There were many “buts” to take away from the live action series of ‘One Piece’. And even before the premiere, there were complaints that if Luffy was not wearing flip-flops, and once the rhythm changes were released, CGI that is not entirely convincing, or the scissors, some characters have not liked everyone.
But the controversy that we definitely did not see coming was that of the Canarian accent of Sanji in the Spanish version of ‘One Piece’.
Sanji is not from the North Blue, he is from Tenerife
taz skylar he plays the Straw Hats’ cook in the Netflix version. And although we are more used to hearing him in promos and trailers with his British accent He speaks Spanish perfectly because he was born and grew up in the Canary Islands, in Tenerife. He is the son of a Sierra Leonean-Lebanese and an English woman, he has dual British and Spanish nationality, and in the Spanish dubbing of ‘One Piece’ he has dubbed himself.
The controversy in networks has come about because while the rest of the voices have a neutral accent, Skylar hasn’t changed her accent to dub and now Sanji has a canary accent. And in the child’s version of him the dubbing actress has dubbed him Carla Ravelowho has also kept his Canarian accent so that there is consistency with the character’s voice.
Some criticism has come towards the quality of dubbing,because in the end Skylar is a professional dubber and it shows that he has recorded in a different studio. And so far so good because many times the dubbing of actors and inexperienced dubbing can take you completely out of the movie or series on duty. But a part of the complaints criticized his accent itself and how he “bumped” too much with the rest of the voices.
Fiction dubbing tends to be more neutral and we end up forgetting about it. the variety of accents so rich that we have in Spain… so many times, unless it’s to do the ___ on duty, we hear too much diversity. Because at the time, with the dubbing of the anime of ‘One Piece’, well that Usopp is called “Usuf” and had an Arabic accent to put jokes, but that’s good that it is still remembered with affection and nostalgia.
The good part is that in the end the “canary sanji“has ended up winning the vast majority of ‘One Piece’ fans (accompanying with memes, fanart and “explanations” that Sanji sounds like that because he is from another ocean) to celebrate that the canary accent is reaching so many people. And In the end, the controversy has ended up reaching Taz Skylar himself, who has made it clear that he is very proud to represent the canaries with his accent.
“As a kid I never heard anyone with my accent on TV,” Skylar wrote on X (Twitter). “I thank everyone who supported the dubbing and I look forward to hearing more voices from more places throughout my life being represented.”
So perhaps from the Canary Sanji it will begin to normalize being able to hear more different accents in dubbing, and that it won’t “shock” us so much when suddenly one slips into a series.
