Danica Davidson
September 23, 2020 
Matt Owens, head writer for the Netflix live action adaptation of One Piece, recently talked about how much it meant to him.
“When I was in my early 20s, I went through a really, really bad depression,” Owens remarked on YouTube, as reported by LRM Online. “I was trying to find a series I could watch that would occupy all of my time so I didn’t have to do anything or think about anything… I said, ‘You know what? This is the time to watch all of One Piece’… In a few short months, I caught all the way up from the beginning to Punk Hazard.”
He continued his story about meeting creator Eiichiro Oda. “I told Oda, ‘One of the great things about One Piece is it’s really a story about how everybody has tragedy, pain, sadness in their life, but it’s not what defines you. What defines you is how you use that to motivate your future, and that no one has to do it alone. No one has to be alone. When you find those people around you who motivate you, lift you up, and help you, that’s the greatest power in this world. And that is the story I want to put out into the world. So I know that One Piece means a lot to you, Oda. It means a lot to me, because I honestly think that One Piece saved my life.’ He looked me in the eye, and he held his hand out across the table and said, ‘I have 100% faith in you now.’”
Are you interested in checking out the Netflix adaptation?
Source: LRM Online
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
