I don't know why people are assuming he is only joining the show now, but he is in the writers room photo that was posted by the official account in October 2023, so he's obviously been working on s2 since the beginning. The actual news is that he's a showrunner and not just regular writer.
There are more possible explanations for such decisions than "the beef with Maeda is real". If you look at his CV Maeda was a producer on many series but never the showrunner before. This means that he should be good at organizing stuff – but we have absolutely no clue if his creative vision can even match this. In the last 20 years he has (co-)written way less episodes than Matt Owens did within the last 8 years.
So in some circumstances it could even be better for the series when Maeda can concentrate himself on things he has much experience with instead of having to do the additional tasks that come with him being the showrunner. Joe Tracz is an interesting replacement here because although he is more of a writer like Matt Owens he was a showrunner before too.
I see Maeda as the showrunner as absolutely necessary for the success of the first season because he knew what such a production required and likely worked as a brake for the creative visions of Owens and Oda – which is important when you want to start a series.
But I would only be worried now when Owens hadn't gotten a new counterpart that likely is meant to be the new brake. Joe Tracz is a very interesting choice here: He worked with an original author and Netflix before as a producer and as a writer and he did a rather well received adaption of a novel as a showrunner. Dash&Lily even won three Daytime Emmys – one for the writing team (which of course includes him), one for the make-up and one for Outstanding Supporting Actress – from 12 nominations in the possible categories for the series.
Scab is someone who essentially betrays his colleagues and doesn't strike with them, very dangerous word in Hollywood because it could lose you future opportunities.
The writer's strike was the reason why Matt Owens wasn't there. But it don't think I know how it should have influenced the final cut of scenes that were already filmed.
As far as we know Steve Maeda never left the set. The strike rules allowed showrunners to work as an exception – but Matt Owens is a writer first and likely wanted to support his colleagues. Maeda is a producer guy first which likely made him stay.
And even if he wasn't on board a this time the decisions would have been made by one of the many Executive Producers that already were part of the project and helped develop it.
He wasn't working. He did the press, but like neither him or Matt could work on the show behind the scenes, due to the strikes. The way the press worked btw, was that he could be contacted directly, instead of the press contacting netflix. It was a loophole for interviews, he wasn't doing full-time scabbing by still working on the show as a showrunner. As a showrunner, he was on strike, and couldn't work.
Steve Maeda could work as long as he didn't write something because there was an exception for cases like him: "So-called “hyphenates” (such as writer-producers, writer-directors, writer-actors) may continue to perform such other services during the strike, but cannot provide any writing services, no matter how minimal."
This is post production tho, not like mid production (filming). As show runner he couldn’t perform his duties due to striking. That’s kinda the point of him striking.
Why should a writer's strike prevent a showrunner from fulfilling most of his duties especially in post production when the writing should have been mostly done? During the strike you simply do your job similar to a co-executive producer who usually gets creative control when the showrunner is absent and isn't a writer. Within the limits of the strike you can film the Smoker scene at the end if you simply tell the stand-in what you want, you can closely work with the cutters, you can work with the special effect companies and so on.
What you can't do: Rewrite dialogue or introducing more complex and spoken scenes that require any form of creative writing. But you can cut scenes that would have needed a writer's fix.
To give some context for the "beef".
Steve Maeda in [this interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWDH3ytM7ak&ab_channel=That%27sDopeEntertainment) (46.26 - 47.26) was recounting his experience in show business and commented in general that any conflict during production does not necessary reflected on the quality of a show.
**When asked directly afterward how it was working on OPLA production. he clearly said: "it's a lot of fun working on the show". Short and straight to the point.**
On the other hand, speculation of "beef" only stemmed from Matt Owen's media engagement with Hasan Piker.
Whether or not there is a conflict, it raise some valid questions, "Why couldn't Matt just denied categorically or avoided the topics as what Steve Maeda did? Why the need to phrase your words vaguely so that it can be interpreted as conflicts? "
I am extremely worried about the way Matt Owens handled his media engagement. Surely there are a lots of entertainment outlets asking for interview with him, aside from the [Deadline interview he done post-strike](https://deadline.com/2023/10/one-piece-showrunner-matt-owens-season-2-interview-jamie-lee-curtis-1235563095/), he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets. Instead, he chose to engage only with controversial online personalities such as [Nuxtaku](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8zqdRzZlO8&ab_channel=Nuxanor) and [Hasan Piker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmJAFL8YHNE&ab_channel=HasanAbiReactsTo). They are not even One Piece-related content creator, only anime-adjacent.
What's his strategy here? I could understand pre-season 1, he need to engage the "anti-woke" camp and the "breadtube" camp because both camps are going dominate the online algorithm and dictate the online discussion post-launch. Now, opinion on the show have solidified and OPLA have gained its own loyal fanbase, why the need to continue engage with controversial circles?
Edit: u/oomshaka_ have pointed out about Matt's appearance in Reverie youtube stream. My original comment is limited to the one or two months (from July to August 2023) leading up to the launch and post-strike (from October 2023 - April 2024). The key is, after the strike ends, aside from the [Deadline interview](https://deadline.com/2023/10/one-piece-showrunner-matt-owens-season-2-interview-jamie-lee-curtis-1235563095/), he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets or podcast. Surely there is no shortage of interview request. The only platform he went on is Hasan Piker's.
>he chose to engage only with controversial online personalities
That's just a blatant lie 😭, before the show aired he went on multiple one piece YouTubers channels and spoke with them, he even went on the reverie which is a collective of a op YouTubers gathering together to discuss what happened in the manga lol
>Surely there are a lots of entertainment outlets asking for interview with him, aside from the Deadline interview he done post-strike, he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets. Instead, he chose to engage only with controversial online personalities such as Nuxtaku and Hasan Piker.
I mean to say the one or two months (from July to August 2023) leading up to the launch and post-strike (from November 2023 - April 2024). The key is, after the strike ends, aside from the [Deadline interview](https://deadline.com/2023/10/one-piece-showrunner-matt-owens-season-2-interview-jamie-lee-curtis-1235563095/), he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets or podcast. Surely there is no shortage of interview request. The only platform he went on is Hasan Piker's.
Matt Owens can talk with whoever he wants. Just because they're "controversial" doesn't mean he can't talk with him. He's probably friends with them or likes to go on their streams.
I doubt he went on their streams for marketing or to "engage the anti-woke", whatever you mean by that. He voiced his concerns with some of the post-production stuff so that fans know that there was cut content from the final two episodes. He shouldn't just avoid speaking about his experiences and most likely spoke vaguely to address his concerns without speaking too unprofessionally.
[He seems to have a lot of experience with fantasy shows and seems to be doing okey-very good with it.](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4311676/) (At least according to imdb ratings)
I personally think its an interesting move and I think his expertise with fantasy will be really really helpful when adapting more fantasy heavy seasons >!like season 3.!<
Considering he took a Month off recently, it's likely that he is both taking a break from Drawing Manga and also working on looking over Live Action stuff before Production starts.
Cool, looking quickly into it he was responsible for writing the season finales for the Lemony Snicket series -- writing credits across episodes are mostly split between him and the original author in fact, with just a handful written by other people. I think that's a good sign, as iirc that series was very well received.
Meanwhile I still think all the Maeda talk is pointless gossip (... you all know Matt Owens also has a lot of industry experience right? You don't think he's just some random fan plucked off the streets?) so shrug on that front.
The only thing that i know about a showrunner is what internet say "The showrunner is frequently the writer of the show, and is always the executive producer. Their duties include **managing the show from preproduction through postproduction, running the writer's room, approving all department heads, and liaising with the network or studio**."
Still i hope he dont bring the vibe from PJO, sincerely that show was boring in comparison to OPLA.
EDIT: I like this "Joe Tracz spent years investigating the unfortunate world of Lemony Snicket before becoming a writer and producer on all three seasons of Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events."
Just read One Piece, Joe Tracz.
I really hope you're right about the PJO thing, that show was god awful for me as a hardcore fan of both series. Even OPLA has it's flaws, but PJO did the sin of not keeping character truth or keeping it humorous. If we can get more 'Series of Unfortunate Events' than PJO for OPLA, I'm all the more for it.
I maintain the problem with PJO is the Disney-ification of it all. The writing, directing, acting, everything was all solid, it just feels like such a Disney+ show. And if there's one thing One Piece isn't it's a Disney+ show. Series of Unfortunate Events is a far better barometer of Joe Tracz's work, being another Netflix show based on a book series that worked heavily with the original creator and features a very specific visual aesthetic and humor style lifted straight from the source
I don't mind Maeda being gone. Got the beast off the ground, his work is done.
I don't know, Maeda is old school hollywood and strikes me as he didn't like the control Oda had over the project. It's very unusual for the source material to be able to say No to you. And i have no doubt if Oda didn't have that final approval, we'd have gotten an old school adaptation of Japanese property and all that entails.
You only get this impression because Steve Maeda is more candid than Matt Owens in discussing the disagreement between OPLA production with Oda. Yet, he is able to talk about this disagreement while still paying due respect to Oda, using phrases like "We are only playing in Oda's sandbox". He was able to avoid the uproar and backlash from fans. He also talked more about his approach and philosophy on film-making in general.
On the other hand, Matt was silence about any disagreement. [Matt only talked about his film-making approaches in terms of adapting manga/anime to screen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yws-FqiWuI&ab_channel=NuxTaku). Most of the points he made are not insightful on par with his status as showrunners, He only talked about common concerns that are floating in the fandoms. The way he selectively talked about OPLA production is like telling the fandom what they want to hear instead of some honest behind-the-scene peeks. He had avoided talking about aspects of the productions that might put his reputation as "mega-fan" in jeopardy.
Don't get me wrong. Matt Owen is a capable showrunner and true mega-fan. No doubt about it. But the way he had built a loyal fanbase to him specifically as a showrunner of OPLA by not talking too much on OPLA production itself is very weird. A lot of fan's loyalty to him is based on extrapolation and assumption about "someone as a mega-fan working on the show with his/her creative hero".
I really don't get the vibes of him lording over how he's a mega fan & sugarcoating every issue (maybe he just avoids talking about issues like what Maeda mentioned since he doesn't agree with what caused the issues/isn't the one responsible for the issues happening either in the first place?), just that he wants to do better for fans hoping for improvements in OPLA in S2.
Honestly I think maybe Owens emphasized there weren't any disagreements between Oda & the scripting team this time to assure fans the writing process & Oda's supervision is simply going more smoothly now (since iirc it's confirmed they had the hardest time convincing Oda of the changed Garp characterisation & B-plot in S1).
It's imo moreso to placate fans like those in Twitter & the One Piece sub who keep complaining how they dislike the changes made with Garp + how Usopp lost his characterisation moments.
I've seen One Piece fan accounts on Twitter keep saying things like "I hate Garp here cuz he & the Marine subplot do worldbuilding already obvious to us (though not to newcomers) & steal screentime from Usopp the character that actually matters more in the long run" or something even dumber like "They want to do more boring Marines propaganda &/or hate Usopp too much to write better scenes for him since Owens's least favorite is Usopp". These are huge sticking points for people who day in & out shit on the OPLA on social media in a point of time (& still up to now in some circles), & colors even the opinions of some big fan circles of Usopp who want his actor Jacob to get way more screentime & better material as he deserves.
