Posted in: Anime, Netflix, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: Monkey D Luffy, netflix, one piece, preview, thanksgiving

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade No Smooth Sailing for Monkey D. Luffy

Monkey D. Luffy made his first appearance during today's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - but it wasn't smooth sailing for the "King of the Pirates."

With the strikes now over (and SAG-AFTRA currently voting to ratify its new three-year deal), a whole lot of productions have been able to get back underway. One of the shows that we're keeping our radar tuned to is Netflix, Tomorrow Studios & publisher Shueisha's live-action series take on author Eiichiro Oda's manga One Piece. With the anime celebrating its 25th anniversary next year, we're expecting to be seeing & hearing a lot more from Monkey D. Luffy, his crew, and the anime's universe to celebrate – and that celebration started today. During the 97th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade earlier today, Luffy was honored with an official balloon – but it wasn't all smooth sailing for the "King of the Pirates." By the time the balloon had reached the main media spotlight, a branch had deflated the brim of Luffy's hat before Luffy responded by appearing to take a swing at a traffic pole.

Here's a look at how Luffy faired in the beginning (with the mishap at the 1:21:15 mark), followed by a chance he got to course-correct a bit and get back on track – though it's pretty safe to say that his hate had seen better days:

Thanks to a very informative recent interview with Variety, co-showrunner Matt Owens offered more details on the efforts to bring Jamie Lee Curtis aboard as Dr. Kureha. The elderly Drum Island doctor (called a "witch" by some) is also the mentor and adoptive mother of Tony Tony Chopper – who is already confirmed to appear in the second season.

Owens Updates Jamie Lee Curtis/Dr. Kureha: "We have opportunities to stunt cast some roles, some rules that are very important, and it came out that Jamie Lee Curtis is a 'One Piece' fan. As soon as she said that, we were like, okay, we have to try and get her on the show. What can we do? And Doctor Kureha, very luckily, is a character who is coming up in our story and is someone who is perfect for Jamie Lee Curtis," Owens revealed. "So we tried to start manifesting this dream of ours. After she won her Oscar, the writers' room sent her a figure of Doctor Kureha with a nice note that said, 'Congratulations on your statue, here's another one to put next to it. Hope to speak to you soon.'" Owens continued, "When she reposted that, it got a lot of fan interest, and I commented on it. We're trying to manifest it. Yes, as of right now, SAG is still striking, so there have not been real conversations. But as soon as there can be, I'm ready. I will take her out to dinner, we'll talk about it. We'll do all of it because, at this point, we're writing for her — we really, really want her to come and play with us in Season 2."

Here's a look at the official trailer for Netflix's One Piece, with the streaming series adaptation currently streaming – and following that, we have a look back at the previously-released teaser trailer and additional information on the streaming series adaptation:

Netflix's One Piece: What You Need to Know…

Netflix's One Piece stars Iñaki Godoy (Who Killed Sara?) as Monkey D. Luffy, Peter Gadiot (Yellowjackets) as Shanks, Mackenyu (Ruroni Kenshin: Final Chapter) as Rornoa Zoro, Emily Rudd (Fear Street) as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson (All Rise) as Usopp, Taz Skylar (Boiling Point) as Sanji, Morgan Davies (The Evil Dead) as Koby, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino (The Sex Lives of College Girls) as Alvida, Aidan Scott (Action Point) as Helmeppo, Jeff Ward (Hacks) as Buggy, McKinley Belcher III (Ozark) as Arlong, Vincent Regan (Troy) as Garp, Langley Kirkwood as Captain Morgan, Celeste Loots as Kaya, Alexander Maniatis as Klahadore, Craig Fairbrass as Chef Zeff, Steven Ward as Mihawk, and Chioma Umeala as Nojiko. Now here's a look back at the behind-the-scenes featurette showcasing just how massive of production the live-action series take on One Piece has become (including some amazing looking examples of how the concept art is coming to life):

The streamer's 8-episode series highlights the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew as they explore a fantastical world of endless oceans and exotic islands in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as "One Piece" to become the next Pirate King. Steven Maeda (Lost, The X-Files) serves as writer, showrunner & executive producer, with Matt Owens (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel's Luke Cage) also writing as well as producing. Oda serves as an executive producer alongside Tomorrow Studios' Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements (with Netflix and Tomorrow Studios co-producing).

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