Live-action Netflix One Piece Chopper shows face for first time – What do fans in Japan think?
Tony Tony Chopper moves and speaks in introduction video.
Against all odds, or at least a whole lot of them, the first season of Netflix's live-action One Piece was a success. Considering how many Western-produced adaptations of anime/manga are announced but never actually get made, it wouldn't have been a shock if Netflix's One Piece had died on the pre-production vine, nor would it have been a big surprise if the unabashedly bizarre charm of the One Piece world and characters simply didn't translate into live-action, but so far the Netflix series has been meet with a largely positive response from both preexisting fans and newcomers to the franchise.
Of course, the live-action One Piece's job is only going to get tougher from here on out, as the scale of the story and creativity of its visual weirdness get continually ratcheted up as the story goes on. For Season 2, the biggest test for the Netflix One Piece is going to be how it handles the introduction of Tony Tony Chopper, who's not only the doctor for the Straw Hat Pirate protagonists, but also an anthropomorphic reindeer. Netflix gave us a tiny sneak peek at their version of Chopper back in September, and now they've released a full character introduction video, in which the little guy finally reveals his face and voice.
Emerging from his half-hiding spot behind a stone pillar, Chopper shyly introduces himself. With his voice provided by voice actress Mikaela Hoover, he's at turns shy, blustery, and overcome with boyish glee, even doing a little dance after he gets over his self-conscious embarrassment.
The CG is impressive, with the light playing convincingly off of Chopper's individuals strands of fur, and the tufts swaying enough to be believable when he moves but not so much as to be distracting.
If there's a complaint to be made, it could be that Chopper's teeth are a little disturbing. This is something that happens pretty commonly when trying to bring cartoonishly designed characters into a photo-realistic aesthetic. Something similar happened with the first images for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie, so maybe Netflix will be retooling Chopper's teeth before Season 2 starts streaming.
All in all, though, Chopper's live-action look is being received rather well by fans in Japan, judging from YouTube comments for the reveal video, which have included:
'When I saw the thumbnail, I thought 'That's freaky,' but it's amazing how much cuter he seems after seeing him move and hearing him talk.'
'I figured it was going to be hard to pull Chopper off in live-action, and looking at still images I still feel that way, but the way he moves and talks brings him closer to the anime version's cuteness level.'
'They're going for a more realistic look than I expected, but they've recreated his adorable atmosphere.'
'Gonna have to mentally prepare myself to see them dive into the sad backstory for Chopper when he looks this cute.'
'The artists are incredible. Even with the realistic design, they've instilled so much cuteness into the character with his movements and facial gestures.'
'It'd be an exaggeration to say he's as cute as the anime and manga versions, but I love how they're keeping his mannerisms true to the original work. Looking forward to this.'
It's worth noting that we still haven't seen Netflix's Chopper on-screen with human actors, and trying to combine CG and live-action elements in the same shot is often where visual effects stumble. So far, though, Chopper seems to be on a good course for Netflix's One Piece Season 2 premiere, which is slated for some time in 2026.
Source, images: YouTube/Netflix Japan
● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metropolis Japan
a day ago
- Metropolis Japan
Book Review: The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie
It's not just a novel about architecture—it's a novel constructed like architecture: every beam of narrative serves a purpose, every window of emotion is carefully placed. In The Summer House , Masashi Matsuie's prize-winning debut novel (originally published in Japan in 2012 and now translated into English by National Book Award–winner Margaret Mitsutani), that question unfolds slowly, with the same measured elegance as the Murai Office's architectural plans. Set in a sweltering summer of the late 20th century, the story follows recent university graduate Toru Sakanishi. He works at an architecture firm known for its blend of traditional Japanese aesthetics and Western modernist influences. When the team temporarily relocates to a mountain retreat beneath an active volcano, it's ostensibly to escape the heat. However, the real furnace lies in the creative and romantic tensions that begin to simmer. There's a high-stakes competition to design a national library, and Sakanishi clumsily falls into something like love with two women at the retreat. In lesser hands, this might veer toward melodrama. But Matsuie, a longtime editor of literary greats like Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto, knows restraint like a well-crafted floor plan. The emotional architecture is subtle, precise, and deeply human. Read more of Metropolis' Japanese literature recommendations here. The book has an obsession with structure—physical and metaphorical. The novel is filled with thoughtful ruminations on libraries, natural light, the tension between form and function. This is a book that breathes. Mitsutani's translation captures the quiet rhythms of Matsuie's prose—never showy, never missing, always deliberate. It's a style that mirrors the landscape it describes: a Japan perched between nostalgia and modernity, lush forests giving way to concrete, traditions quietly rearranged by economic ambition. For readers who love contemplative fiction, The Summer House is a welcome escape. It doesn't roar. It hums, like cicadas in summer, or the soft creak of wood in an old house at night. It's a story about how we shape the spaces we live in, and how they quietly shape us back. Read The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie, Translated by Margaret Mitsutani, here. On sale from June 17, 2025.