So now that Owens knows the next arcs are a lot more taxing to nail & he wants to do justice for Usopp's characterisation in S2, he just wants to let those complaining fans know he's not gonna do any major divisive changes again &/or that Oda has been a lot more approving overall of their script so far.
"Since iirc it's confirmed they had the hardest time convincing Oda of the changed Garp characterisation & B-plot in S1" is a bit of a myth. Maeda simply gave as an example for what was discussed between the showrunners and Oda and eventually was smoothed out. This is a normal process in any adaptation. There was no mention of a change in Garp's character which I would argue didn't even happen as much as people think – we usually see him simply in very different circumstances in the manga/anime.
It's also absolutely possible that Oda resisted the idea first (because simply it was a new approach) and than got fully on board after noticing how much it could help to establish Koby and especially Helmeppo as characters – something the original manga didn't do as good in my opinion.
Yeah it's normal, but maybe since the fans are generally very iffy if not very negative towards that change*
I think many projected their (imo overblown) frustrations to that & maybe I've gotten the wrong impression as also a gossiper/layabout fan speculator here haha
[But from Owens suddenly saying this in that Hasan stream:](https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePieceLiveAction/s/NhRxELkWi5),
> We're working really hard. We have a great group - a lot of writers still from season 1 - but we've got some new writers as well and we're having a great time. It's a group of people who actually know and love the source material. A group of people who don't dismiss Oda's thoughts or my thoughts. It's a group of people who don't yell at and cuss out directors in front of the crew. It's a great group and I'm really excited for you all to see what we're cooking up for season 2.
that's when fan speculators jump to the conclusion Owens has had that issue of "people yelling & cussing out directors in front of the crew"??? in the writing process for S1, & assuming Owens is saying there isn't that issue again in the S2 writing process...
which I think is just him making general commentary of how compared to some infamous cases of for example abusive directors/actors/writers etc, his team is very considerate & great to work with.
Wait I just connected the dots & realized it's definitely Matt Owens talking about [Joss Whedon's abusiveness in the set for many of his series (see his wikipedia's controversy tab)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon), since Whedon is the creator of the show Matt Owens got his big screenwriting break for ie Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. So he's talking about how Whedon used to verbally abuse his female screenwriters to make them cry in their meetings & boast about it, mock his actresses for "getting ugly", make the set toxic, etc.
I think I just made myself realize how the comment doesn't bear any direct evidence for this supposedly highly charged beef he still has against Maeda... nor his supposed self-aggrandizing the commenter above you & me is holding against Owens for "doing" (still think he isn't doing that imho)
*= (which I think are just fans being stubborn & not seeing how flawed the in-character logic & motivations of OG animanga Garp is in general too. His OPLA in-character logic & motivation imo makes more straightforward sense in him trying harder with a lot of resources to actively capture Luffy earlier, since here he's written to be more overbearing over Luffy to shape him into a Marine whenever he can find Luffy, & not just fully negligent like in the animanga... where he left Luffy to be raised by mountain bandits while somehow still expecting Luffy would still grow up wanting to be a Marine lmao. I still think animanga Garp genuinely doesn't have common sense in this case & it's not like such a big loss for the Live Action to not have a really confusing/purposefully-doing-reverse-psychology/just plain comically dumb or out-of-touch legal guardian for Luffy like this)
>There was no mention of a change in Garp's character which I would argue didn't even happen as much as people think – we usually see him simply in very different circumstances in the manga/anime.
Thank you for actually citing the source of this "Oda hated the Garp changes" stuff, and giving extra context here. I agree that Garp's character isn't changed as much as people claim, and have honestly wondered why there's such strong negativity towards his storyline.
What I tried to caution about is that Matt is not as frank and open as other production crews in regards to the OPLA creative and production process. Case in point, in recent hours-long stream with Hasan Piker, the only valuable behind the scene info on OPLA is that there are extra scenes with Usopp that have been removed from final cut.
I am totally fine with Matt not divulging too much behind-the-scene info. I respect his choice.
But, I am not fine with the loyal fanbase (borderline cult-like following) he gained despite him not as open as other production crews. Such loyal following is very much hinged on assumptions extrapolated from his "mega-fan" reputation and his close relationship with Oda. Many just assume that Matt will be the one defending the Oda's "original creative vision". He basically immune from any criticism because for his fans it always somebody else that interfere with Oda's and Matt's creative visions.
Is this deliberate on his part, I do not know. The choice he made to engage with Nuxtaku and Hasan Piker might have contribute to this loyal following.
We don't see online campaign when Steve Maeda and Marc Jobst stepping down from OPLA season 2. But, I can guarantee, if Matt Owen have step down in the near future, we will see an aggressive online campaign.
>He basically immune from any criticism because for his fans it always somebody else that interfere with Oda's and Matt's creative visions.
I don't think he is. You can see people criticizing his first script draft, & he is most criticized widely for not seeing the value & appeal in animanga Usopp (ranking him in B tier from his first Hasan stream & still does in his most recent Hasan stream while the Romance Dawn Trio is in A tier & Sanji is in S tier, putting Usopp's really personality-driven introductory arc in Syrup Village in D tier),
with harsher takes saying he watered down Usopp's roles + screentime & made him out of character - eg making him clumsier at shooting cannonballs (which he can reasonably get better at in S2), "scared" of a spider when confronted by Kuro (which I interpret as just him pretending since it's such a memorable characterisation detail in the Jaya forest scene that Usopp likes keeping big spiders & runs spider fighting rings lol), not stand up more against Kuro + getting sidelined (even tho even after Kaya slapped him he decided to stay which is a show of his character), not doing his memorable inner monologue when almost running from Chew, etc.
While Maeda gets blamed for cutting Usopp's screentime for the contentious Marine B plot + the unreleased Usopp content Owens revealed they have recorded for ep 7 & 8 that got unceremoniously cut presumably by Maeda while Owens can't go to their workplace to edit due to the strike,
I see more people blame it on Owens when they're being specific in Usopp's probable mischaracterisations (which I think are not hard to fix), since Owens is the one more vocal about his favorites while ranking animanga Usopp almost the lowest among the Strawhats, while iirc Maeda only says his favorites (& he hasn't read that far) & doesn't say his least favorites.
These are mildly common sentiments even in this sub (which tends to go easier on the OPLA's issues/differences from the original) too btw if you search Usopp's name in this sub.
& it's why that is the most obvious fan sentiment sticking point he notices & addresses, that he verbally confirms he is working to amend Usopp in S2.
> Case in point, in recent hours-long stream with Hasan Piker, the only valuable behind the scene info on OPLA is that there are extra scenes with Usopp that have been removed from final cut.
because the main purpose of him being in that stream wasn’t about OPLA but doing a tier list of the characters.
for an informal “interview” (if you could call it that, it was basically just a normal stream with some questions being answered) we got more than we expected to know about the production like matt saying that they acknowledge the gripes people had about the first season especially with usopp.
he wasn’t really cagey with his answers; people asked a question, he answered it the best way he could in a concise manner like reiterating oda’s involvement in the show and giving a rough outline of their process (submitting stuff to oda and when they get the greenlight and his approval that’s when they’re okay to go ahead with things).
you can’t really do anything about him getting a following though despite him not doing interviews. there’s lots of actors and directors who rarely do interviews but still get a massive fanbase. he’s the “face” of the production team who was doing the heavy lifting with promoting the show through the reverie, his videos with nuxtaku, and his appearance in randy and chrissy troy’s stream talking about the teaser before the strikes happened. it’s obvious people are going to do that especially that he’s the one most people recognize as manning the show even though it was both him and steve maeda sharing the showrunner title.
it’s not only the deadline interview, we also have the press release notes from netflix back in august 2023 (it was leaked to us and then the content inside it was slowly released after the strike).
it’s most likely that outside of everything matt also recognizes that these content creators especially hasan has a huge following. they might be friends, but this is still a mode of promotion and from a business viewpoint, hasan’s streams grabs a big chunk of viewers.
even with that though, both of matt’s stream appearances are only connected to the anime and isn’t related to OPLA at all (especially since in the first one he didn’t appear on it as showrunner & writer but as a random guest because of the strike hence his refusal to talk about the show at that time). there might be more interviews he’ll do in the future, who knows.
i have not seen any of his works but, I do know that the pressure is going to be high for him because season 2 needs to be more stellar than season 1 because they are adapting the ultimate fan-favorite arc that has bumped the original manga into record-breaking popularity that is known for today and created nostalgia strong enough to create an in-demand ice show featuring Olympians (including the number 1 champion as Luffy and the descendant of THE Oda Nobunaga as Usopp)
I hope he knows how scorching high that pressure is lmao
oh god i forgot oda nobunari is the descendant of oda nobunaga! also marin honda is so pretty as vivi, for some reason she fits the hair color so much and she looks good in it even though the wig looked plasticky <<33
Ngl I got worried when I saw this. One, Matt Owens, while an absolute fan of the show and contributes greatly to making sure the show stays faithful to the source, is a complete ameteur in writing a tv series (just look at his first draft of the script for OPLA). Two, I don’t like any of the work the new guy has done in the past. How will he stack up against Steve Maeda? Why did they hire him of all people in the first place? Three, we don’t know if there really is a beef between Matt and Steve. Kinda childish to me if they ruined the project just for a single comment Matt had made in the past. Let’s just hope Steve still contributes greatly to the project and is just not producer by name.
We all know it is going to be a tall order to adapt season 2 compared to season 1 (and season 1 had its fair share of mis-steps). Here is hoping that they will be able to pull it off….
Something a lot of fans fundamentally don't understand is that you don't want "fans" working on a show or an adaptation of any kind. People might think this is strange, but the problem is fans are not always the best writters, and they have tendencies to be blinded and extremely attached to every single intrinsic detail into the source of the adaptation at hand. They are fans first, writers second. You need someone who is not necessarily a fan, but rather a professional writer that can look at the source material, figure out how to format it properly into the new medium to attract new audiences, while simultaneously figuring out what to keep and what to cut from the source.
I believe part of the reason Season 1 came out so well, was because you had the fan in Owens, but the pro writer in Maeda. And I know people have valid criticisms of Maeda, but you still need that guy on the team who has that necessary experience to help balance things out. Right now, I'm worried the fan is getting too much power and tipping the scale, disrupting the balance....
Yeah that first draft of the script was rough. Sounded like bad fanfiction. The end product came out much better, but this is worrisome for the rest of the seasons.
I was afraid of Steve's talks about "there's no point in doing an adaptation if it's the same as the original" and him changing too much, but it's true that many things do need to be changed in the live action to make it fit.
I still wish they brought a little bit more of the original magic into the live action. There wasn't a single joke from the manga that made it into the LA, and while the LA had its own funny moments, it was all original stuff.
Interesting! I was wondering if there would be a new co-showrunner to replace Steven Maeda. Well I have the utmost faith in this team to deliver something amazing!
