistake that the show thankfully avoided. The series now faces a similar challenge with Wapol, particularly because everything suggests that the king of Drum Island will be One Piece season 2’s “final boss.’ Wapol shouldn’t be as serious as Arlong, yet he must also not be just a joke villain with no other qualities.

Wapol Being A Serious Villain Would Make Chopper’s Story More Meaningful

Chopper’s Backstory Is Tragic And Emotional

Chopper’s live-action debut was going to be a huge moment no matter what, but the fact that it will happen in the final arc of season 2 makes it even more special. Wapol is to blame for much of the tragedy that Chopper went through, which is why Netflix’s One Piece must get the Drum Island villain right. Chopper has an incredibly sad backstory that is essential to understanding his character and why he loves practicing medicine, and the live-action version should hit as hard as the one in the source material did.

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One Piece season 1 did a fairly good job at portraying the Straw Hats’ backstories, although some changes were made. Making Wapol a more serious villain does not mean changing the essence of the character, who should still be somewhat funny and often feel like a joke. However, he and his allies must possess an actual threat to Luffy and the rest of the crew, all of whom should be stronger now than they were when they defeated Arlong.

Based on the popular manga/anime series, One Piece is a live-action Netflix adaptation of the story from Eiichiro Oda. The show follows the exploits of a band of pirates, the Straw Hats, led by the energetic and adventure-loving Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy is a young man cursed with strange powers after accidentally eating a mysterious fruit. With his friends Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji, Luffy will head across the vast ocean to find the legendary treasure, the One Piece.

Release Date

August 31, 2023

Cast

Iñaki Godoy , Mackenyu , Emily Rudd , Jacob Romero Gibson , Taz Skylar

Seasons

1

Writers

Matt Owens , Steven Maeda , Tom Hyndman

Showrunner

Matt Owens

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