One Piece's live-action Netflix series is shaping up to be one of the best live-action anime adaptations in years, including the fascinating design of these fan-favorite characters. For the most part, the live-action One Piece series stays true to author Eiichiro Oda's manga and the anime, but this live-action series might also take a few liberties to make this adventure feel fresh and exciting all over again.
The villains are a good starting point, most of all Buggy the Clown, one of Monkey D. Luffy's first villains. In One Piece, Buggy was just a weak, goofy gag character who kept failing upward by chance, but to make Buggy more compelling this time around, the live-action One Piece series should lean into the "monster clown" trope and make Buggy a true terror of the seas for once.
Buggy The Clown's Original, Underwhelming Design In The Anime
Along with Captain Morgan and Lady Alvida, Buggy the Clown was one of One Piece's first villains for Luffy's tiny crew to fight, and he was a product of that era's simple, cartoony design. Buggy served his purpose at the time as a fun, mildly memorable antagonist with a clown theme and his Chop-Chop devil fruit powers—but at the time, One Piece was more like a goofy Dragon Ball clone than a serious, sprawling saga about pirates. That wasn't a bad thing, of course, but it also makes Buggy's design underwhelming in future arcs, even when he gained a new crew and inexplicably became one of the four Emperors in the deadly New World. One Piece treated Buggy the Clown as a running gag and internal meme, and so did the fandom, which made him popular in an ironic way.
All this made Buggy a throwaway One Piece character who was never meant to be taken seriously and almost a well-meaning internal parody to contrast Buggy with more serious villains like Sir Crocodile, Rob Lucci, Kaido, or Admiral Akainu. That gave Buggy his own niche in One Piece, but now that the story is starting over in live-action form to bring in new fans and make veteran fans feel nostalgic, the series can and should reassess what Buggy the Clown is really supposed to be. There won't be time to make him a running joke, so the live-action series can reinvent Buggy as a true evil clown who will resonate with Western fans.
Buggy The Monster Clown In Netflix's One Piece
Buggy the Clown briefly appeared in the trailer for the live-action One Piece series, and many fans agree that he looks horrifying and menacing in this form. Ideally, the One Piece Netflix series will double down on that and turn Buggy into a scarier, more menacing character who is a clown for irony's sake, and not as a gag character. Instead of being a warmup villain for laughs, Buggy the Clown may not embody the familiar "monster clown" trope in the same vein as Pennywise in IT.
Such a design would make Buggy more compelling to many Western viewers, who are used to clowns being subverted as creepy and menacing characters with garish colors and exaggerated but unreadable faces. After all, a live-action Buggy will superficially look scary and creepy no matter the character's dialogue or actions, so a funny Buggy probably won't work well, as opposed to the One Piece anime. Instead, a creepy Buggy will make full use of the uncanny valley in One Piece's live-action series while also being an instant classic "monster clown" for viewers to enjoy.
In addition, a "monster clown" take on Buggy will help him catch up to the East Blue saga's other villains who will appear in the live-action series. Even this early saga had cool and serious villains like the militaristic Don Krieg and the cold-blooded assassin Captain Kuro, so Buggy the Clown's serious incarnation will make the series more tonally consistent. It would feel odd for Buggy to be a true comic relief character while live-action Don Krieg, Dracule Mihawk, and Captain Kuro are serious and scary villains. So, an equally serious, menacing Buggy the Clown will make for a smoother ride and remind fans that even in Luffy's home ocean, the high seas are a terrifying place after all.