Review of One Piece Season 2 on Netflix: Is the Sequel Worth Watching?

The second season of One Piece on Netflix was released three years after the громкий success of the first and once again drew the attention of viewers and critics. The live-action adaptation of the popular anime became an unexpected hit in 2023, proving that such projects can actually work. However, things are less straightforward with the sequel: the ratings remain high, but the audience hype has noticeably declined. I approached Season 2 with optimism, but ended up with rather mixed impressions. And I think I understand why.

It is fundamentally important that you read this review of Season 2 of One Piece on Netflix having already watched the first season. Which is fairly obvious, but let’s spell it out anyway. This article will rely on events from Season 1, so I won’t retell the previous storyline in detail. For that, check out the 2023 review.

In Season 2 of One Piece, the young pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy, who can stretch his body like rubber, continues his epic adventure in search of the Pirate King’s treasure. After dealing with the Marines and the fish-men, the Straw Hat crew heads toward the Grand Line — the central belt of the planet, home to the most dangerous sea creatures. Along the way, they encounter all sorts of things, including a runaway princess, and face a new threat in the form of the Baroque Works organization. There isn’t any particular overarching goal to the journey, so the heroes simply sail from one strange island to another. That’s basically the entire short synopsis of the new season. If such fairy tales don’t appeal to you, check out our Top 30 best movies based on real events.

Fans of the manga will easily recognize which arcs the Netflix creators chose to adapt. The adherence to canon is even more precise than in Season 1, but this unexpectedly turns into a problem. For example, the Marines and several supposedly major characters are almost entirely pushed into the background. Remember Vice Admiral Garp, Koby, and Helmeppo? Now they barely appear in a couple of scenes and that’s it. From the perspective of the original, this makes sense, but from the standpoint of a well-structured live-action show, it’s questionable.

The Straw Hat crew characters are explored far less in Season 2. In the first season, each pirate had a strong personal arc, went through it, and changed. It was compact and perfectly fitting, with enough time even for flashbacks. Now, there’s nothing like that. The most substantial backstory in the entire season belongs to the new crew member Chopper, but we’ll get to that later.

As a result, the heroes of One Piece in Season 2 mostly maintain their familiar personas rather than evolve. Luffy remains the same cheerful leader, Zoro is still the brooding swordsman, Nami is the responsible cartographer, Usopp is the comedic liar, and Sanji is the charming cook and ladies’ man. Unfortunately, there’s no new depth here. In the original, this works because there are over 1000 episodes ahead, so there’s time for development. But a live-action series with hour-long episodes should play by slightly different rules. It’s especially strange that some important conflicts were cut, such as the tension between Luffy and Zoro, which could have added drama.

The main problem of Season 2 is its overly literal adaptation of the manga. Never thought I’d say this, but Netflix should have shown a bit more originality and reworked the source material more. Before anyone throws The Witcher, Cowboy Bebop, or Death Note at me — I remember them. I’ve personally criticized Netflix multiple times for ignoring the rules of the universes they adapt. However, anime and manga operate under completely different storytelling rules than live-action adaptations. It’s crucial to strike a balance so the narrative doesn’t turn into a grotesque circus. Season 1 had that balance. Season 2… not so sure.

For anime fans, this level of accuracy may be a plus, but for a broader audience, the show risks feeling strange. That’s why in this review I’m evaluating Season 2 of One Piece as a standalone series rather than an adaptation. Besides, it’s just one of the first highly anticipated shows of 2026. We’ve collected other projects in our Top 30 most anticipated movies and TV series of 2026.

The first thing that stands out is the visual design. If earlier the elaborate costumes still stayed within the bounds of relative realism, now the costume designers have gone all out. Every somewhat important character looks excessively grotesque and sometimes downright cartoonish. At the same time, no one explains any of it. You’re just expected to accept each new convention without questioning how it even works within the world itself. Because of this overly faithful visual style, dangerous enemies often feel more ridiculous than threatening, even though this is supposed to be a new level of challenge for Luffy and his friends. Personally, I was most concerned with one question: where did one character get a machine gun in his hair? Sure, anime doesn’t bother explaining things like that, but here we’re dealing with real actors, not drawings.

