Anime & Manga One Piece Live Action, Tone and Ussop

#1
I've seen a lot of takes on the live action adaptation so far and I would just like to air my opinion on an aspect that's important to the adaptation.

I believe the most crucial thing that will make or break this adaptation is Tone. The reason I believe tone is so important is because for example, Ussop as character wouldn't make sense in a certain tone. Let me explain.

Ussop is a liar and his dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea but he is introduced as a person who LIES about being a BRAVE warrior of the sea. The reason why his character changed to the former is because the tone of the world forced him to.

Ussop lied about finding a goldfish that pooped islands and then the World showed him that his wildest lies and imagination were nothing compared to the real deal when he does find said Goldfish in real life and it proceeds to get obliterated by giants to symbolise that that's not even a big deal. Ussop witnessing the limitations of his imagination and lies is what gives him the belief that his original lie, that he was a brave warrior of the sea, can be achieved. The world is so much whackier and ridiculous than he could've imagined that his whacky and ridiculous lie that he was a brave warrior of the sea can actually become a thing he can strive for as a dream that's achievable by the laws of the world.

This is what will influence the tone of Netflix show because Ussop's dream and the nature of how it works has to make sense with the world he's in or else Ussop wouldn't make sense. The world has to be beyond anything Ussop could imagine and Ussop has to have a dream as relatively banal as being Brave that can still believably carry as much weight as any other characters' dreams.

Therefore how serious or realistic the tone they go for for the world and characters will have to matter here. Ussop would have to have a much less overactive imagination if the world is supposed to not be as fantastical in tone so that he's still driven the same way and yet it's also supposed to be framed as incredibly admirable to just be brave. This though is hard to do since things like the value of Ussop's bravery mostly hits because of the seemingly insummountable odds against him. Ussop is supposed to face hulking fishmen or exploding men or 5 tonne baseball bats and come out on top for the readers to feel the value of being brave in such situations. But as you've probably noticed, these insummountable odds are hard to express in a toned down world.

Working around this isn't impossible of course since its probably possible to create a tonal middle ground of a sort on all this but then you also run the risk of creating a seemingly watered down version of the original that can't possibly give the audience as much of an emotional high. And outside of looking for a simple work around, you would just have change Ussop's character as a whole to match the new tone set up and that's a very hit or miss strategy.

This is the sort of thing Tone changes would lead to when making this adaptation and it cascades to almost every character as well. Ussop and Zoro's dreams are my favorite to root for since they are so rooted into the general workings of the world itself and are the most frequently touched on that toning down either them or the world would drastically impact the other leaving me very fearful of what the final decision on tone would be for this adaptation.

But of course I still have faith since I'm a nobody and could catch this so the professionals definitely have already so they likely have a plan for this already. Hopefully.
 
#2
Why does this have no replies? You propose great ideas here, and after all that we know about the LA 3 years after you wrote this, they seem to be following your idea.
I've seen a lot of takes on the live action adaptation so far and I would just like to air my opinion on an aspect that's important to the adaptation.

I believe the most crucial thing that will make or break this adaptation is Tone. The reason I believe tone is so important is because for example, Ussop as character wouldn't make sense in a certain tone. Let me explain.

Ussop is a liar and his dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea but he is introduced as a person who LIES about being a BRAVE warrior of the sea. The reason why his character changed to the former is because the tone of the world forced him to.

Ussop lied about finding a goldfish that pooped islands and then the World showed him that his wildest lies and imagination were nothing compared to the real deal when he does find said Goldfish in real life and it proceeds to get obliterated by giants to symbolise that that's not even a big deal. Ussop witnessing the limitations of his imagination and lies is what gives him the belief that his original lie, that he was a brave warrior of the sea, can be achieved. The world is so much whackier and ridiculous than he could've imagined that his whacky and ridiculous lie that he was a brave warrior of the sea can actually become a thing he can strive for as a dream that's achievable by the laws of the world.

This is what will influence the tone of Netflix show because Ussop's dream and the nature of how it works has to make sense with the world he's in or else Ussop wouldn't make sense. The world has to be beyond anything Ussop could imagine and Ussop has to have a dream as relatively banal as being Brave that can still believably carry as much weight as any other characters' dreams.

Therefore how serious or realistic the tone they go for for the world and characters will have to matter here. Ussop would have to have a much less overactive imagination if the world is supposed to not be as fantastical in tone so that he's still driven the same way and yet it's also supposed to be framed as incredibly admirable to just be brave. This though is hard to do since things like the value of Ussop's bravery mostly hits because of the seemingly insummountable odds against him. Ussop is supposed to face hulking fishmen or exploding men or 5 tonne baseball bats and come out on top for the readers to feel the value of being brave in such situations. But as you've probably noticed, these insummountable odds are hard to express in a toned down world.

Working around this isn't impossible of course since its probably possible to create a tonal middle ground of a sort on all this but then you also run the risk of creating a seemingly watered down version of the original that can't possibly give the audience as much of an emotional high. And outside of looking for a simple work around, you would just have change Ussop's character as a whole to match the new tone set up and that's a very hit or miss strategy.

This is the sort of thing Tone changes would lead to when making this adaptation and it cascades to almost every character as well. Ussop and Zoro's dreams are my favorite to root for since they are so rooted into the general workings of the world itself and are the most frequently touched on that toning down either them or the world would drastically impact the other leaving me very fearful of what the final decision on tone would be for this adaptation.

But of course I still have faith since I'm a nobody and could catch this so the professionals definitely have already so they likely have a plan for this already. Hopefully.
 
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