One Piece live-action Season 2 is off the charts for all reasons. The highlight, however, remains the Drum Kingdom Arc. Reason being that it introduced Chopper in all its cuteness and glory. All thanks to Mikaela Hoover, who took an interesting turn in her voicing process.
Mikaela Hoover’s creative process behind voicing Chopper
Mikaela Hoover spoke to IGN about the process behind voicing Chopper. While voicing the brain point, Chopper was mostly facial motion capture; the heavy point was a bit tough. She said,
“That was really tricky because for little Chopper, I got to completely create him and, like, his face, and I mean, that’s me. But for big Chopper, I had to match Gavin’s lips. I’m not a large man, so.”
Gavin Gomes, in the live-action, played the role of Chopper’s Heavy point form. It’s his human-hybrid form, and Gomes played it brilliantly. He has also previously worked as a stuntman and an extra in various movies.
For Chopper’s brain point, actress Nkone Mametja aided the process. It would be virtually impossible to carry out the scenes with such precision and meticulousness. Mark Harelik, who played the role of Dr. Hiriluk, also praised her acting.
The process of voicing Chopper was anything but a cakewalk, especially if it came off unplanned. Hoover even pointed to this in the same interview: “They didn’t tell me that I was doing that until after I booked it. So I was like, oh, wow. But somehow we did it.”
Season 2 was a complete banger for many reasons. It is said that Eiichiro Oda specifically asked for Chopper to be cute. Think of a cute plushie, and it was carried out brilliantly because of Mikaela Hoover’s acting.
Not only that, but Episode 7 remains one of the top-rated episodes in the series with a rating of 9.5/10 on IMDb. It focuses on Chopper’s past as a reindeer, his relationship with Dr. Hiriluk, and how he ended up with Dr. Kureha.
It was a real heart-wrencher, and fans thoroughly praised the performances of the actors, cast, and the entire team. Season 2 of One Piece live-action is available for streaming on Netflix.
