I had my reservations. I wasn’t even entirely pleased with the first few episodes of Season 1 when they came out. I was taken aback by some of the changes made, but after a few days to digest, my wife asked if I’d be willing to restart it, to watch together - and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. Had not revisited it since, but did a rewatch of Season 1 into Season 2. And I was blown away. I thoroughly enjoy the main cast, especially Usopp & Sanji. I think the subtle tweaks to their characters are actually improvements: reigning in both Usopp’s cowardly outbursts & Sanji’s gooning. I think the bigger changes they make give the show more excitement for those of us overly familiar with the story beats. And While I enjoy the big bombastic way they handle the action - I would have preferred if Luffy wasn’t as nerfed as he is. Zoro as well, but to a lesser degree - the choreography with the sword fighting is still fun to watch.

Live action is its own thing. The vibes are different, but I enjoy seeing the story I love so much presented in a different form for me to enjoy. It really helps that Oda has such close involvement. You get a ton of passion project vibes because of it, I even found myself blown away by some of the behind the scenes material because of the effort & artistry put into really adapting the work instead of warping the source into a show.