It’s also worth noting how the concept of Devil Fruits has changed. In Season 1, it was implied that the effect of such a fruit was always unpredictable. You could eat one, but no one knew what would happen. This logically explained why supernatural abilities were rare and why the fruits themselves were scarce. Now, the concept is suddenly different. Almost every captain Luffy meets has already eaten the “right” fruit and gained conveniently useful powers. At some point, the characters themselves joke that Devil Fruits aren’t that rare anymore — apparently everyone has tried one except the Straw Hat crew.

The plot of Season 2 is built around separate arcs, each tied to a specific island. The overarching thread is the story of Princess Vivi, but overall the structure feels less cohesive than in Season 1. Previously, the crew had a clear motivation; now many events happen simply because Luffy is curious.

Still, the story manages its main task and quickly establishes a sense of adventure. Each island is drastically different from the others. The mini-stories are unusual and unique, which keeps the journey engaging. However, whether this format can sustain itself until, say, Season 5 is questionable. The creators have already stated they’d like to see 12 seasons, but that seems doubtful. First, the actors will visibly age — Luffy already looks far more mature than in Season 1. Second, endless adventures without a clear goal will eventually become exhausting.

Toward the end of the season, two new characters appear: King Wapol and the reindeer Tony Tony Chopper. Why Tony Tony? Just because. Get used to it. In the manga, it’s a wordplay, but the adaptation doesn’t bother explaining it. Wapol is arguably the first antagonist in the show who actually feels threatening. His ability to stretch his iron jaw to absurd sizes is both disgusting and unsettling. That said, the final fight with him ends up being far less impressive than his encounters with his subordinates.

The other villains from Baroque Works are basically clowns. One especially cringe-worthy example is a character with explosive boogers. All of them are faithful to the source, recreated almost frame by frame, but they evoke completely different emotions than intended. Even the fish-men from Season 1 felt more dangerous, despite being, story-wise, low-level enemies.

As for Chopper — a reindeer who ate a Devil Fruit — he’s an extremely important character and a new crew member. His backstory is deeply emotional and can move even the toughest viewers. But more importantly, his abilities are unique. Thanks to the fruit, he can change size and form—from a small fluffy Pokémon-like creature to a massive muscular humanoid monster.

And here comes an odd problem. For some reason, in his combat form, Chopper isn’t rendered with CGI like in his other forms. Instead, he looks like a guy in an inflatable suit. Maybe the creators ran out of budget or wanted to try something different, but the result is, to put it mildly, strange. Given the otherwise high level of visual effects, Chopper feels like he wandered in from Power Rangers. Thankfully, his non-combat form looks great—the animation detail there is genuinely impressive.

The action scenes also feel strange this time around. They’re still well-shot and stylized to look like anime, but they’ve lost their sense of impact. Characters lack weight, strikes lack force, and there’s little coherent choreography. You see movement, then a cut, and then the result — but not a believable one, just the one the creators wanted to show.

Imagine Mortal Kombat, where one character throws a punch without the opponent even in frame, and then the other fighter is suddenly flying into a wall. It immediately feels fake. Because of this, the fights feel more theatrical than intense, like watching a stage performance in a modest theater. Actors in elaborate costumes move among wooden props, exaggerating their gestures to simulate epic battles, but you always feel that it’s just pretend.

It’s this combination of questionable choices that likely led to the drop in mainstream popularity despite strong critical scores. Season 2 of One Piece is a fantastic adaptation, following the source material even more closely and recreating scenes almost frame by frame. At the same time, it’s a mediocre live-action series that’s hard to emotionally invest in. There’s no clear overarching goal, the enemies feel like ridiculous clowns in extravagant outfits, and the characters lack interpersonal conflict. The cartoonish battles, reminiscent of early 2000s kids’ shows, only make things worse.

It’s actually difficult to say much about Season 2 of One Piece. The first season felt like a полноценное beginning of a grand adventure. The second feels more like a transitional checkpoint. Imagine if Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was only about rescuing Jack Sparrow from cannibals at the very beginning — that’s roughly what to expect here. At the same time, this is still one of the best adaptations of manga and anime overall. The creators clearly put in an enormous amount of work to bring all the details and characters to life. But the end result is essentially just another anime — only in live-action form. What works organically in animation and gets a pass because of the format simply doesn’t translate well into a realistic setting with real actors. Should you keep watching if you liked Season 1? Definitely. Can I guarantee you’ll enjoy it just as much? Unfortunately, no. Unless you’re a die-hard fan of the original. If feature films are more your thing than TV series, check out our Top 120 best movies of recent years.