SoraNews24
2 days ago
- SoraNews24
Live-action Netflix One Piece Chopper shows face for first time – What do fans in Japan think?
Tony Tony Chopper moves and speaks in introduction video. Against all odds, or at least a whole lot of them, the first season of Netflix's live-action One Piece was a success. Considering how many Western-produced adaptations of anime/manga are announced but never actually get made, it wouldn't have been a shock if Netflix's One Piece had died on the pre-production vine, nor would it have been a big surprise if the unabashedly bizarre charm of the One Piece world and characters simply didn't translate into live-action, but so far the Netflix series has been meet with a largely positive response from both preexisting fans and newcomers to the franchise. Of course, the live-action One Piece's job is only going to get tougher from here on out, as the scale of the story and creativity of its visual weirdness get continually ratcheted up as the story goes on. For Season 2, the biggest test for the Netflix One Piece is going to be how it handles the introduction of Tony Tony Chopper, who's not only the doctor for the Straw Hat Pirate protagonists, but also an anthropomorphic reindeer. Netflix gave us a tiny sneak peek at their version of Chopper back in September, and now they've released a full character introduction video, in which the little guy finally reveals his face and voice. Emerging from his half-hiding spot behind a stone pillar, Chopper shyly introduces himself. With his voice provided by voice actress Mikaela Hoover, he's at turns shy, blustery, and overcome with boyish glee, even doing a little dance after he gets over his self-conscious embarrassment. The CG is impressive, with the light playing convincingly off of Chopper's individuals strands of fur, and the tufts swaying enough to be believable when he moves but not so much as to be distracting. If there's a complaint to be made, it could be that Chopper's teeth are a little disturbing. This is something that happens pretty commonly when trying to bring cartoonishly designed characters into a photo-realistic aesthetic. Something similar happened with the first images for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie, so maybe Netflix will be retooling Chopper's teeth before Season 2 starts streaming. All in all, though, Chopper's live-action look is being received rather well by fans in Japan, judging from YouTube comments for the reveal video, which have included: 'When I saw the thumbnail, I thought 'That's freaky,' but it's amazing how much cuter he seems after seeing him move and hearing him talk.' 'I figured it was going to be hard to pull Chopper off in live-action, and looking at still images I still feel that way, but the way he moves and talks brings him closer to the anime version's cuteness level.' 'They're going for a more realistic look than I expected, but they've recreated his adorable atmosphere.' 'Gonna have to mentally prepare myself to see them dive into the sad backstory for Chopper when he looks this cute.' 'The artists are incredible. Even with the realistic design, they've instilled so much cuteness into the character with his movements and facial gestures.' 'It'd be an exaggeration to say he's as cute as the anime and manga versions, but I love how they're keeping his mannerisms true to the original work. Looking forward to this.' It's worth noting that we still haven't seen Netflix's Chopper on-screen with human actors, and trying to combine CG and live-action elements in the same shot is often where visual effects stumble. So far, though, Chopper seems to be on a good course for Netflix's One Piece Season 2 premiere, which is slated for some time in 2026. Source, images: YouTube/Netflix Japan ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Japan Times
‘A garden is a grand teacher': The Kamakura Gardener nurtures and soothes via YouTube
'Good day from Kamakura, Japan,' a warm, soothing voice says, welcoming you into a verdant world on screen. The voice, honed by five decades in broadcast journalism, belongs to Robert Jefferson, a semiretired news writer and announcer at NHK. For the past seven years, though, he has been offering a different kind of reportage, crafting a distinctive persona as The Kamakura Gardener on YouTube. With his canine co-host Haru beside him, Jefferson has produced, shot and edited several hundred videos for his channel. In weekly half-hour episodes, Jefferson centers his show on the mountainside garden that he shares with viewers around the world. Japan has no shortage of beautiful gardens deserving of attention, but I assure you this one is unique, even powerful. Arrive and hear the birdsong around the sun-dappled terrace. Notice the rows of vegetables, fruits and flowers set against a gentle sea of green hills. Admire the drops of morning dew poised on the edges and folds of emerald leaves. Feel your nervous system, twisted ragged by the relentless news cycle, social media scroll and endless to-do lists, begin to uncoil. This garden offers a glimpse of a gentler world and way of living — a place Jefferson had to create for himself before he could open the gate to the rest of us. Cure for the news blues Before he met American civil rights icons including Coretta Scott King and Stokely Carmichael (aka Kwame Ture) as a teenage radio journalist, before he joined the news service of the U.S. Air Force and took assignments around the world — including an initial stint in Japan in 1982 that would prove life-changing — Jefferson was just a sixth grader in Pennsylvania growing a string bean plant in any empty milk carton. 'Look at that,' he remembers thinking when it grew. 'A little teeny tiny bean placed in soil with some water could sprout into a plant. I'm still fascinated by it at 65.' Jefferson has lived in Japan for more than 40 years and is a semiretired news writer and announcer at NHK. | Alex Michael Dwyer Plants have woven into his life and career ever since: bamboo from his apartment in Koto Ward; cactuses and palm trees he received when friends left Japan; a fern he was gifted by his first car dealer; a rubber plant that fit in his bicycle basket in Tokyo, and now crawls for meters along the beams of his living room. 