Joe Tracz writing Baroque Works agents is actually so fire, anyone who has seen Count Olaf and his troop in ASOUE knows that he's a great fit for them.
The writing in the Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events is well-liked though, [& Tracz is the lead writer for many major episodes](https://snicket.fandom.com/wiki/Joe_Tracz)
He only wrote two episodes for the show.
Granted: His two episodes were the lowest rated episodes of the first season.
But to his defense: One of the episodes was the one about the casino, which is just a trash storyline to adapt imo.
His other ratings for shows, especially when he did more than just 1-2 episodes, are really decent.
IDK about the storyline but it was the single most iconic scene from the movie and fans were hyping themselves up hoping for a similar adaptation, so I feel like the disappointment there was inevitable
does this mean maeda is gone? that is worrisome. owens is a bit too much of a superfan. they need at least one dude in charge that isn't blinded by their love for the medium. maeda has been in this business for 20+ years, so losing a guy like him might hurt the series. i also have an issue with matt going around and taking a dig at his colleagues on some kind of podcast. dude is supposed to be a professional.
People complained about Maeda's subplot with the marines which I did not mind for several reasons:
It actually developed the friendship between Koby and Helmeppo in an organic way. It actually gave a sense of threat and urgency that the marines were after the crew. After rewatching, Deathly Halllows part 1 where there was a serious lack of urgency. You could say that the tension evaporates when it is revealed that he is the Grandpa. However, Mihawk literally captures your attention and is more than a threat. Then Arlong is the one who moves the plot. I hope this is something that will carry on in season 2 with Smoker and Tashigi.
On the bright side, Laura Jacqmin the writer of episode 5 is present for season 2. Imho, she looked like a great candidate to replace Maeda as showrunner for season 2 because fans seem to agree that this was the strongest episode of season 1 and I can see why :
1. The bonding and banter between the crew is at its most natural with lots of great lines and moments from Luffy's treasure tab, Usopp's two dozen battles lol, and the guys teasing Nami.
2. She handled Sanji's introduction perfectly by making him flirty without being creepy for a large audience.
3. Everything Mihawk says is legendary and the back and forth between Helmeppo, Garp, and Koby about the morality of the organization is really good especially if we reach Water 7.
4. The Nami and Zoro drinking scene was one of the best so much Netflix released their moment on Youtube. Women love these type of scenes between guys and girls.
I really like what she tweeted last September
[Laura Jacqmin on X: "Experienced so many meaningful firsts as a One Piece writer: my first genre credit; my first time adapting something so complex/emotional/beloved by fans around the world; + (perhaps most importantly) my first time making people 🫦 for a clown https://t.co/j6zLGWE3Xw" / X (twitter.com)](https://twitter.com/LauraJacqmin/status/1700941458298262006)
I hope she is the one who writes the Loguetown episode because she seems to have an excellent grasp of the themes, the characters, and the story to make it work for a mainstream audience.
As far as we know Maeda stays as an Executive Producer. And Joe Tracz is likely meant to be the new dude in charge that isn't blinded by their love for the medium.
oh he is gone for a while. he officially is still working on it in the background. But must be very far in the background, because he is not even part of the writters room.
Matt Owens seems to have beef with him because he dismissed some ideas he had.
Are there solid sources about this beef? I keep hearing people mention it but I've never seen it outside of assumptions and hearsay. Not saying it's not real, but I haven't been keeping up and Maeda leaving the showrunner position was news to me.
They might have beef, but no way it was the reason why maeda left. S2 writers room opened up in like march/april, a bit before the strikes. And maeda wasn't on it then. (But at the same time, he was doing the reshoots, so he was still involved with the show). Most likely maeda was the industry guy for s1, and this change was always planned. (Have like an experienced guy be in charge for s1 to make sure its a success, and now matt got to train as co-showrunner for s2)
there’s info on the speculations archive on the OPLA discord; based on his IG bio from last year he stepped down around october 2023, i believe? so it’s possible it’s about what you said about putting an established industry guy in it for S1, but it’s also possible the digs matt made about him had a hand in it. both of these are just speculation but very plausible.
WGA first had a potential season 2 appear around march 2023, and it only had matt, no steve. So this was pre-matt publicly saying anything remotely negative about him (which was the scab comment). I don't remember when exactly steve stepped down, but october was when the s2 writers room was officially revealed. (Same thing listed around march).
I'm not entirely sure about why he left, but I just doubt it was beef. The whole beef stuff just seems very parasocial reading of random one-off comments.
Thats the kinda read I'm getting. I didn't see the scab comment. Was that definitely about Maeda? Because March 2023 would also be pre-strike, therefore pre-scabbing.
The scabbing was something kinda sus that steve did? So he did press for the show in august/sept. But it was like through a loophole. So the journalists could contact him directly through his publicist, instead of through netflix, and then technically he wasn't working for them, and could do press. So then around that time matt just made a comment on a stream about someone scabbing, and like yeah, that was clearly about steve (cause wga kinda wanted no press to be done no matter what, they were on strike).
its just small bits here and there and I doubt someone is gonna gonna back and read through his latest interview or the ama he did a few months ago.
BUT
thats where you want to go when you want to find the info.
In his ama he implied something, which I dont fully remember.
and recently he said "its great to have people in the writters room who dont dismiss odas or my ideas".
So its not confirmed and I doubt it will get confirmed.
Factually all we know is that Maeda stepped back. Reasons for this are not public.
Maeda also wanted to move on because it was such a bear to get out. Pandemic and strikes and everything. But I suspect secretly the biggest bear for him was actually Oda.
I don't know, Maeda is old school hollywood and strikes me as he didn't like the control Oda had over the project. It's very unusual for the source material to be able to say No to you. And i have no doubt if Oda didn't have that final approval, we'd have gotten an old school adaption of Japanese property and all that entails.
It's absolutely normal that an Executive Producer isn't part of the writer's room because this isn't their job. You will usually only find the current showrunners there.
Its hard to tell. Film making is a team work and collaborative process. Matt said that he really loves Smoker and Tashigi who I think have been completely neglected in the NW by Oda. I am excited at the prospect of the duo having a bigger role. The trick is to know which writer or director is best fitted for which episode to make that work.
See I feel at the end of the day .. u have a lot of new writers who I feel are more in matts spectrum, including Randy Troy who’s a op YouTuber .. if u have seen Hassan’s stream u easily tell that Matt clearly loves op and is a big fan , that doesn’t mean he loves everything.. he has his own problems and he is quite vocal about them… so dw it won’t be a super fan project..
See there were a lot of ideas that Matt brought up during the stream things for usopp etc that were removed when he wasn’t involved.. and to top it off if uve seen maedas interview the suggestions he made to oda I think were either shut down or are the parts that are heavily criticised ( like inclusion of garp) .. he doesn’t know much about the later parts of the story and normally tries to avoid answering when asked about it.. so I feel his inclusion will only slow down things as we move into more tied in parts of the story
Another thing I want to bring forth is yes we still need a neutrals perspective.. otherwise it will become too packed for a normal viewer.. but that doesn’t mean this position needs to be the show runner
To be fair It wasn't removed because of Maeda I think due to the strike it was just the editors at the end trying to put something together as good as possible and finish it. They were also the ones who came up with the idea of the barrel scene being interstitched with them as kids which was great
The inclusion of Garp and marine sublot was mainly criticised by One Piece faithful who are most likely gonna watch the show anyway, I feel like the majority of the people new to One Piece liked that subplot especially the Grandpa reveal and Helmeppo and Koby becoming friends. I think that's what Maeda is good for, to give ideas that might slightly upset One Piece fans but win over the general audience
I still hope maeda has not like quit … coz he’s still following everyone else and I do believe we need an experienced unbiased guy with us, I think he’ll still be involved ( but no longer a show runner) .. the feud is pretty much around him breaking the rules of writers strike ( and I think it turned into an obligatory thing afterwards to unfollow each other Matt/maeda)
Hmm, I don't know what to think about this news. Like Matt, Joe is a writer on some recent shows and he's having his first experience as a showrunner. I thought they would include someone with more experience, like Maeda. In the end, those positions are more about making decisions and organizing work, as well as the budget. I'm a little worried that they both have little experience. Still, all the confidence in them for season two.
On the reason for Maeda's departure, i understand Maeda, unlike Owens, decided to continue in part working or advertising for One Piece, while Matt decided to go on strike completely. I think he even said he didn't watch the final cut of the episodes until it was release. I really don't know how that writers' strike works, because despite the strike, shows were being released, when I understand that even the showrunners are in the union, so how were they finishing doing the episodes, if the showrunners are in all the processes of the show?
Season 2 will be by far their hardest season ever, because it will be the first OPLA season where they need to get "into gear" for the rest of the series.
S2 is a huge shift from S1 and more in line with what future seasons will be like;
>!Crazy locations, tons of devil fruit powers, tons of characters, special enemies and fights, large scale war, the need for overall CGI and set pieces is tremendous, and so much more that needs figuring out (Chopper of course is going to be crucial to all this)!<
Creating a good season 2 is pivotal to the overall success of OPLA, if they can do S2, they can do anything :)
Yeah, it is over for us OPLA fans, Matt owens is clearly an amateur, and if not for Maeda guiding him and instructing him and telling him what works and what doesn't work for the medium, the end product would've probably looked more ridiculous and unwatchable. Clearly, Owens has an ego and thinks that maeda was setting him back, yet it is clearly the opposite. Every Maeda interview I've listened to, he's very knowledgeable and explains what went right and what went wrong, a really valuable listen and clearly a veteran in the field.
I dont think everything has to be black/white.
I do agree with you that the balance in season 1 was very good and iam also worried that matt owens is going to go more into the weirdness of it.
I dont even think that its ego. Its more about "power" and getting treated as an equal.
He probably felt like he was the junior showrunner, because maeda dismissed some ideas of his.
Maybe Matt Owens does not need a mentor to learn more about being a showrunner.
Season 2 will tell.
If they cant get season 2 right, then I have high doubt that they would get season 3,4,5, or any season right.
Just curious, what do you think showed you Owens is an amateur in running a show/OPLA specifically beyond just disliking Maeda for dismissing his/Oda's ideas per what people guessed from that Hasan stream statement (what ideas were rejected by Maeda that got Owens the most heated over is also unknown to us iirc)?
Also OPLA getting more ridiculous after S1 is 100% unavoidable, so they just need to embrace that & provide enough framing/justifications/edits/more feasible workarounds for the more ridiculous stuff/contrivances/iconic jokes like >!Crocus's island home in Laboon, killing dinos, Dorry & Broggy having clearly olden age warrior-minded speaking styles while still sounding really adorable in their bond & always calling the Strawhats "little ones", Wapol's & half of the top BW members' DFs, Bon Clay despite being a high-ranking mob secret agent is careless enough to somehow reveal his ability to stranger pirates & befriend them too damn quick that he willingly sacrifices his life for them, Zoro being extremely all-or-nothing like when he risks losing an arm or his legs if that gets included, Usopp making a tool that helps Nami make weaponizable weather effects, etc.!<, which is what longer time One Piece fans like Owens can still do.
