One Piece: Netflix’s Live-Action Series Reveals the Pilot’s Title

Netflix is teasing their upcoming live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece by showing off the pilot's script, which has a title that should be familiar to fans of the series.

An image posted to Twitter by multiple official Netflix accounts reveals that the pilot episode of the new series will be named "Romance Dawn," which is the name series creator Eiichiro Oda assigned to one of his earlier works that, after multiple revisions and rewrites, would eventually become the basis for the One Piece manga that's beloved by fans around the world today. The new script was written by Steven Maeda, who previously worked on American TV series such as Lost and The X-Files, and Matt Owens, who served as a writer for several of Marvel's TV series, including Luke Cage and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. As was previously announced, Oda will be serving as the executive producer on the new series. The series is being produced by Tomorrow Studios, who are also involved with the production of Netflix's other high profile anime adaptation, Cowboy Bebop.

Oda's original "Romance Dawn" would go through multiple revisions before evolving into One Piece, but even in its earliest forms, it features many recognizable elements from the final series, including the main character, Luffy.  The story is often regarded by fans as a prequel or a prototype "Chapter 0" to the manga. Elements of Romance Dawn's story was later reworked and integrated into the One Piece anime. The name was also reused by video game publisher Bandai Namco for a 2012 video game, which adapted several of the arcs from the first half of the anime into a turn-based JRPG.

The One Piece anime and manga, meanwhile, are celebrating several big milestones: the manga published its 1000th chapter earlier this year and will also soon release its 100th collected volume in Japan sometime soon. Oda showcased his process for creating the cover art for volumes 99, 100 and 101 in a recent video. The three volumes are designed to be displayed side-by-side to create a sprawling illustration that celebrates the 24 year history of the franchise. Additionally, the anime series, which originally debuted in 1999, will soon air its landmark 1000th episode. Oda and publisher Shueisha are teasing further announcements about the future of the series when that episode makes it debut.

Further details about Netflix's live-action One Piece have yet to be released, including its cast and crew, as well as its release date.

Source: Twitter