Image courtesy of Netflix
It’s been a week since Netflix released the second season of the live-action One Piece, and as promised, Netflix has released 5 episodes of bonus content showcasing the incredible work Tomorrow Studios and the cast did to bring Season 2 to life. This is what we learned.
season 2 of a piece is now available to stream on Netflix, so we’d recommend watching the incredible second season before reading below.
Before you read any further, a third season is also currently filming! You can find all the details on the third season in our ongoing preview here.
The scale, size and detail of the set design are massive
We’ve known since the first season that Tomorrow Studios has already made great strides in set design for the live-action One Piece. However, the second season brought its own unique challenges, but once again, the production team did a great job of bringing the world to life.
The level of detail is so deep that there are some parts of the set that even the most keen fans won’t be able to see clearly. But no stone has been left unturned to bring the world of One Piece to life.
The set for Laboon’s stomach was built and described by Sanji actor Taz Skyler as a five-story building. One Piece production designer Tom Hunnam explains how he designed Loguetown based on the beautiful and picturesque Italian city of Florence. Whiskey Peak is not mentioned, which is inspired by the Mexican town Taos Pueblo in the manga, but Hannan decided to paint the town pink to make it pop, and added all the shops to draw the pirates as agents of Baroque Works. He went even further with the design of Mister 3’s candle house in the Little Garden, making it more intricate and ornate to emphasize his artistic ability with wax.
Ultimately, it was fantastic to see what was involved in bringing Walpole to life, not only with the intricate makeup but also the physical props used to create his impeccable steel jawline.
N’Kon Mametja and Gavin Gomes bring Tony Tony Chopper to life
From Mikaela Hoover’s work on Chopper’s voice to the incredible CGI artists and costume designers, a lot of work went into bringing Tony Chopper to life for the live-action One Piece.
However, Chopper’s two unsung heroes are actors N’Kon and Gavin Gomes. N’Kone is a South African actress who is the physical stand-in for Chopper. She provides the physical performance for the actors to work with, with Mikaela’s voice and likeness being implanted into Chopper in post-production. In addition to the official Netflix post, Mark Hryliuk (Dr. Hryliuk) has widely praised N’Kon for his performance.
Meanwhile, Gavin Gomes is the actor used to play Chopper when he uses his Heavy Point power. With Chopper’s near-human fruit powers, he can transform into his “human form”, transforming from the adorable reindeer self to a form that is often compared to a hairy hominid cryptid. There was no CGI in the design of Heavy Point Chopper; Instead, Gomes wore full-body suits and extensive makeup to give a more human performance.
The stunts are really big and big
The first season had great fight choreography, but the second season takes it to an incredible new level. Namie’s actress Emily Rudd confirmed that the cast was performing most of their own stunts, with the supervision of stunt coordinator Franz Spilhaus, much to the praise of the cast.
Taz Skyler, already known for posting his training videos on his social media, continued training long after the first season ended, making sure he had the physical ability to perform the various kicks, stunts, and acrobatics required to play Sanji. To help with the physicality of Luffy’s role, Iñaki Godoy has also started learning gymnastics.
Tashigi actress Julie Rehwald, who had never worked on a project that required her to use a sword, meant learning from the beginning from the show’s swordsman, Koji. After all, he did a great job of learning swordsmanship in such a short time.
Oh, and Jacob Romero is probably a little older too.
Whiskey Peak Salon was the show’s biggest stunt sequence ever
From McNew’s expressions alone, you can tell how much more intense the stunts and choreography were in the second season, and considering how much Zorro is involved in the action, this was an incredibly physical season for the actor.
None were more challenging than the battle inside the Whiskey Peak Salon. The complex design of the set required McKenna to fight his way through various layers of the salon, and kill several Baroque Works agents in the process. The attention to detail was even visible in Zorro’s counting of the number of agents he took out, which was ensured in the choreography.
To ensure that the scene was executed to perfection, the stunt team spent a full month choreographing it on stage before sending it to the pre-vis team on set to test with stunt doubles. Stunt coordinator Franz Spilhaus praised McKenna highly, even confirming that all we see in the episode is McKenna.
Oda-san and how he created Luffy
In a very short period of time, Inaki Godoy has done an incredible job in learning the Japanese language and, as such, interviewed One Piece creator, Eiichiro Oda, in the mangaka’s native language.
From this interview, we learned that Oda visited the set of Tomorrow Studios in Cape Town, South Africa, and joked that he didn’t want to go home. In the video, we saw Oda with various departments, and he was very impressed by the dedication of everyone at Tomorrow Studios.
Iñaki also asked how Oda came up with the character of Luffy, to which Oda replied:
“Luffy is an ideal child for me. When you become an adult and join a company, you can’t always do what you want. Entering society often means losing independence. Luffy has the heart of a child, so he does what he wants. This aspect is probably, both to adults already functioning in society and to children entering society, what makes Luffy so attractive.”
What impressed you about One Piece Season 2? Let us know in the comments below!