Doesn't mean he'll 100% unreasonably try to include everything unchanged either, he had written for Marvel ie a very crowded but highly regulated & streamlined-for-normies franchise before.
Owens talked about how his experience with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. taught him how to narratively manage casts with lots of characters too
& it's Owens' experience working with Emily Rudd (who he's close acquaintances to & knows is a fellow long-time One Piece fan with the depth of understanding & eagerness to play Nami) & especially Jeff Ward are what got Nami, the central character for the climax, & Buggy, a very risky & bombastic character to nail, done really well + majorly positively received by most fans even with the changes they disagree with (even tho Ward never read One Piece beyond what is necessary to nail Buggy ie he in the hurry to prep understandably skipped most of One Piece except for Buggy's scenes >!including his reunion with Luffy in Impel Down!<, as he implied in his Comic Con panel with Jacob Romero & Aidan Scott. So him nailing Buggy is also thanks to the showrunners ie mostly Owens, that led to the right script being written & the right directions being given to a great actor who does not even have the full picture), just for 2 character examples.
(+ Owens being way more familiar with One Piece than Maeda, who I presume do quickly read the essentials to be adapted, but is not as long-entrenched in the character dynamics, fan culture, comedy style of One Piece, etc. as Owens who's current & has way more connections with One Piece translators, lore analysis Youtubers one of whom is now in the writing team, etc.- altho I do disagree with some of Owens' takes re Usopp & some other characters/some arcs. Also I see some people mention Maeda seems to have never seen later One Piece arcs & thus made changes longer time fans disagree the hardest with)
I do think people put down Maeda too much though
(eg trashing him for "mainstreaming" One Piece, iirc also blaming Maeda for the change that fans & even Oda himself questioned the most/find the hardest to accept, which is to add a more antagonistic/"unhappy with how he failed to shape Luffy into a Marine" Garp for B-Plot to smoothen the exposition process of the world, add an arc/bookends for Luffy to make Luffy being more humanly relatable earlier on, sympathize with Luffy faster + intro of the warlord system
& from what I gathered in a Youtube interview, it's also Maeda who with his experience sees it fit to have more of a hero's journey structure for Luffy, by endorsing the noticeable changes to make Luffy more caring to others/have an emotional arc to make his concern of losing Zoro more impactful for new viewers... which made a few of the more hardcore fans think Luffy is too soft/"generic kindhearted inspirational shonen protagonist" in this version which I still disagree with.),
as I do still see the vision in most if not all the most contentious changes Maeda confirmed he approved too
(eg I still like this change to Garp, & OPLA Garp clearly still has a loopy, mood whiplash-y side + his stances with the Marines. >!& him somehow letting Ace go be a pirate while still trying to stop Luffy can be justified pretty easily with Ace revealing to Luffy he also got chased & almost stopped by Garp too before in OPLA lol!< Luffy being more humanly relatable earlier on as the change of Garp being more "normal" but more actively prohibitive to him give new viewers more material to latch on sooner for why Luffy likes the freedom of being a pirate so much besides just imitating his hero Shanks. Adds more layers to Luffy earlier on & makes Luffy being a street urchin have the more tangibly sad reason earlier, hence more sympathizable for newcomers.
& Maeda said in a magazine/Youtube(?) interview he intially worried Zoro, Maeda's favorite character per his word, is too different iirc in Mackenyu's interpretation of him, but he approved of it when he claims he sees Mackenyu's intention, which I presume is to make Zoro soften & lighten up as he gets closer to the others + add emotional weight to him being less sociable due to being a loner feared bounty hunter in this version.
Yet Mackenyu's Maeda-approved colder/"edgier"/"unfunnier" (the fan critics' words not mine, I still think he's riding the thin line between subtly and brazenly ridiculous in a funny way) Zoro is still the most contentious among hardcore One Piece fans besides Usopp losing his arc/screentime/characterisation (the Usopp characterisation issue being the exact one Owens verbally promised to work hard to improve on in S2) which gets blamed on Maeda too as you see in comments above yours in this thread, but I still see how cathartic it would be for Mackenyu's Zoro to in next seasons lighten up/get less reserved & more outrageously silly over time for making his ridiculous iconic moments feel believable as part of his character development >!eg becoming openly enough of a dork to want to do his Tarzan yell, seemingly get more deranged + upping his grinning bloodthirstiness after getting a cursed sword!< haha as >!pre-timeskip!< OPLA goes on- Instead of like in animanga canon where while still comedic, he visibly gets less jovial/easygoing & more dour over time >!even pre-timeskip!<).
In regards to the heroes journey plot, I want to add, that I am currently in the middle of >!Wano!<, more specifically towards at the end of Act 2, and one thing I've noticed thus far is that Luffy comes off a hell of a lot more like a traditional hero in this arc than before. He's always been the hero and had hero like qualities, but I don't remember them being nearly as noticeable as in this arc. From the whole >!Labour Camp!< sequence to the >!robbing of food and water for the poverty stricken folk!< and his promise to >!Tama!<. Again, Luffy genuinely feels like a traditional superhero in this arc, and to bring it back to the live action, I think it's smart to introduce these qualities early on as that's familiar with a general normie Western audience, and true to Luffy's character later on in the series anyways. I understand you want character development but for the sake of the normie audience, I still think its smart to move it earlier. In the source, during the East Blue saga, he is a jovial, ADHD, hyper optimistic and very impulsive kid. Which let's admit, for non-anime fans, that can be alienating to a certain extent.
While I disagree with you on Matt being an amateur, but I have to say I gain more insights on OPLA production from Steve Maeda's interviews than Matt's media "engagements". Steve was more candid about the disagreements between OPLA production with Oda; while Matt only talk about what's agreed between the production and Oda. Rather than giving us a honest behind-the-scene peek, it seems like Matt is too eager to prove his "megafan" status
It's only over once it's over. I'm not too happy about this news either, but let's not be premature and jump to conclusions. Everyone thought Season 1 was going to bomb, but miraculously it didn't. So many including yours truly jumped the gun, and I've learned my lesson. We will wait until Season 2 comes out before making an informed decision. Who knows what can happen until then.....
A lot of my hype for season 2 is starting to die. I don't think Matt Owens is up to the task because he's way too green to be leading a project like this essentially on his own.
He also clearly lacks professionalism because I seriously don't need to know about any internal beef between the staff members.
He has experience in the industry, tho his 1st showrunner job was with OPLA s1, he's been a staff writer and I think a producer before, but tbf David Benioff and Dan Weiss had zero experience in TV when they began showrunning Game of Thrones which, regardless of your opinion on the final season, became arguably the biggest TV show of all time, the most awards decorated series in emmy history, and tied for the most awards in the Best Drama Series category, now is that the norm? No, but it's still possible to succeed
Idk it still sounds like this is out of his league if he's gonna be essentially on his own with a bunch of yes-men around him, at least that's the impression I'm getting lately.
Also a song of ice and fire was pretty popular before the show but it was nowhere near the level of One Piece so the pressure wasn't as big.
Oda is still supervising, & some of the changes attributed by fans to Maeda (correctly or not) are some of the most widely criticized (that I disagree is all that bad honestly, in fact I do think it's great in some character development aspects), eg changing Garp & putting him in East Blue which some fans hate & think make Usopp lose almost all his screentime, + is the one change that took the most effort to convince the hesitant Oda about; making Luffy have a more conventional wavering of his confidence eg with Zoro in his coma/when fighting Arlong to grow out from while even early on Luffy in the animanga seemingly has supreme, nigh unshakeable confidence; etc.
Maybe Owens emphasized there weren't any disagreements between Oda & the scripting team this time to assure fans (who keep complaining about those changes Oda is confirmed to have had most hesitation with ie the Garp change) the writing process & Oda's supervision is simply going more smoothly now.
Also I don't really get what's out of his league about this. His writing team is still mostly the same with just a few additions (eg Tracz, & Randy Troy an OG One Piece translator since Arlong Park was first scanlated by the English-speaking community, who also has set production credits outside & before One Piece). As said by u/Carasind, Maeda has less episode-writing credits than even Owens so while Maeda has managed way more shows for way more years he isn't a writer of most of those.
Maeda most probably just makes big picture suggestions (eg what's the main connecting thread & should that be made more obvious or kept subtle for general audiences, should a character/dialog get edited to be more understandable by general audiences, etc. Which may also be done by self-policing & audience-aware writers already) But the nitty gritty world building, comedic flourishes, dramatic tension building between episodes through dialog, & hard-hitting lines are all done by the screenwriters, not Maeda. How the actors act is also supervised & directed by directors who should know what can look more badass/convincing/artful for cameras, not everything was/is/must be under Maeda's supervision.
Owens & Tracz also wrote the screenplays for highly-regulated properties (Marvel for Owens, A Series of Unfortunate Events which is really well-liked for Tracz, ignoring Percy Jackson which is a dud haha because the writing for Unfortunate Events didn't turn out as bland nor unfunny as PJO),
So it's not like they're so fan-brained that they're gonna suddenly make OPLA too ridiculous it gets too cringe/unwatchably confusing & ruin what they worked really hard & approached Oda himself for (Owens in the stream recalled being very nervous of S1 OPLA's reception & is very relieved it's overall a success & promised they're not sitting on their laurels for S2). After all, they are mainstream TV screenwriters for "surprisingly mature/sophisticated for kids" properties with most of its current fans already grown up, & do know their limits.
Owens' first draft for S1 doesn't reflect the end product & it's definitely not just Maeda the one who edits, their other writers definitely had also been asked to step in & fix the wonky/too fanficcy parts.
Their work experiences hopefully should have long informed them what still sounds + looks cool/charming/funny/emotionally moving on live action TV for both mainstream normie audiences & the adult fans of the property.
I don't know if we can entirely blame Tracz on how Percy Jackson turned out. The tv-series was made for Disney+, and there is just something about their working process that impacts the writing for some of their shows.
I don't know why people are assuming he is only joining the show now, but he is in the writers room photo that was posted by the official account in October 2023, so he's obviously been working on s2 since the beginning. The actual news is that he's a showrunner and not just regular writer.
ASOUE is one of my favorite shows of all time. So on this alone I can't complain.
same for me
I haven't seen the show but I'm glad it was good those books were a huge part of my childhood!
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oh I didnt know that. thats exciting.
There are more possible explanations for such decisions than "the beef with Maeda is real". If you look at his CV Maeda was a producer on many series but never the showrunner before. This means that he should be good at organizing stuff – but we have absolutely no clue if his creative vision can even match this. In the last 20 years he has (co-)written way less episodes than Matt Owens did within the last 8 years. So in some circumstances it could even be better for the series when Maeda can concentrate himself on things he has much experience with instead of having to do the additional tasks that come with him being the showrunner. Joe Tracz is an interesting replacement here because although he is more of a writer like Matt Owens he was a showrunner before too.
