Stream It Or Skip It: ‘One Piece’ Season 2 on Netflix, the Return of the Wild and Wacky Smash-Hit Anime Adaptation

By John Serba

One Piece: Season 2 is absolutely one of Netflix’s most highly anticipated releases of 2026. The streamer’s trend of high-profile anime-adaptation flops like Cowboy Bebop and Death Note came to a welcome end when One Piece became one of Netflix’s biggest smashes in 2023, with critics and audiences lined up to praise and worship the colorful, high-energy series developed by Steven Maeda and Matt Owens. The numbers were such that Netflix quickly greenlit two more seasons of high-seas pirate action and treasure-chasing intrigue – and then made fans wait two-and-a-half years to whet their appetites. But you can’t rush PRESTIGE TELEVISION, can you? And if the second season debut is any indication, it was likely worth the wait. 

ONE PIECE: SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: Explosions at SHELLSTOWN, 153RD MARINE BASE fill the screen with smoke. Marines scramble amidst an attack. 

The Gist: Before we get to the reveal of three characters behind the attack on the Marines base – although I don’t think it’s prudent to reveal those three characters, what with spoilers and all that – a quick recap might be necessary. Thankfully Netflix dropped a two-minute catchup to refresh our memories: The first season saw serial optimist, luck-haver and straw-hat-wearer Monkey D. Luffy (Inaki Godoy), who has Stretch Armstrong superpowers, assemble a crew to fulfill his lifelong dream of finding the One Piece, the lost treasure hidden by the late former king of the pirates, Gold Roger (Michael Dorman plays him in flashbacks). His Straw Hat Pirates consist of swordmaster extraordinaire Zoro (Mackenyu), master navigator Nami (Emily Rudd), sharpshooter Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson) and chef-slash-martial-artist Sanji (Taz Skylar). To be grossly reductionist, they got into a lot of scrapes, we learned that Marine honcho Monkey D. Garp (Vincent Regan) is Luffy’s long-lost grandfather, and Luffy now has a bounty on his head valued at 30,000,000 ducats or whatever currency they use in this show, the detail escapes me.

So: The Straw Hats sail the seas in their trusty ship, Going Merry. Luffy is dead-set on taking the Grand Line, the fabled route to the One Piece. But the others convince him to stop at Loguetown so they can do some shopping and gear up, and so Luffy can spew his irrepressible joie de vivre all over the infamous location of Gold Roger’s execution. This doesn’t seem like a great idea, since Luffy’s face is on wanted posters above the number 30,000,000 (crowns? Lira? Bronze chariot wheels?), which are pasted everywhere, it seems.

We get a flashback to Gold Roger in prison, asking a big fat favor of Garp. Zoro acquires his second and third swords and meets Tashigi (Julia Rehwald), here dubbed “crazy sword girl.” Some of the Straw Hats encounter a maybe-ally/maybe-foe in Bartolomeo (Nahum Hughes). Smoker, a Marine who sucks on two cigars at once and can control smoke like tentacles, pulls into Loguetown looking for Luffy. And then Luffy is captured by Buggy the Clown (Jeff Ward) and Alvida (Ilia Isorelys Paulino), who talk a lot, and then talk some more about how they’ll kill Luffy and collect the reward, but, like, when are they gonna shut the hell up and just lop his head off? Because it gives the other Straw Hats time to rush to the scene and get in a big fight. That’s why we’re watching, right? Big fights?

Photo: Courtesy of Netflix

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Here’s a reminder that there’s more than one stinking thousand episodes of the One Piece animated series on Netflix, along with a whole raft of animated feature-length movies. Here’s a quick prayer for the completists out there.

Our Take: One Piece is well aware that its signature youthful exuberance and looney-toonz slapstick action keep the ship afloat, so we get plenty of it: Colorful, memorable characters (even when they’re a bit skinny), dynamic punchy-kicky-sword-clashy fights and enough visual extravagance to justify all the money Netflix has thrown at the series (reportedly plus-or-minus $20 million per episode). It’s endearingly noizy and cheezy without being overwhelming like so much love-it-or-leave-it anime, and it’s easy to understand its crossover appeal.

The second season opener does a lot of work, delivering action-heavy set pieces (big melees break up into a series of individual showdowns), reintroducing old villains, establishing new ones (Tashigi and Bartolomeo seem like they could go either way), even indulging a flashback. The episode is notably efficient in its plotting, although its pacing is saggy at times, especially when it shows its anime roots and allows its characters to make grand entrances, deliver long-winded intentions to fight, reveal their impressive weaponry and make one last warning before the fighting begins. It errs on the side of patience-testing instead of suspense-building. I yearn for a silent ambush or a villain who chooses to let his actions speak for them instead of speaking and speaking and speaking and speaking before leaping to action. Sixty-six minutes seems a touch bloated; 50 might be just right.  

Performance Worth Watching: It’s hard not to appreciate Godoy’s glassy-eyed optimism and omnipresent goofy grin, key pieces of the glass-half-full unpoppable bubble that Luffy lives in. 

Sex And Skin: Nothing in the debut episode, but the TV-14 rating description says “nudity,” so brace yourselves for a butt sometime soon. 

Parting Shot: The Straw Hats point the Going Merry toward Reverse Mountain, the uphill course leading to the Grand Line.

Sleeper Star: Nami is the most feet-on-the-ground member of the Straw Hats, and Rudd therefore renders her the most emotionally accessible character. She’s the quiet rock-solid foundation of a series that frequently threatens to go way off the rails into wackiness.

Most Pilot-y Line: I’m going to use Buggy’s declaration that Luffy is “Captain Shitacular” as an opportunity to say that dialogue isn’t One Piece’s strong suit. But one line that underscores the silly core of the series? Luffy’s declarative mantra: “Lucky me!”

Our Call: One Piece’s storytelling compass remains pointed in the right direction. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance film critic from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Werner Herzog hugged him once.