Staying "True": In Feeling or In Message | One Piece Live Action Review 

I feel like this comment I wrote regarding the changes seen in Zoro helped me express and find this idea, so I'm pasting it in this description for all those interested in more of my perspective. This is my personal criticism of the series not highlighted in the video, but the vehicle that helped me find a distinction between what I liked and what I got to let go of if I want to enjoy this new series on its own merit. The creators even said in the behind-the-scenes clip that this is just their play and fun in the sandbox Oda has created for us; so understand these criticisms are null in a series not seeking to be a recreation, but rather a reimagining as the One Piece Live Action is. It was cathartic to write though(!):
I think a good summary of the miss with Zoro is this:
On his own, Zoro is serious- to an extended, sharpened, and dangerous point of no-nonsense unless trash-talking someone’s ability all of it with choice words; NOT brooding or tsundere, or mysterious, or hateful, or short of words, or whatever light bdsm bad boy idol they decided to make lol.
But hey, this is again the liberty in them really telling a different story, which is still good. And they still break him out of this less joyful state with his nakama just like in the original, which still makes those moments special and shines through in a familiar way. Just burns with pain a little as we see the dream of witnessing that true one-to-one screen adaptation destroyed every time they essentially make good on that promise that it’s a new story based on the original. I have so many nitpicks like this with most of the crew where they act “out of character,” but only when I keep my eyes on the original as a reference rather than letting this one breathe life on its own.
This Luffy talks a lot more and seems to care to listen and sit still and have more emotional space rather than the rough and tumble, action before anything, and thoughts maybe after that, single-minded, Will and worldview decided, selfish (but in only that lovable peace-main pirate way), Pirate King Luffy we’ve all come to know and love. Nami isn’t as passionately whirlwindy. Usopp gave up on being a nerdy, scaredy-cat outcast in favor of a cool slick-talker more “likable” normal persona. Sanji I’m assuming wasn’t allowed to be the full honestly painful-to-watch-sometimes simp and pervert he is for obviously dangerous reasons in that behavior for people IRL, still sad to see that gag removed though. They made Shanks is a rather tame dad rather than a playboy big brother. Garp is stubbornly forceful rather than eccentricly bombastic and strong to the point he forgets other people can be weak. Also don’t get me started on how the live-action first season core was given a finale centered around grand-daddy issues 🙉; that’s the pure other direction they had the liberty to steer this new show’s message into. Kobe and Helmepo were fine, same with Kaya, Kuro, Mihawk, and Buggy pirates; but they felt odd at times because of the issue at the core of all this.
Basically, the whole trouble is a lack of depth in the understanding of the core message One Piece tells. Messages like the core Luffy gives of freedom to die for our dreams and never give up, messages and stories of lifestyles and philosophies explored and caricatured to extremes in fun characters being led by that King of a message in Luffy and put in opposition/contrast to it. Transformed by it. It’s a saturated and flavorful story. I believe there was just a lack of understanding of those core messages, or simply an outright rejection of them as meaningful enough to stick to when they wrote this adaptation. That or too difficult to manage.
They went for something different. Perhaps they thought new and fresh. Something that would appeal to more people and be more popular. Less nuanced and more explicit. What they failed to remember is that One Piece already is and became famous and appealing not because of its relatively outcast and outside mass-adoption medium in manga form, but its storytelling. The medium was changing to become more familiar and allow people to finally get the story. They didn’t have to try to pop-culture-ify it.
That all said, that’s the pain of a lover of the original speaking.
As a person who loves good media, I can say that One Piece Live Action is a genuinely good, original, and captivating show. And I’m grateful we have it! I’m excited to see where it goes next.