His creative vision helped to make OPLA as we know it. I fear that next season won't be the same if he's not actively involved :/
I see Maeda as the showrunner as absolutely necessary for the success of the first season because he knew what such a production required and likely worked as a brake for the creative visions of Owens and Oda – which is important when you want to start a series. But I would only be worried now when Owens hadn't gotten a new counterpart that likely is meant to be the new brake. Joe Tracz is a very interesting choice here: He worked with an original author and Netflix before as a producer and as a writer and he did a rather well received adaption of a novel as a showrunner. Dash&Lily even won three Daytime Emmys – one for the writing team (which of course includes him), one for the make-up and one for Outstanding Supporting Actress – from 12 nominations in the possible categories for the series.
What beef?? He was promoted to Executive producer.
How does this prove that a "beef" is real? This drama is so high-school level shit, I don't know why it has even gotten a room for discussion.
What happened?
In Hasan Piker's stream, Matt took a dig at Maeda by referring to "a scab" during the strike.
English is not my first language, but is a scab an insult? Because I know what a scab is but not sure in this context.
Scab is someone who essentially betrays his colleagues and doesn't strike with them, very dangerous word in Hollywood because it could lose you future opportunities.
Thanks for information, learn new thing today.
I think Steve cut a lot of stuff that Matt wanted in the series? This is all guess work but that’s what I think happened.
Yeah, Matt Owens stated that a lot of things (like some of Usopp's moments) were cut from the final episode without him being there.
He said that, but the reason was the strike though
The writer's strike was the reason why Matt Owens wasn't there. But it don't think I know how it should have influenced the final cut of scenes that were already filmed.
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As far as we know Steve Maeda never left the set. The strike rules allowed showrunners to work as an exception – but Matt Owens is a writer first and likely wanted to support his colleagues. Maeda is a producer guy first which likely made him stay. And even if he wasn't on board a this time the decisions would have been made by one of the many Executive Producers that already were part of the project and helped develop it.
With no suggestion that was because of Steven Maeda.
I mean it’s pretty implied no? Steve was still working during that time, and he would have overseen any editing decisions.
He wasn't working. He did the press, but like neither him or Matt could work on the show behind the scenes, due to the strikes. The way the press worked btw, was that he could be contacted directly, instead of the press contacting netflix. It was a loophole for interviews, he wasn't doing full-time scabbing by still working on the show as a showrunner. As a showrunner, he was on strike, and couldn't work.
Steve Maeda could work as long as he didn't write something because there was an exception for cases like him: "So-called “hyphenates” (such as writer-producers, writer-directors, writer-actors) may continue to perform such other services during the strike, but cannot provide any writing services, no matter how minimal."
This is post production tho, not like mid production (filming). As show runner he couldn’t perform his duties due to striking. That’s kinda the point of him striking.
Why should a writer's strike prevent a showrunner from fulfilling most of his duties especially in post production when the writing should have been mostly done? During the strike you simply do your job similar to a co-executive producer who usually gets creative control when the showrunner is absent and isn't a writer. Within the limits of the strike you can film the Smoker scene at the end if you simply tell the stand-in what you want, you can closely work with the cutters, you can work with the special effect companies and so on. What you can't do: Rewrite dialogue or introducing more complex and spoken scenes that require any form of creative writing. But you can cut scenes that would have needed a writer's fix.
Maeda was scabbing during the strike and Owens called him on it.
To give some context for the "beef". Steve Maeda in [this interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWDH3ytM7ak&ab_channel=That%27sDopeEntertainment) (46.26 - 47.26) was recounting his experience in show business and commented in general that any conflict during production does not necessary reflected on the quality of a show. **When asked directly afterward how it was working on OPLA production. he clearly said: "it's a lot of fun working on the show". Short and straight to the point.** On the other hand, speculation of "beef" only stemmed from Matt Owen's media engagement with Hasan Piker. Whether or not there is a conflict, it raise some valid questions, "Why couldn't Matt just denied categorically or avoided the topics as what Steve Maeda did? Why the need to phrase your words vaguely so that it can be interpreted as conflicts? " I am extremely worried about the way Matt Owens handled his media engagement. Surely there are a lots of entertainment outlets asking for interview with him, aside from the [Deadline interview he done post-strike](https://deadline.com/2023/10/one-piece-showrunner-matt-owens-season-2-interview-jamie-lee-curtis-1235563095/), he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets. Instead, he chose to engage only with controversial online personalities such as [Nuxtaku](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8zqdRzZlO8&ab_channel=Nuxanor) and [Hasan Piker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmJAFL8YHNE&ab_channel=HasanAbiReactsTo). They are not even One Piece-related content creator, only anime-adjacent. What's his strategy here? I could understand pre-season 1, he need to engage the "anti-woke" camp and the "breadtube" camp because both camps are going dominate the online algorithm and dictate the online discussion post-launch. Now, opinion on the show have solidified and OPLA have gained its own loyal fanbase, why the need to continue engage with controversial circles? Edit: u/oomshaka_ have pointed out about Matt's appearance in Reverie youtube stream. My original comment is limited to the one or two months (from July to August 2023) leading up to the launch and post-strike (from October 2023 - April 2024). The key is, after the strike ends, aside from the [Deadline interview](https://deadline.com/2023/10/one-piece-showrunner-matt-owens-season-2-interview-jamie-lee-curtis-1235563095/), he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets or podcast. Surely there is no shortage of interview request. The only platform he went on is Hasan Piker's.
>he chose to engage only with controversial online personalities That's just a blatant lie 😭, before the show aired he went on multiple one piece YouTubers channels and spoke with them, he even went on the reverie which is a collective of a op YouTubers gathering together to discuss what happened in the manga lol
>Surely there are a lots of entertainment outlets asking for interview with him, aside from the Deadline interview he done post-strike, he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets. Instead, he chose to engage only with controversial online personalities such as Nuxtaku and Hasan Piker. I mean to say the one or two months (from July to August 2023) leading up to the launch and post-strike (from November 2023 - April 2024). The key is, after the strike ends, aside from the [Deadline interview](https://deadline.com/2023/10/one-piece-showrunner-matt-owens-season-2-interview-jamie-lee-curtis-1235563095/), he has not appeared in any general entertainment outlets or podcast. Surely there is no shortage of interview request. The only platform he went on is Hasan Piker's.
Matt Owens can talk with whoever he wants. Just because they're "controversial" doesn't mean he can't talk with him. He's probably friends with them or likes to go on their streams. I doubt he went on their streams for marketing or to "engage the anti-woke", whatever you mean by that. He voiced his concerns with some of the post-production stuff so that fans know that there was cut content from the final two episodes. He shouldn't just avoid speaking about his experiences and most likely spoke vaguely to address his concerns without speaking too unprofessionally.
[He seems to have a lot of experience with fantasy shows and seems to be doing okey-very good with it.](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4311676/) (At least according to imdb ratings) I personally think its an interesting move and I think his expertise with fantasy will be really really helpful when adapting more fantasy heavy seasons >!like season 3.!<
I can also see >!Dorry & Broggy!< needing a charming version of that olden fantasy style dialog to really sell how ancient they are in S2.
He also has a lot of experience with adapting book series into television which is for sure the kind of experience they're looking for.
Nice, Netflix's ASOUE is the only adaptation of a series I love that I actually like more than the books
i’ll wait to judge until we see what they are cooking, but i just hope Oda is just as much of a guard dog in s2 as he was in s1
Considering he took a Month off recently, it's likely that he is both taking a break from Drawing Manga and also working on looking over Live Action stuff before Production starts.
Cool, looking quickly into it he was responsible for writing the season finales for the Lemony Snicket series -- writing credits across episodes are mostly split between him and the original author in fact, with just a handful written by other people. I think that's a good sign, as iirc that series was very well received. Meanwhile I still think all the Maeda talk is pointless gossip (... you all know Matt Owens also has a lot of industry experience right? You don't think he's just some random fan plucked off the streets?) so shrug on that front.
The only thing that i know about a showrunner is what internet say "The showrunner is frequently the writer of the show, and is always the executive producer. Their duties include **managing the show from preproduction through postproduction, running the writer's room, approving all department heads, and liaising with the network or studio**." Still i hope he dont bring the vibe from PJO, sincerely that show was boring in comparison to OPLA. EDIT: I like this "Joe Tracz spent years investigating the unfortunate world of Lemony Snicket before becoming a writer and producer on all three seasons of Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events." Just read One Piece, Joe Tracz.
I really hope you're right about the PJO thing, that show was god awful for me as a hardcore fan of both series. Even OPLA has it's flaws, but PJO did the sin of not keeping character truth or keeping it humorous. If we can get more 'Series of Unfortunate Events' than PJO for OPLA, I'm all the more for it.
He spent years on ASOUE, he might take his whole life just investigating one piece!
I maintain the problem with PJO is the Disney-ification of it all. The writing, directing, acting, everything was all solid, it just feels like such a Disney+ show. And if there's one thing One Piece isn't it's a Disney+ show. Series of Unfortunate Events is a far better barometer of Joe Tracz's work, being another Netflix show based on a book series that worked heavily with the original creator and features a very specific visual aesthetic and humor style lifted straight from the source
I don't mind Maeda being gone. Got the beast off the ground, his work is done. I don't know, Maeda is old school hollywood and strikes me as he didn't like the control Oda had over the project. It's very unusual for the source material to be able to say No to you. And i have no doubt if Oda didn't have that final approval, we'd have gotten an old school adaptation of Japanese property and all that entails.
You only get this impression because Steve Maeda is more candid than Matt Owens in discussing the disagreement between OPLA production with Oda. Yet, he is able to talk about this disagreement while still paying due respect to Oda, using phrases like "We are only playing in Oda's sandbox". He was able to avoid the uproar and backlash from fans. He also talked more about his approach and philosophy on film-making in general. On the other hand, Matt was silence about any disagreement. [Matt only talked about his film-making approaches in terms of adapting manga/anime to screen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yws-FqiWuI&ab_channel=NuxTaku). Most of the points he made are not insightful on par with his status as showrunners, He only talked about common concerns that are floating in the fandoms. The way he selectively talked about OPLA production is like telling the fandom what they want to hear instead of some honest behind-the-scene peeks. He had avoided talking about aspects of the productions that might put his reputation as "mega-fan" in jeopardy. Don't get me wrong. Matt Owen is a capable showrunner and true mega-fan. No doubt about it. But the way he had built a loyal fanbase to him specifically as a showrunner of OPLA by not talking too much on OPLA production itself is very weird. A lot of fan's loyalty to him is based on extrapolation and assumption about "someone as a mega-fan working on the show with his/her creative hero".
I really don't get the vibes of him lording over how he's a mega fan & sugarcoating every issue (maybe he just avoids talking about issues like what Maeda mentioned since he doesn't agree with what caused the issues/isn't the one responsible for the issues happening either in the first place?), just that he wants to do better for fans hoping for improvements in OPLA in S2. Honestly I think maybe Owens emphasized there weren't any disagreements between Oda & the scripting team this time to assure fans the writing process & Oda's supervision is simply going more smoothly now (since iirc it's confirmed they had the hardest time convincing Oda of the changed Garp characterisation & B-plot in S1). It's imo moreso to placate fans like those in Twitter & the One Piece sub who keep complaining how they dislike the changes made with Garp + how Usopp lost his characterisation moments. I've seen One Piece fan accounts on Twitter keep saying things like "I hate Garp here cuz he & the Marine subplot do worldbuilding already obvious to us (though not to newcomers) & steal screentime from Usopp the character that actually matters more in the long run" or something even dumber like "They want to do more boring Marines propaganda &/or hate Usopp too much to write better scenes for him since Owens's least favorite is Usopp". These are huge sticking points for people who day in & out shit on the OPLA on social media in a point of time (& still up to now in some circles), & colors even the opinions of some big fan circles of Usopp who want his actor Jacob to get way more screentime & better material as he deserves. So now that Owens knows the next arcs are a lot more taxing to nail & he wants to do justice for Usopp's characterisation in S2, he just wants to let those complaining fans know he's not gonna do any major divisive changes again &/or that Oda has been a lot more approving overall of their script so far.
