One Piece Cast Discusses The Influence Of The Straw Hats

The world of One Piece has become one of the biggest universes in the world of not only Shonen anime, but anime in general, with Eiichiro Oda spending decades exploring the characters and environments of the Grand Lines and the Straw Hat Pirates that are attempting to make Luffy the King of the Pirates. Recently, we here at Comicbook.com had the opportunity to chat with none other than the English voice cast of One Piece to discuss not just the influence that Luffy and company have had on them, but whether its intimidating to bring such large characters to life.

Mike McFarland, the voice of the nefarious Buggy who also acts as an ADR director for the English Dub of One Piece, had his thoughts to share about being a part of this grand adventure:

“I try not to think of it (when it comes to the influence of the series) but rather I look at it as this group of people that are on this grand adventure and everything that’s happening is just this adventure. In my own life, I try to take things one step at a time and look at these characters in the same way. Currently, the characters are doing THIS particular thing because if I were to look at it otherwise, it would be too intimidating.” 

On the flip side, we were also able to pose the same question to the voice of Brook, the rocking skeleton minstrel of the Straw Hats, Ian Sinclair, who also voices Whis on Dragon Ball Super, proving that he has quite the resume and a deep love for his characters:

“I love being Brook. I practiced his singing voice before I came into the role and I’m so thankful to fans because at the end of the day, I’m one of them and we’re making this for them. I can’t wait to see where these characters go in the future.”

As One Piece readies itself to hit its one-thousandth episode, the English cast has some serious legwork to undertake when it comes to translating all the episodes they have yet to explore, but it definitely seems as though they’re in for the long haul. If you want to catch up on the adventures of the Straw Hats, the series is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Who is your favorite member of the Straw Hats? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Grand Line.