Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for Season 2 of One Piece, which is currently streaming on Netflix.
The doctor is at home: Netflix’s “One Piece” finally introduced human-reindeer hybrid Tony Tony Chopper in the seventh episode of its second season. This is the moment fans of the iconic fuzzy characters from Eiichiro Oda’s original manga One Piece have been waiting for since the live-action adaptation was first announced, and many worried it would be too difficult to pull off.
And One Piece stars Inaki Godoy (Monkey D. Luffy), Kenyu Makyu (Roronoa Zoro), Taz Skyler (Sanji), Emily Ladd (Nami), and Jacob Romero (Usopp) swear that bringing this little doctor to life was a big job that showrunners Matt Owens and Joe Trucks took very seriously.
“Oh, he’s with us,” Makkenyu told Variety in a group interview with his One Piece co-stars, referring to the practical aspects of filming with the CGI character Chopper in Season 2.
Netflix’s One Piece cast Michaela Huber as the voice and motion-capture actor for Chopper, who takes on the role of Chopper in his tragic upbringing, then brought on cast member Nkorn Mamecha to stand in and Gavin Gomez to play the super-sized “heavy point” version of Chopper who transforms.
“There are about eight or nine people involved in creating the Chopper experience from set to finish,” Romero says. “There’s an actress there, Nkorn, she’s amazing. She was with us on the day and just kind of crawled around and became like a living presence, filling the lines with emotion and helping us block out the scenes and everything else. There’s also this stuffy version of Chopper that they brought out.” (Schuyler says this crammed version is “a good listener” and “you can ask to be put in the tent if you want to hang out.”)
Romero continued, “There’s also a CGI eye coming out. And then there’s the heavy point version, which is a fully prosthetic Gavin. So we joke that Chopper is the most high-maintenance actor we work with.”
“We did a lot of takes for him,” Rudd says with a laugh.
“Each version of Chopper has a different personality. Gavin is like a big, mischievous, energetic guy,” Skyler said, while Rudd added, “Nkorn is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet in your life, so sweet and warm.”
“Michaela brings all the character to him,” Schuyler says, but the cast says all the setup helped make the scene believable with the CGI chopper.
“This is a multi-layered piece, but like all the sets and everything else, there’s something in there that helps us reach out and interact and build an emotional connection with this character,” Romero says.
By the end of the season, Chopper officially joins the Straw Hat Pirates as a member of the crew of the Going Merry and, along with Princess Bibi (Khalithra Chandran), becomes a key cast member of Season 3, which is currently in production in South Africa.
Following these introductions and an early teaser of the character Dragon in Season 2 (which Godoy says is a “cool thing” that “fans who know what’s going on” will understand), Season 3 will introduce even more iconic characters.
However, it remains to be determined how many characters One Piece fans will ultimately see, and how far the creators and cast are willing to go when it comes to adapting an anime with over 1,000 episodes into live-action.
“I think you’ll figure it out along the way, as long as it makes sense,” Godoy said. “I don’t think the answer is.”
“I’m working hard,” Romero said. “For the next 150 years, I will do my best.”