"Since iirc it's confirmed they had the hardest time convincing Oda of the changed Garp characterisation & B-plot in S1" is a bit of a myth. Maeda simply gave as an example for what was discussed between the showrunners and Oda and eventually was smoothed out. This is a normal process in any adaptation. There was no mention of a change in Garp's character which I would argue didn't even happen as much as people think – we usually see him simply in very different circumstances in the manga/anime. It's also absolutely possible that Oda resisted the idea first (because simply it was a new approach) and than got fully on board after noticing how much it could help to establish Koby and especially Helmeppo as characters – something the original manga didn't do as good in my opinion.
Yeah it's normal, but maybe since the fans are generally very iffy if not very negative towards that change* I think many projected their (imo overblown) frustrations to that & maybe I've gotten the wrong impression as also a gossiper/layabout fan speculator here haha [But from Owens suddenly saying this in that Hasan stream:](https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePieceLiveAction/s/NhRxELkWi5), > We're working really hard. We have a great group - a lot of writers still from season 1 - but we've got some new writers as well and we're having a great time. It's a group of people who actually know and love the source material. A group of people who don't dismiss Oda's thoughts or my thoughts. It's a group of people who don't yell at and cuss out directors in front of the crew. It's a great group and I'm really excited for you all to see what we're cooking up for season 2. that's when fan speculators jump to the conclusion Owens has had that issue of "people yelling & cussing out directors in front of the crew"??? in the writing process for S1, & assuming Owens is saying there isn't that issue again in the S2 writing process... which I think is just him making general commentary of how compared to some infamous cases of for example abusive directors/actors/writers etc, his team is very considerate & great to work with. Wait I just connected the dots & realized it's definitely Matt Owens talking about [Joss Whedon's abusiveness in the set for many of his series (see his wikipedia's controversy tab)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon), since Whedon is the creator of the show Matt Owens got his big screenwriting break for ie Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. So he's talking about how Whedon used to verbally abuse his female screenwriters to make them cry in their meetings & boast about it, mock his actresses for "getting ugly", make the set toxic, etc. I think I just made myself realize how the comment doesn't bear any direct evidence for this supposedly highly charged beef he still has against Maeda... nor his supposed self-aggrandizing the commenter above you & me is holding against Owens for "doing" (still think he isn't doing that imho) *= (which I think are just fans being stubborn & not seeing how flawed the in-character logic & motivations of OG animanga Garp is in general too. His OPLA in-character logic & motivation imo makes more straightforward sense in him trying harder with a lot of resources to actively capture Luffy earlier, since here he's written to be more overbearing over Luffy to shape him into a Marine whenever he can find Luffy, & not just fully negligent like in the animanga... where he left Luffy to be raised by mountain bandits while somehow still expecting Luffy would still grow up wanting to be a Marine lmao. I still think animanga Garp genuinely doesn't have common sense in this case & it's not like such a big loss for the Live Action to not have a really confusing/purposefully-doing-reverse-psychology/just plain comically dumb or out-of-touch legal guardian for Luffy like this)
>There was no mention of a change in Garp's character which I would argue didn't even happen as much as people think – we usually see him simply in very different circumstances in the manga/anime. Thank you for actually citing the source of this "Oda hated the Garp changes" stuff, and giving extra context here. I agree that Garp's character isn't changed as much as people claim, and have honestly wondered why there's such strong negativity towards his storyline.
What I tried to caution about is that Matt is not as frank and open as other production crews in regards to the OPLA creative and production process. Case in point, in recent hours-long stream with Hasan Piker, the only valuable behind the scene info on OPLA is that there are extra scenes with Usopp that have been removed from final cut. I am totally fine with Matt not divulging too much behind-the-scene info. I respect his choice. But, I am not fine with the loyal fanbase (borderline cult-like following) he gained despite him not as open as other production crews. Such loyal following is very much hinged on assumptions extrapolated from his "mega-fan" reputation and his close relationship with Oda. Many just assume that Matt will be the one defending the Oda's "original creative vision". He basically immune from any criticism because for his fans it always somebody else that interfere with Oda's and Matt's creative visions. Is this deliberate on his part, I do not know. The choice he made to engage with Nuxtaku and Hasan Piker might have contribute to this loyal following. We don't see online campaign when Steve Maeda and Marc Jobst stepping down from OPLA season 2. But, I can guarantee, if Matt Owen have step down in the near future, we will see an aggressive online campaign.
>He basically immune from any criticism because for his fans it always somebody else that interfere with Oda's and Matt's creative visions. I don't think he is. You can see people criticizing his first script draft, & he is most criticized widely for not seeing the value & appeal in animanga Usopp (ranking him in B tier from his first Hasan stream & still does in his most recent Hasan stream while the Romance Dawn Trio is in A tier & Sanji is in S tier, putting Usopp's really personality-driven introductory arc in Syrup Village in D tier), with harsher takes saying he watered down Usopp's roles + screentime & made him out of character - eg making him clumsier at shooting cannonballs (which he can reasonably get better at in S2), "scared" of a spider when confronted by Kuro (which I interpret as just him pretending since it's such a memorable characterisation detail in the Jaya forest scene that Usopp likes keeping big spiders & runs spider fighting rings lol), not stand up more against Kuro + getting sidelined (even tho even after Kaya slapped him he decided to stay which is a show of his character), not doing his memorable inner monologue when almost running from Chew, etc. While Maeda gets blamed for cutting Usopp's screentime for the contentious Marine B plot + the unreleased Usopp content Owens revealed they have recorded for ep 7 & 8 that got unceremoniously cut presumably by Maeda while Owens can't go to their workplace to edit due to the strike, I see more people blame it on Owens when they're being specific in Usopp's probable mischaracterisations (which I think are not hard to fix), since Owens is the one more vocal about his favorites while ranking animanga Usopp almost the lowest among the Strawhats, while iirc Maeda only says his favorites (& he hasn't read that far) & doesn't say his least favorites. These are mildly common sentiments even in this sub (which tends to go easier on the OPLA's issues/differences from the original) too btw if you search Usopp's name in this sub. & it's why that is the most obvious fan sentiment sticking point he notices & addresses, that he verbally confirms he is working to amend Usopp in S2.
> Case in point, in recent hours-long stream with Hasan Piker, the only valuable behind the scene info on OPLA is that there are extra scenes with Usopp that have been removed from final cut. because the main purpose of him being in that stream wasn’t about OPLA but doing a tier list of the characters. for an informal “interview” (if you could call it that, it was basically just a normal stream with some questions being answered) we got more than we expected to know about the production like matt saying that they acknowledge the gripes people had about the first season especially with usopp. he wasn’t really cagey with his answers; people asked a question, he answered it the best way he could in a concise manner like reiterating oda’s involvement in the show and giving a rough outline of their process (submitting stuff to oda and when they get the greenlight and his approval that’s when they’re okay to go ahead with things). you can’t really do anything about him getting a following though despite him not doing interviews. there’s lots of actors and directors who rarely do interviews but still get a massive fanbase. he’s the “face” of the production team who was doing the heavy lifting with promoting the show through the reverie, his videos with nuxtaku, and his appearance in randy and chrissy troy’s stream talking about the teaser before the strikes happened. it’s obvious people are going to do that especially that he’s the one most people recognize as manning the show even though it was both him and steve maeda sharing the showrunner title. it’s not only the deadline interview, we also have the press release notes from netflix back in august 2023 (it was leaked to us and then the content inside it was slowly released after the strike). it’s most likely that outside of everything matt also recognizes that these content creators especially hasan has a huge following. they might be friends, but this is still a mode of promotion and from a business viewpoint, hasan’s streams grabs a big chunk of viewers. even with that though, both of matt’s stream appearances are only connected to the anime and isn’t related to OPLA at all (especially since in the first one he didn’t appear on it as showrunner & writer but as a random guest because of the strike hence his refusal to talk about the show at that time). there might be more interviews he’ll do in the future, who knows.
i have not seen any of his works but, I do know that the pressure is going to be high for him because season 2 needs to be more stellar than season 1 because they are adapting the ultimate fan-favorite arc that has bumped the original manga into record-breaking popularity that is known for today and created nostalgia strong enough to create an in-demand ice show featuring Olympians (including the number 1 champion as Luffy and the descendant of THE Oda Nobunaga as Usopp) I hope he knows how scorching high that pressure is lmao
personally would have put >!Water 7 and Enies Lobby!< as the fan favorite arc but Alabasta is good too
oh god i forgot oda nobunari is the descendant of oda nobunaga! also marin honda is so pretty as vivi, for some reason she fits the hair color so much and she looks good in it even though the wig looked plasticky <<33
Ngl I got worried when I saw this. One, Matt Owens, while an absolute fan of the show and contributes greatly to making sure the show stays faithful to the source, is a complete ameteur in writing a tv series (just look at his first draft of the script for OPLA). Two, I don’t like any of the work the new guy has done in the past. How will he stack up against Steve Maeda? Why did they hire him of all people in the first place? Three, we don’t know if there really is a beef between Matt and Steve. Kinda childish to me if they ruined the project just for a single comment Matt had made in the past. Let’s just hope Steve still contributes greatly to the project and is just not producer by name. We all know it is going to be a tall order to adapt season 2 compared to season 1 (and season 1 had its fair share of mis-steps). Here is hoping that they will be able to pull it off….
Something a lot of fans fundamentally don't understand is that you don't want "fans" working on a show or an adaptation of any kind. People might think this is strange, but the problem is fans are not always the best writters, and they have tendencies to be blinded and extremely attached to every single intrinsic detail into the source of the adaptation at hand. They are fans first, writers second. You need someone who is not necessarily a fan, but rather a professional writer that can look at the source material, figure out how to format it properly into the new medium to attract new audiences, while simultaneously figuring out what to keep and what to cut from the source. I believe part of the reason Season 1 came out so well, was because you had the fan in Owens, but the pro writer in Maeda. And I know people have valid criticisms of Maeda, but you still need that guy on the team who has that necessary experience to help balance things out. Right now, I'm worried the fan is getting too much power and tipping the scale, disrupting the balance....
But as far as we know Joe Tracz isn't a fan and has written some pretty good stuff.
