Netflix is making a live-action adaptation of Kakegurui, and it serves as a reminder of why One Piece was so good. Based on Eiichiro Oda’s manga of the same name, One Piece season 1 became one of the streamer’s most successful TV shows. The live-action series had over 140 million streaming hours in its first week and became more popular as time pᴀssed (via ᴅᴇᴀᴅline). The success of the One Piece TV show was especially surprising when not a lot of live-action adaptations have managed to be as popular as the Netflix original show.

While some live-action adaptations of anime have been successful, others were panned by critics and audiences. It’s not an easy feat to achieve what Netflix has with One Piece, which is why the streamer’s latest live-action remake is garnering a lot of interest from fans of the anime. With Bet premiering on May 15, 2025, there’s no better time to look into why One Piece season 1 was such a success for Netflix.

Netflix’s Bet Looks Similar To The Kakegurui Anime (But Not Enough)

Bet Has Made Some Significant Changes To Its Source Material

It’s pretty common for live-action adaptations to make changes to the original material, which is proving to be the case for Netflix’s new adaptation of Kakegurui. The trailer has offered a few details about what to expect from the TV show: The most notable is that Netflix has changed the тιтle of the anime. Instead of being called Kakegurui, the live-action series is simply тιтled Bet. However, the plot of the series is the same in that Yumeko is the main character, and she transfers to a new high school.

Yet while the anime takes place in Japan, Bet will be set in the U.S. because Yumeko is transferring from a high school in Japan to a new one in the States. In Kakegurui, Yumeko attends Hyakkaou Private Academy because she is addicted to gambling. But Bet has her on a mission to find out what happened to her parents. Additionally, the characters in Netflix’s live-action TV show look different from the anime.

All these changes mean that the new series won’t be a copycat of the anime. Instead, it will take the essence of the source material and add a unique twist to the story. While this might not necessarily be what fans of Kakegurui expect, it’s still possible that the changes will elevate the story.

One Piece’s Live-Action Show Fully Embraced The Source Material

One Piece’s Live-Action Didn’t Deviate Too Far From The Original Story

Meanwhile, Netflix’s live-action One Piece was a big hit for the streamer, and this was in no way an accident. One Piece has garnered a huge fan base since it started airing in 1999, so the odds were stacked against the live-action show because making a different version of an anime that is beloved is always risky. However, Netflix succeeded in creating a live-action version of One Piece that resonates with longtime fans. And the main reason One Piece became so popular is that it is faithful to its source material.

The premise and characters in Netflix’s One Piece are carbon copies of the original story. Given that there have been several live-action adaptations like Death Note and Dragon Ball: Evolution that haven’t been popular, Netflix had a chance to learn from those mistakes in order for the One Piece series to be successful. Because of this, it was easy to figure out that the best way for the One Piece TV show to succeed was for its story and characters to stay as close to its source material as possible.

Kakegurui’s Other Live-Action Adaptations Raise The Bar Even Higher For Netflix’s Bet

There Are Currently Three Live-Action Adaptations Of Kakegurui

Additionally, Bet isn’t the only live-action adaptation of Kakegurui. There have been three versions of Homura Kawamoto and Tōru Naomura’s manga so far. The first one, released in 2018, is a live-action Japanese TV show of the same name that is an identical adaptation of the anime. After the TV show, two movies, Kakegurui and a sequel, Kakegurui 2: Ultimate Russian Roulette, were released.

Since there are already three live-action adaptations of Kakegurui, there’s a lot of pressure on Netflix to get their TV show right. The previous iterations of Kakegurui are not exactly perfect, but they have a lot of positives, which can be attributed to the fact that they were faithful adaptations of the anime. With Bet being a reimagining of Homura Kawamoto and Tōru Naomura’s story, with some major differences already being advertised, there’s a huge risk that it might not be as popular or successful as the anime’s previous live-action adaptations.

Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline