Netflix’s live-action One Piece faced a production decision that could have sent its first season in a very different direction: a proposed budget reduction of 50%, alongside a shorter episode order.
According to showrunner Steven Maeda, creator Eiichiro Oda’s intervention helped get the adaptation back towards the version its creative team wanted to make. The issue was not simply having fewer episodes. It was what the cheaper scripts were doing to the story.
From ten episodes to eight—and a much tighter budget
Speaking on the Trash Taste Podcast, Maeda explained that the first season’s early scripts were developed around ten episodes.
A new Netflix executive subsequently requested two substantial changes: reduce the season to eight episodes and bring its budget down by half.
For Maeda, that created a problem beyond trimming the running time. He was concerned the team would no longer have the resources to deliver elements it had intended to include, and that fans would be unhappy with the compromises.
The writers nevertheless attempted another version built around those restrictions.
Maeda felt the resulting scripts could still produce a worthwhile television season. However, he also believed they were increasingly losing the storytelling that made the project recognisably One Piece. He became worried that the adaptation might be cancelled before reaching the screen.
Oda objected to the rewritten direction
When Oda reviewed that version, he rejected the direction it had taken, telling Netflix that it no longer matched the project he had agreed to support.
According to Maeda, Netflix then reconsidered and committed the funding needed for the team’s preferred approach.
The important distinction: this account describes a proposed budget cut and the rewrites made in response. It does not provide a final spending figure or establish precisely how the eventual budget compared with the earliest proposal.
What it does show is a specific instance of Oda’s involvement affecting production decisions, rather than merely offering a general endorsement of the adaptation.
Why this matters for Malaysia and SEA readers
Our take: for readers in Malaysia and Southeast Asia following anime-to-live-action adaptations, the interesting part is how a financial decision became a storytelling problem.
A shorter season is not automatically a less faithful adaptation. But Maeda’s account suggests that combining fewer episodes with a much smaller budget pushed this particular production away from its intended identity.
That makes Oda’s objection worth paying attention to. Here, creator involvement appears to have provided a way to challenge changes that the showrunner himself felt were weakening the adaptation. It is not proof that every creator-led intervention improves a show, but it is a useful example of what meaningful oversight can look like.
What Maeda said about future seasons
Maeda also said Netflix ordered Seasons 2 and 3 together, partly to shorten the gaps between productions. Cast members ageing and other delays were among the considerations behind that approach.
He hopes the series will eventually receive fourth and fifth seasons, but those remain hopes rather than confirmed renewals in this account.
The third season, One Piece: The Battle of Alabasta, is scheduled for 2027. No specific release date was provided in the report.
For now, the clearest takeaway is behind the scenes: according to Maeda, Oda pushed back when cost-saving rewrites changed the character of the adaptation—and Netflix listened.