Spoiler Warning: This article features mild spoilers for Episode 2 of Netflix's live action One Piece series.
Netflix's One Piece director Marc Jobst has explained what allowed him to make Episode 2's Buggy the Clown so dark as the character has emerged as a fan favourite.
Speaking to Variety, Jobst said the key was finding a balance between goofy and dark, as going too far in either direction would cause the series to lose the essence of One Piece. Thankfully for Jobst, he found the pure joy coming from Luffy let him lean much darker with Buggy while still maintaining that balance.
"If you go too dark, you don’t become One Piece," Jobst said. "If you go too funny and wacky and goofy, you lose the depth that One Piece has. And the more levity you bring, the darker you can actually go.
"So Nami and Zoro are still undecided about Luffy, this goofy character who seems a bit simplistic in every way — everything is fine and fantastic and amazing, even creatures like Buggy — and they’re not really providing a huge influx of joy and levity. But because we have Luffy to lend the levity, it allowed Buggy to go darker."
Dipping into darker material seemingly worked for Jobst as fans are loving how Buggy comes across in the One Piece live action series.
"I'd say Buggy was done even better than the original," said one Reddit user. "Nah, serious, Buggy was just too good," said another.
"Jeff Ward's Buggy is one of the best performances I've ever seen by an actor and I'm not even exaggerating," added Castreal7. "The mannerisms, the dialogue, the interactions with the characters. He quite literally is Buggy."
To see exactly how the live action version compares to the original anime, check out IGN's visual comparison.
In our 6/10 review of the show, we said: "Netflix's One Piece is an entertaining adaptation that's hindered by a desire to recreate every major event found in its source material."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
