One Piece Wows Viewers and Sets Records

Full speed ahead to success: With the live-action adaptation of the popular anime "One Piece", Netflix may well have pulled off one of the year's big surprises. The series entered the Netflix charts at the top spot, even overtaking the previous records of "Stranger Things" and "Wednesday".

With the live-action adaptations of "Death Note" and "Cowboy Bepop", Netflix has previously attempted to adapt well-known anime - but to no avail. Thus, there was a lot of skepticism among fans when the streaming service announced an adaptation of the popular pirate adventure "One Piece". As of August 31, however, these fears have vanished into thin air, as the series is making viewers excited: Luffy and his friends have a high average rating of 83 points on RottenTomatoes and are currently ranked number 1 on Netflix in more than 84 countries - something that no series has ever achieved before.

Now, of course, there's the question of when One Piece Season 2 will follow: Due to the tremendous response, a continuation of the series is very likely, but might still be a long time coming. Hollywood is currently still on strike and the budget may be a factor as well: The adaptation is considered one of the most expensive series ever and, at $18 million per episode, is even outshining "Game of Thrones".

Either way, "One Piece" should ensure that people are more at ease when it comes to future anime adaptations: "Avatar: The Last Airbender" is to get a new series next year, while "Pokémon" and "My Hero Academia" are also on the streaming giant's schedule.