One Piece Film: Red is one of the greatest anime films ever made. Not just for One Piece fans, but for anime lovers in general. This anime film is truly One Piece (and by extension Eiichiro Oda) at its finest.

One Piece Film: Red ~ Details

"One Piece Film: Red" NA key art.
Really, this anime film is as epic and full of feels as this key art suggests.

One Piece Film: Red is 15th feature length anime film of the One Piece anime film series, which is itself based off of the fantasy adventure (and pirate) manga of the same name by Eiichiro Oda. Toei Animation (Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Digimon) is the animation studio behind this anime film, as they were for the anime series proper. Gorō Taniguchi is the director, with Tsutomu Kuroiwa writing the screenplay. Yasutaka Nakata composed the music for this anime film, in contrast to the usual of Kohei Tanaka and Shirō Hamaguchi for the anime series. Lastly, Crunchyroll is bringing this anime film to NA theaters.

One Piece Film: Red stars the Japanese voice talents of Mayumi Tanaka as Monkey D. Luffy, Shūichi Ikeda as Red-Haired Shanks, and Kaori Nazuka (with Ado as the singing voice) as Uta. The English dub of the anime film features the voices of Colleen Clinkenbeard, Brandon Potter, and Amanda Lee (aka: the YouTube singer popularly known as AmaLee) in the same roles respectively.

One Piece Film: Red originally premiered in Tokyo, Japan on July 22, 2022, and then in Japan as a whole on August 6, 2022. NA theaters will show this anime film on November 4, 2022. You can preorder tickets directly from the anime film’s official website.

One Piece Film: Red ~ Synopsis

If you like Uta’s song in this trailer, wait until you hear the others. They’re even better.

Normally, this would be the part of one of my reviews where I give you a spoiler-filled summary of the plot of One Piece Film: Red. However, this is the spoiler-free version of one of my reviews. Thus, you’ll only get the official synopsis from Crunchyroll. Check it out below:

“Uta—the most beloved singer in the world whose voice has been described as “otherworldly”—is renowned for concealing her own identity when performing. Now, for the first time ever, she will reveal herself to the world at a live concert.

With the Navy watching closely, the venue fills with Uta’s fans—including excited pirates and the Straw Hats led by Luffy, who simply came to enjoy her sonorous performance—all eagerly awaiting the voice that the whole world has been waiting for to resound. The story begins with the shocking revelation that she is the enigmatic Shanks’ daughter.”

One Piece Film: Red ~ The Good

This is just one of the many good things about this anime film.

Uta in One Piece Film: Red is a big time pop singer. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the music and songs of that anime film are top-notch. Especially the latter. Ado is an incredibly good singer, as you can hear above in the first song Uta sings: “New Genesis”. I’ll admit: I’m a fan of deep-voiced female singers like Aimer, and Ado fits neatly into that category. Some of the songs she sings later in the anime film hits that lovely contralto mark. However, if you plan on watching this anime film, please don’t look them up until you’ve watched the anime film first. The later songs contain spoilers for the anime film’s plot. Seriously: you’ve been warned. Regardless though, Ado definitely has a fan in me now.

The story of One Piece Film: Red is another great thing about it though. Which makes sense, given that this is the one One Piece anime film Eiichiro Oda himself basically poured his heart and soul into. Oda is the anime film’s executive producer, character designer, and script reviewer. Indeed, the story is basically an entire arc of the main story (complete with all the laughter and tears from the feels) packed into a nearly 2-hour long anime film, and fits very neatly into canon. I honestly hope that Eiichiro Oda refers back to this anime film in the manga one of these days, or even outright gets a longer and more built-up adaptation in the main story. That’s how much I think it fits into canon. How so? Well, you’re going to have to watch this anime film to find out.

The characters of One Piece Film: Red also get a mention here. Not just Uta, although she is the most interesting character in this anime film by far. The Straw Hat Pirates as a whole do very well here. Eiichiro Oda even makes sure that all of the Straw Hats get equal screen time, and not just the big 3 of Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. Even Robin and Brook get their time to shine here, which is saying something given how little of it they got in the Wano arc. Oda ensure that not one of them gets left behind, and I love that.

One Piece Film: Red ~ The Bad

Nothing bad about this trailer.

Honestly, my one and only complaint about One Piece Film: Red is that it should’ve been part of the manga. The story fits so neatly into the manga that I honestly think Eiichiro Oda should’ve hinted at this a lot earlier. As I mentioned before though, it’s not too late for that. There’s still hope that this anime film’s story can make it into the manga. Well, one can dream, at any rate.

Source: Crunchyroll