It looks like something big is brewing for two of the biggest anime franchises in Japan as "One Piece" and "Dragon Ball Z" are poised to have their own live-action adaptation sooner or later.
Viz Media, the company that holds the rights to "Dragon Ball Z" and "One Piece," is going on a venture with UTA to make this project a reality. According to UTA's Co-Head of Book Department Howie Sanders, they are very excited to work with the media publication.
Sanders told Deadline in an interview that they are thrilled to start this partnership as both companies have proven track record on innovative storytelling and there are plenty of materials to work on thanks to VIZ Media's wide-range portfolio.
Both franchises' manga and anime adaptation are still ongoing, with "One Piece" currently at 820 chapters and the anime series at episode 733 as of this writing. Meanwhile, "Dragon Ball Super" is now at episode 35 and is set for at least 100 episodes.
Also, "One Piece" mangaka Eiichiro Oda is corroborating with VIZ in producing the franchise's 13th film, "One Piece: Film Gold," which is set to launch later this year. It will revolve on the Straw Hat crew visiting a Golden Casino founded by Gild Tesoro, the film's major villain.
Moreover, "One Piece" remains as one of the top-selling mangas in Japan, as they currently rank as the second top-selling manga, according to Anime News Network. The top-selling manga is "Attack on Titan" with 7.3 million in sales while "Nanatsu No Taizai" is sitting at third place with 5.7 million.
VIZ Media's CMO Brad Woods told Deadline that this partnership brings a new direction for both companies as well as their counterpart in Japan. He further added that giving life to anime and manga brings endless possibilities with insurmountable potential. .
He also praised their partner, the UTA for being one of the top innovators in the industry with proven track record. Furthermore, he highlighted the connections of both companies which will be one of the biggest factors on how they will be able to reach domestic and international audiences.
This would not be the first time a live-action series will be made as an American live-action film on "Dragon Ball Z" was released in 2009. The film mostly got negative reviews as they got a rating of 2.7 from IMDb, 14 percent rating from Rotten Tomatoes and 45 percent from Metacritic. Also, the video below is a fan review by YouTube user Chris Stuckmann.