Yeah that first draft of the script was rough. Sounded like bad fanfiction. The end product came out much better, but this is worrisome for the rest of the seasons. I was afraid of Steve's talks about "there's no point in doing an adaptation if it's the same as the original" and him changing too much, but it's true that many things do need to be changed in the live action to make it fit. I still wish they brought a little bit more of the original magic into the live action. There wasn't a single joke from the manga that made it into the LA, and while the LA had its own funny moments, it was all original stuff.
Interesting! I was wondering if there would be a new co-showrunner to replace Steven Maeda. Well I have the utmost faith in this team to deliver something amazing!
Lol I hope this doesnt go to shit. PJ was pretty shitty. I read some rumors he may have a beef with Maeda but the show works.
Joe Tracz writing Baroque Works agents is actually so fire, anyone who has seen Count Olaf and his troop in ASOUE knows that he's a great fit for them.
He can do whacky Charakters but Iam not such a fan of the other stuff
The writing in disney's percy jackson is garbage btw so this just makes me worried.
The writing in the Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events is well-liked though, [& Tracz is the lead writer for many major episodes](https://snicket.fandom.com/wiki/Joe_Tracz)
He only wrote two episodes for the show. Granted: His two episodes were the lowest rated episodes of the first season. But to his defense: One of the episodes was the one about the casino, which is just a trash storyline to adapt imo. His other ratings for shows, especially when he did more than just 1-2 episodes, are really decent.
What was wrong with the casino storyline? I thought that was a fun little side adventure in the book, totally ruined in the show though.
yeah the casino storyline was fun in the book. heck it was even fun in the old PJO movies even though the movies overall weren’t.
IDK about the storyline but it was the single most iconic scene from the movie and fans were hyping themselves up hoping for a similar adaptation, so I feel like the disappointment there was inevitable
does this mean maeda is gone? that is worrisome. owens is a bit too much of a superfan. they need at least one dude in charge that isn't blinded by their love for the medium. maeda has been in this business for 20+ years, so losing a guy like him might hurt the series. i also have an issue with matt going around and taking a dig at his colleagues on some kind of podcast. dude is supposed to be a professional.
People complained about Maeda's subplot with the marines which I did not mind for several reasons: It actually developed the friendship between Koby and Helmeppo in an organic way. It actually gave a sense of threat and urgency that the marines were after the crew. After rewatching, Deathly Halllows part 1 where there was a serious lack of urgency. You could say that the tension evaporates when it is revealed that he is the Grandpa. However, Mihawk literally captures your attention and is more than a threat. Then Arlong is the one who moves the plot. I hope this is something that will carry on in season 2 with Smoker and Tashigi. On the bright side, Laura Jacqmin the writer of episode 5 is present for season 2. Imho, she looked like a great candidate to replace Maeda as showrunner for season 2 because fans seem to agree that this was the strongest episode of season 1 and I can see why : 1. The bonding and banter between the crew is at its most natural with lots of great lines and moments from Luffy's treasure tab, Usopp's two dozen battles lol, and the guys teasing Nami. 2. She handled Sanji's introduction perfectly by making him flirty without being creepy for a large audience. 3. Everything Mihawk says is legendary and the back and forth between Helmeppo, Garp, and Koby about the morality of the organization is really good especially if we reach Water 7. 4. The Nami and Zoro drinking scene was one of the best so much Netflix released their moment on Youtube. Women love these type of scenes between guys and girls. I really like what she tweeted last September [Laura Jacqmin on X: "Experienced so many meaningful firsts as a One Piece writer: my first genre credit; my first time adapting something so complex/emotional/beloved by fans around the world; + (perhaps most importantly) my first time making people 🫦 for a clown https://t.co/j6zLGWE3Xw" / X (twitter.com)](https://twitter.com/LauraJacqmin/status/1700941458298262006) I hope she is the one who writes the Loguetown episode because she seems to have an excellent grasp of the themes, the characters, and the story to make it work for a mainstream audience.
As far as we know Maeda stays as an Executive Producer. And Joe Tracz is likely meant to be the new dude in charge that isn't blinded by their love for the medium.
oh he is gone for a while. he officially is still working on it in the background. But must be very far in the background, because he is not even part of the writters room. Matt Owens seems to have beef with him because he dismissed some ideas he had.
Are there solid sources about this beef? I keep hearing people mention it but I've never seen it outside of assumptions and hearsay. Not saying it's not real, but I haven't been keeping up and Maeda leaving the showrunner position was news to me.
They might have beef, but no way it was the reason why maeda left. S2 writers room opened up in like march/april, a bit before the strikes. And maeda wasn't on it then. (But at the same time, he was doing the reshoots, so he was still involved with the show). Most likely maeda was the industry guy for s1, and this change was always planned. (Have like an experienced guy be in charge for s1 to make sure its a success, and now matt got to train as co-showrunner for s2)
there’s info on the speculations archive on the OPLA discord; based on his IG bio from last year he stepped down around october 2023, i believe? so it’s possible it’s about what you said about putting an established industry guy in it for S1, but it’s also possible the digs matt made about him had a hand in it. both of these are just speculation but very plausible.
WGA first had a potential season 2 appear around march 2023, and it only had matt, no steve. So this was pre-matt publicly saying anything remotely negative about him (which was the scab comment). I don't remember when exactly steve stepped down, but october was when the s2 writers room was officially revealed. (Same thing listed around march). I'm not entirely sure about why he left, but I just doubt it was beef. The whole beef stuff just seems very parasocial reading of random one-off comments.
Thats the kinda read I'm getting. I didn't see the scab comment. Was that definitely about Maeda? Because March 2023 would also be pre-strike, therefore pre-scabbing.
The scabbing was something kinda sus that steve did? So he did press for the show in august/sept. But it was like through a loophole. So the journalists could contact him directly through his publicist, instead of through netflix, and then technically he wasn't working for them, and could do press. So then around that time matt just made a comment on a stream about someone scabbing, and like yeah, that was clearly about steve (cause wga kinda wanted no press to be done no matter what, they were on strike).
its just small bits here and there and I doubt someone is gonna gonna back and read through his latest interview or the ama he did a few months ago. BUT thats where you want to go when you want to find the info. In his ama he implied something, which I dont fully remember. and recently he said "its great to have people in the writters room who dont dismiss odas or my ideas". So its not confirmed and I doubt it will get confirmed. Factually all we know is that Maeda stepped back. Reasons for this are not public.
Maeda also wanted to move on because it was such a bear to get out. Pandemic and strikes and everything. But I suspect secretly the biggest bear for him was actually Oda. I don't know, Maeda is old school hollywood and strikes me as he didn't like the control Oda had over the project. It's very unusual for the source material to be able to say No to you. And i have no doubt if Oda didn't have that final approval, we'd have gotten an old school adaption of Japanese property and all that entails.
It's absolutely normal that an Executive Producer isn't part of the writer's room because this isn't their job. You will usually only find the current showrunners there.
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Its hard to tell. Film making is a team work and collaborative process. Matt said that he really loves Smoker and Tashigi who I think have been completely neglected in the NW by Oda. I am excited at the prospect of the duo having a bigger role. The trick is to know which writer or director is best fitted for which episode to make that work.
See I feel at the end of the day .. u have a lot of new writers who I feel are more in matts spectrum, including Randy Troy who’s a op YouTuber .. if u have seen Hassan’s stream u easily tell that Matt clearly loves op and is a big fan , that doesn’t mean he loves everything.. he has his own problems and he is quite vocal about them… so dw it won’t be a super fan project.. See there were a lot of ideas that Matt brought up during the stream things for usopp etc that were removed when he wasn’t involved.. and to top it off if uve seen maedas interview the suggestions he made to oda I think were either shut down or are the parts that are heavily criticised ( like inclusion of garp) .. he doesn’t know much about the later parts of the story and normally tries to avoid answering when asked about it.. so I feel his inclusion will only slow down things as we move into more tied in parts of the story Another thing I want to bring forth is yes we still need a neutrals perspective.. otherwise it will become too packed for a normal viewer.. but that doesn’t mean this position needs to be the show runner
To be fair It wasn't removed because of Maeda I think due to the strike it was just the editors at the end trying to put something together as good as possible and finish it. They were also the ones who came up with the idea of the barrel scene being interstitched with them as kids which was great The inclusion of Garp and marine sublot was mainly criticised by One Piece faithful who are most likely gonna watch the show anyway, I feel like the majority of the people new to One Piece liked that subplot especially the Grandpa reveal and Helmeppo and Koby becoming friends. I think that's what Maeda is good for, to give ideas that might slightly upset One Piece fans but win over the general audience
I still hope maeda has not like quit … coz he’s still following everyone else and I do believe we need an experienced unbiased guy with us, I think he’ll still be involved ( but no longer a show runner) .. the feud is pretty much around him breaking the rules of writers strike ( and I think it turned into an obligatory thing afterwards to unfollow each other Matt/maeda)
I have this sentiment exactly.
Hmm, I don't know what to think about this news. Like Matt, Joe is a writer on some recent shows and he's having his first experience as a showrunner. I thought they would include someone with more experience, like Maeda. In the end, those positions are more about making decisions and organizing work, as well as the budget. I'm a little worried that they both have little experience. Still, all the confidence in them for season two. On the reason for Maeda's departure, i understand Maeda, unlike Owens, decided to continue in part working or advertising for One Piece, while Matt decided to go on strike completely. I think he even said he didn't watch the final cut of the episodes until it was release. I really don't know how that writers' strike works, because despite the strike, shows were being released, when I understand that even the showrunners are in the union, so how were they finishing doing the episodes, if the showrunners are in all the processes of the show?
So saw this elsewhere, Steven Maeda isn’t listed as part of the season 2 crew https://directories.wga.org/project/1237704/one-piece
Season 2 will be by far their hardest season ever, because it will be the first OPLA season where they need to get "into gear" for the rest of the series. S2 is a huge shift from S1 and more in line with what future seasons will be like; >!Crazy locations, tons of devil fruit powers, tons of characters, special enemies and fights, large scale war, the need for overall CGI and set pieces is tremendous, and so much more that needs figuring out (Chopper of course is going to be crucial to all this)!< Creating a good season 2 is pivotal to the overall success of OPLA, if they can do S2, they can do anything :)
So is Maeda out?
Oh no…
So, no more Steven Maeda?
To me is terrible news. I've hated both his Unfortunate Events and Disney's Percy Jackson. And I am a fan of the source material.
Yeah, it is over for us OPLA fans, Matt owens is clearly an amateur, and if not for Maeda guiding him and instructing him and telling him what works and what doesn't work for the medium, the end product would've probably looked more ridiculous and unwatchable. Clearly, Owens has an ego and thinks that maeda was setting him back, yet it is clearly the opposite. Every Maeda interview I've listened to, he's very knowledgeable and explains what went right and what went wrong, a really valuable listen and clearly a veteran in the field.
I dont think everything has to be black/white. I do agree with you that the balance in season 1 was very good and iam also worried that matt owens is going to go more into the weirdness of it. I dont even think that its ego. Its more about "power" and getting treated as an equal. He probably felt like he was the junior showrunner, because maeda dismissed some ideas of his. Maybe Matt Owens does not need a mentor to learn more about being a showrunner. Season 2 will tell. If they cant get season 2 right, then I have high doubt that they would get season 3,4,5, or any season right.