'Next year will be 50 years in broadcasting,' Jefferson says, citing an array of major news events, from assassinations and wars to natural disasters, that have been burned into his memory. 'From the days of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan to ... George Bush, Obama, Biden and now Trump, I've seen a lot, and it can take a lot out of you.' Before, he coped with the gruesome business of newsmaking with stiff drinks and jazz. His social world used to be centered around Tokyo's jazz cafes. He frequented Eagle in Yotsuya, Swing in Shibuya and Dug in Shinjuku. 'I used to hang out at all of them,' he says, noting how many friends in his nightlife community had passed away. 'That's why I'm so glad I quit drinking when I did. Had I not, I probably would've suffered the fate of so many others with bad health and a destroyed mind.' Now, even though he still works in a news industry that hasn't become any less stressful, gardening offers not only a way to cope, but a chance to commune with the natural world — and transcend. 'Grow, my lovelies' You won't find Jefferson's garden in the guidebooks, but the comment section below each of his YouTube videos is a testament to the inspiration he instills in viewers from around the world, or just across town. 'Watching your channel is so relaxing,' reads a comment from a subscriber in Florida. 'It makes me feel as though I was right there with you in Kamakura.' Jefferson began working on his Tokyo apartment's balcony garden in 2006 before moving to Kamakura the following year, but the impetus to share what he did online came during the COVID-19 pandemic as he became increasingly health-conscious and felt the desire to grow more of his own food. Kamakura is often pictured as a getaway. A popular daytrip from Tokyo, the city's beaches, trails and connections to history draw visitors in equal measure. For those of us who call Kamakura home, we experience the town, first and foremost, as a close-knit community. I discovered The Kamakura Gardener in December thanks to a neighbor who ran into Jefferson on a hike. I had become horticulturally curious after frequent gifts of fresh vegetables and jams from that same neighbor's garden. Embarrassed that I had made it nearly 40 years into life without ever growing a single plant, I didn't know where to start. The Kamakura Gardener provided guidance in the form of a weekly episode of must-see TV. If watching a garden grow sounds too slow in a lightning-fast world, turn your attention to the gripping anecdotes hiding just below the soil: the antagonistic rodents and insects that visit the garden uninvited; the water and fertilizer ratio riddles Jefferson seeks to decipher; the unexpected appearance of hard-won delights like pineapple and avocado. Episodes continue in the kitchen where he prepares meals and treats with his homegrown goods. Once Jefferson sets the gardening shears aside and dons the chef's apron, all bets are off. Have a napkin nearby because it's hard to get through an episode without drooling. Don't worry about indulging too much. We'll hike it off with Haru, the French bulldog — running into old buddies and making new friends along the way — to a viewpoint of Mount Fuji behind the storied Kuzuharaoka Shrine. The Kamakura Gardener is more than a gardening, cooking or travel show; it is a balm for our present milieu. After one episode, I was hooked. What plants will survive and fruit this year? What new sagas will unfold? Why put so much effort into things you can buy from the grocery store? These questions float in my head when I visit The Kamakura Gardener's headquarters this spring. Jefferson gives me a tour of his home — some 50 plants grow indoors alone — before we step out to the sprawling garden terrace. Haru zooms around as we explore, and there's so much to take in: tiny white blossoms dangling off blueberry plants, bright yellow zucchini flowers and radish sprouts that have popped up in the lower garden. Over a glass of homemade ginger ale and freshly baked strawberry cupcakes, I ask Jefferson what I should pick for my first foray into the gardening world. 'Eat what you grow,' Jefferson says, 'and grow what you eat.' Haru, a French bulldog, is Jefferson's constant companion in his videos and in life. | Alex Michael Dwyer My curiosity accelerates. There's a delight in Jefferson's voice when he sees new growth, and you can feel his resolve when presented with a challenge. His passion and determination are contagious. 'Grow, my lovelies, grow,' he frequently says with a chuckle in his videos. His words are fully sincere. They are like prayers to himself, his plants — and all of his viewers. The nudge of encouragement we all need to reach toward what lights us up and to release what dims us. 'I don't listen to (jazz) anymore,' he reveals in a moment of reflection. 'I listen to the birds.' It becomes clear then, with the natural soundtrack of spring in the background, surrounded by plants Jefferson has cared for with such dedication for so many years, what makes this garden so unique and powerful. It's a reciprocal relationship: The garden has grown him as much as he has grown it. 'There's a saying,' Jefferson explains. 'A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness. It teaches industry and thrift. Above all, it teaches entire trust.' These words ring in my head when I pick out my first seeds. A week later tiny, tender cucumber leaves sprout up. I run into the house, celebrating the growth like a child. I don't know what to do when the sprouts outgrow their tiny cup container. I can only trust that I'll figure it out. After all, there's a garden I know I can visit anytime, from anywhere, for guidance on how to grow.
