Netflix's One Piece Director Explains Why the Straw Hat Crew Resonates

10/14/2023 12:59 pm EDT

Netflix's One Piece did what many thought was impossible and create a live-action anime adaptation that became a hit among anime fans and non-fans alike. With the streaming service confirming that a second season was in the works, we here at ComicBook.com recently had the chance to talk with director Marc Jobst about the series and all things Straw Hats. During our conversation, Jobst broke down why he thinks Luffy and his crew were able to resonate with fans.

To start, ComicBook.com asked Jobst, the series' director, why he believes that the Straw Hat Pirates resonate with the anime world and those who experienced the shonen franchise for the first time with Netflix's One Piece, "I think it's something to do with adventure. I think we as human beings love adventure and need adventure. And maybe because we've become more sedentary, more computer-based, we go out and have fewer adventures and maybe these big pirate shows enable us vicariously to have adventure through the characters that we love and we follow. But there's another thing which is very much about One Piece. Pirates in the old days, archetypally pirates were feared not because they raped and killed and pillaged, but because they were free."

Swashbucklers Are Free

Jobst then expanded on his dissection, looking at the general aesthetic of pirates in general, "They rode the high seas, they didn't care, all right, if you want to fight me, you want to kill me, do it. Come on, take me on. And there's something about Luffy in that. Luffy wants to be free. He was abandoned in a sense by his mom and dad. Well, he never knew his mom, but by his dad, let's say. He was bullied by his grandfather and he wanted to be free. He wanted to be free. And if you look at the way we've used costumes, well in fact, the way Oda uses costumes. Luffy is just in a little vest and a little pair of shorts. And he goes out onto these huge great adventures and he goes into these huge big fights, armed only with a little vest and a pair of shorts. And the Marines have got their flack coats and their guns and their boots and their hats and everything."

Marc then took the chance to break down how the Straw Hats are "free" in comparison to many of their counterparts in the series, pirates or otherwise, "And just symbolically, he's free. And that's one of the things that I think is so inspirational about Luffy as a character. And one of the reasons why Frazy and maddening, though he is at times, his crew love him to bits. And why I think the audience love him and love One Piece is because he's free. And we all have this maybe this longing, this notion of what it would be if I, Mark, was free. And I think that's what pirates are. They're free. That's what Luffy is. That's what One Piece is."

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