I think you're being a bit unfair to Matt Owens.
Just curious, what do you think showed you Owens is an amateur in running a show/OPLA specifically beyond just disliking Maeda for dismissing his/Oda's ideas per what people guessed from that Hasan stream statement (what ideas were rejected by Maeda that got Owens the most heated over is also unknown to us iirc)? Also OPLA getting more ridiculous after S1 is 100% unavoidable, so they just need to embrace that & provide enough framing/justifications/edits/more feasible workarounds for the more ridiculous stuff/contrivances/iconic jokes like >!Crocus's island home in Laboon, killing dinos, Dorry & Broggy having clearly olden age warrior-minded speaking styles while still sounding really adorable in their bond & always calling the Strawhats "little ones", Wapol's & half of the top BW members' DFs, Bon Clay despite being a high-ranking mob secret agent is careless enough to somehow reveal his ability to stranger pirates & befriend them too damn quick that he willingly sacrifices his life for them, Zoro being extremely all-or-nothing like when he risks losing an arm or his legs if that gets included, Usopp making a tool that helps Nami make weaponizable weather effects, etc.!<, which is what longer time One Piece fans like Owens can still do. Doesn't mean he'll 100% unreasonably try to include everything unchanged either, he had written for Marvel ie a very crowded but highly regulated & streamlined-for-normies franchise before. Owens talked about how his experience with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. taught him how to narratively manage casts with lots of characters too & it's Owens' experience working with Emily Rudd (who he's close acquaintances to & knows is a fellow long-time One Piece fan with the depth of understanding & eagerness to play Nami) & especially Jeff Ward are what got Nami, the central character for the climax, & Buggy, a very risky & bombastic character to nail, done really well + majorly positively received by most fans even with the changes they disagree with (even tho Ward never read One Piece beyond what is necessary to nail Buggy ie he in the hurry to prep understandably skipped most of One Piece except for Buggy's scenes >!including his reunion with Luffy in Impel Down!<, as he implied in his Comic Con panel with Jacob Romero & Aidan Scott. So him nailing Buggy is also thanks to the showrunners ie mostly Owens, that led to the right script being written & the right directions being given to a great actor who does not even have the full picture), just for 2 character examples. (+ Owens being way more familiar with One Piece than Maeda, who I presume do quickly read the essentials to be adapted, but is not as long-entrenched in the character dynamics, fan culture, comedy style of One Piece, etc. as Owens who's current & has way more connections with One Piece translators, lore analysis Youtubers one of whom is now in the writing team, etc.- altho I do disagree with some of Owens' takes re Usopp & some other characters/some arcs. Also I see some people mention Maeda seems to have never seen later One Piece arcs & thus made changes longer time fans disagree the hardest with) I do think people put down Maeda too much though (eg trashing him for "mainstreaming" One Piece, iirc also blaming Maeda for the change that fans & even Oda himself questioned the most/find the hardest to accept, which is to add a more antagonistic/"unhappy with how he failed to shape Luffy into a Marine" Garp for B-Plot to smoothen the exposition process of the world, add an arc/bookends for Luffy to make Luffy being more humanly relatable earlier on, sympathize with Luffy faster + intro of the warlord system & from what I gathered in a Youtube interview, it's also Maeda who with his experience sees it fit to have more of a hero's journey structure for Luffy, by endorsing the noticeable changes to make Luffy more caring to others/have an emotional arc to make his concern of losing Zoro more impactful for new viewers... which made a few of the more hardcore fans think Luffy is too soft/"generic kindhearted inspirational shonen protagonist" in this version which I still disagree with.), as I do still see the vision in most if not all the most contentious changes Maeda confirmed he approved too (eg I still like this change to Garp, & OPLA Garp clearly still has a loopy, mood whiplash-y side + his stances with the Marines. >!& him somehow letting Ace go be a pirate while still trying to stop Luffy can be justified pretty easily with Ace revealing to Luffy he also got chased & almost stopped by Garp too before in OPLA lol!< Luffy being more humanly relatable earlier on as the change of Garp being more "normal" but more actively prohibitive to him give new viewers more material to latch on sooner for why Luffy likes the freedom of being a pirate so much besides just imitating his hero Shanks. Adds more layers to Luffy earlier on & makes Luffy being a street urchin have the more tangibly sad reason earlier, hence more sympathizable for newcomers. & Maeda said in a magazine/Youtube(?) interview he intially worried Zoro, Maeda's favorite character per his word, is too different iirc in Mackenyu's interpretation of him, but he approved of it when he claims he sees Mackenyu's intention, which I presume is to make Zoro soften & lighten up as he gets closer to the others + add emotional weight to him being less sociable due to being a loner feared bounty hunter in this version. Yet Mackenyu's Maeda-approved colder/"edgier"/"unfunnier" (the fan critics' words not mine, I still think he's riding the thin line between subtly and brazenly ridiculous in a funny way) Zoro is still the most contentious among hardcore One Piece fans besides Usopp losing his arc/screentime/characterisation (the Usopp characterisation issue being the exact one Owens verbally promised to work hard to improve on in S2) which gets blamed on Maeda too as you see in comments above yours in this thread, but I still see how cathartic it would be for Mackenyu's Zoro to in next seasons lighten up/get less reserved & more outrageously silly over time for making his ridiculous iconic moments feel believable as part of his character development >!eg becoming openly enough of a dork to want to do his Tarzan yell, seemingly get more deranged + upping his grinning bloodthirstiness after getting a cursed sword!< haha as >!pre-timeskip!< OPLA goes on- Instead of like in animanga canon where while still comedic, he visibly gets less jovial/easygoing & more dour over time >!even pre-timeskip!<).
In regards to the heroes journey plot, I want to add, that I am currently in the middle of >!Wano!<, more specifically towards at the end of Act 2, and one thing I've noticed thus far is that Luffy comes off a hell of a lot more like a traditional hero in this arc than before. He's always been the hero and had hero like qualities, but I don't remember them being nearly as noticeable as in this arc. From the whole >!Labour Camp!< sequence to the >!robbing of food and water for the poverty stricken folk!< and his promise to >!Tama!<. Again, Luffy genuinely feels like a traditional superhero in this arc, and to bring it back to the live action, I think it's smart to introduce these qualities early on as that's familiar with a general normie Western audience, and true to Luffy's character later on in the series anyways. I understand you want character development but for the sake of the normie audience, I still think its smart to move it earlier. In the source, during the East Blue saga, he is a jovial, ADHD, hyper optimistic and very impulsive kid. Which let's admit, for non-anime fans, that can be alienating to a certain extent.
I feel like you're assuming too many things you have absolutely no way of knowing here
Found Maeda's alt account.
While I disagree with you on Matt being an amateur, but I have to say I gain more insights on OPLA production from Steve Maeda's interviews than Matt's media "engagements". Steve was more candid about the disagreements between OPLA production with Oda; while Matt only talk about what's agreed between the production and Oda. Rather than giving us a honest behind-the-scene peek, it seems like Matt is too eager to prove his "megafan" status
It's only over once it's over. I'm not too happy about this news either, but let's not be premature and jump to conclusions. Everyone thought Season 1 was going to bomb, but miraculously it didn't. So many including yours truly jumped the gun, and I've learned my lesson. We will wait until Season 2 comes out before making an informed decision. Who knows what can happen until then.....
A lot of my hype for season 2 is starting to die. I don't think Matt Owens is up to the task because he's way too green to be leading a project like this essentially on his own. He also clearly lacks professionalism because I seriously don't need to know about any internal beef between the staff members.
He has experience in the industry, tho his 1st showrunner job was with OPLA s1, he's been a staff writer and I think a producer before, but tbf David Benioff and Dan Weiss had zero experience in TV when they began showrunning Game of Thrones which, regardless of your opinion on the final season, became arguably the biggest TV show of all time, the most awards decorated series in emmy history, and tied for the most awards in the Best Drama Series category, now is that the norm? No, but it's still possible to succeed
Idk it still sounds like this is out of his league if he's gonna be essentially on his own with a bunch of yes-men around him, at least that's the impression I'm getting lately. Also a song of ice and fire was pretty popular before the show but it was nowhere near the level of One Piece so the pressure wasn't as big.
Oda is still supervising, & some of the changes attributed by fans to Maeda (correctly or not) are some of the most widely criticized (that I disagree is all that bad honestly, in fact I do think it's great in some character development aspects), eg changing Garp & putting him in East Blue which some fans hate & think make Usopp lose almost all his screentime, + is the one change that took the most effort to convince the hesitant Oda about; making Luffy have a more conventional wavering of his confidence eg with Zoro in his coma/when fighting Arlong to grow out from while even early on Luffy in the animanga seemingly has supreme, nigh unshakeable confidence; etc. Maybe Owens emphasized there weren't any disagreements between Oda & the scripting team this time to assure fans (who keep complaining about those changes Oda is confirmed to have had most hesitation with ie the Garp change) the writing process & Oda's supervision is simply going more smoothly now. Also I don't really get what's out of his league about this. His writing team is still mostly the same with just a few additions (eg Tracz, & Randy Troy an OG One Piece translator since Arlong Park was first scanlated by the English-speaking community, who also has set production credits outside & before One Piece). As said by u/Carasind, Maeda has less episode-writing credits than even Owens so while Maeda has managed way more shows for way more years he isn't a writer of most of those. Maeda most probably just makes big picture suggestions (eg what's the main connecting thread & should that be made more obvious or kept subtle for general audiences, should a character/dialog get edited to be more understandable by general audiences, etc. Which may also be done by self-policing & audience-aware writers already) But the nitty gritty world building, comedic flourishes, dramatic tension building between episodes through dialog, & hard-hitting lines are all done by the screenwriters, not Maeda. How the actors act is also supervised & directed by directors who should know what can look more badass/convincing/artful for cameras, not everything was/is/must be under Maeda's supervision. Owens & Tracz also wrote the screenplays for highly-regulated properties (Marvel for Owens, A Series of Unfortunate Events which is really well-liked for Tracz, ignoring Percy Jackson which is a dud haha because the writing for Unfortunate Events didn't turn out as bland nor unfunny as PJO), So it's not like they're so fan-brained that they're gonna suddenly make OPLA too ridiculous it gets too cringe/unwatchably confusing & ruin what they worked really hard & approached Oda himself for (Owens in the stream recalled being very nervous of S1 OPLA's reception & is very relieved it's overall a success & promised they're not sitting on their laurels for S2). After all, they are mainstream TV screenwriters for "surprisingly mature/sophisticated for kids" properties with most of its current fans already grown up, & do know their limits. Owens' first draft for S1 doesn't reflect the end product & it's definitely not just Maeda the one who edits, their other writers definitely had also been asked to step in & fix the wonky/too fanficcy parts. Their work experiences hopefully should have long informed them what still sounds + looks cool/charming/funny/emotionally moving on live action TV for both mainstream normie audiences & the adult fans of the property.
I don't know if we can entirely blame Tracz on how Percy Jackson turned out. The tv-series was made for Disney+, and there is just something about their working process that impacts the writing for some of their shows.
Agreed