ONE PIECE’S LONG-AWAITED RELEASE ONE PIECE’S LONG-AWAITED RELEASE

On Nov. 4, the long-awaited 15th “One Piece” film, “One Piece Film: Red” made its North American debut. The film has broken multiple records, as it is currently the fifth highest-grossing Japanese film of all time and the sixth highest ranking anime feature (Variety). The release was a momentous occasion for “One Piece” fans because they got to see their favorite characters in action on the big screen once again.

The “One Piece” world has existed since the manga series’s Japanese release in 1997; after receiving overwhelmingly positive reception, the anime was released two years later. Both the manga and anime are known to be extremely long, spanning over 1000 chapters and episodes. Subsequently, there are many devoted fans who have followed the series for decades and plan to see the story to its end, which is estimated to be in about three years. The general premise of “One Piece” follows Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat pirate crew as they seek the One Piece, a treasure left behind by former Pirate King Gol D. Roger. To become the next Pirate King, Luffy, and the other pirates in the “One Piece” world plan to find this treasure (One Piece Wiki).

“One Piece Film: Red” is not part of the official canon storyline, but it still provides a great story with impressive visuals. In this film, Luffy and his crew are on the Island of Music, Elegia, to watch a famous singer named Uta’s first live performance. It is revealed that she is Luffy’s childhood friend, and also the adoptive daughter of Shanks, a mysterious and powerful pirate in “One Piece” who gave Luffy his signature straw hat and inspired him to want to be the Pirate King. Uta’s main goal is to achieve worldwide peace and happiness through the eradication of piracy, which causes a lot of pain for many of her fans. To achieve this goal, she intends to make the concert last forever and trap everyone in her own reality using her singing powers. The film follows Luffy’s group as they evade Uta and attempt to break everyone out of her false reality. Junior Erika Novitsky watched the film because of a friend’s recommendation, and believes fans who have not yet watched the movie have much to anticipate.

“I first heard about [‘One Piece Film: Red’] from my friend who told me to get caught up with the series after the announcement of the movie,” Novitsky said. “I ended up really liking it and [was excited] to go see the movie. While the plots in anime movies are [usually] very straight to the point, [‘One Piece Film: Red’] had a pretty good twist that I was not expecting and the animation was insane. [Fans] of the show will probably like the movie, [and will] be looking out for a powerup that Luffy gets.”

Although “One Piece Film: Red” is the 15th “One Piece” movie, it differs from its predecessors in its level of success and refreshing twists that bring new aspects to the series. It also has a higher level of personal involvement from Eiichiro Oda, the creator of “One Piece.” While working with the film’s director, Goro Taniguchi, Oda decided on making a female character have a central role in the story to break up the monotony of typical “One Piece” villains. Fans were aware of this contrast as Uta is a young and charismatic pop singer, standing in stark contrast against the “gruff” male archetype that usually fill out villainous roles in “One Piece” (Slashfilm). This film also stands apart with its striking visuals and seven original songs, making it an immersive experience for viewers. One of the main reasons longtime fans were drawn to this film was because of the involvement of Shanks, a character that was known to be shrouded in mystery. This character is intriguing to fans due to his low level of screen time in the anime, making this film a must-watch for anyone interested in learning more about Shanks and his crew, the Red Hair Pirates. Junior Simon Ackermann enjoyed how the film was both nostalgic and refreshing.

“This movie firstly attracts [people] due to its wonderful and breathtaking animation, [but] the covering of Shanks who has had little screen time [previously] makes it much more alluring,” Ackermann said. “Having Shanks in the film was great and seeing just how strong he is is very satisfying. The way he interacts with certain characters [also] makes him more human. [This film] was very nice as it was not exactly [battlepacked] like most of ‘One Piece’ is, yet viewers still got to see a lot of old characters [return].”

“One Piece” has been ongoing for around 25 years, and it is finally coming to an end, with Oda planning on finishing the story in around three years. The series has been met with wild success, with the manga selling over 500 million copies, and is set to eventually surpass the sales of “Harry Potter” and “Batman” comics, which would be a monumental way to end the series (Comic Book Resources). Many feel that this is sad but timely, and cannot wait to see what is next for the characters and plot. Junior Kana Fujimoto-Taitano is sad at the news that “One Piece” will soon conclude.

“I feel like ‘One Piece’ has been around forever,” FujimotoTaitano said. “Because of this, the fact that [it] will end eventually, possibly soon, is dreadful because there will not be any new episodes or chapters to anticipate. For the future of ‘One Piece,’ I would like to know if everyone in the Straw Hats will actually reach their goal they had since the beginning of the anime, [so] it would be nice to see how [everything] ends.”