The One Piece Film: Red movie is out now in US theaters and other countries, which means we finally get to see more of the Red Hair Pirates in action and learn a little bit more about Shank’s past. Let’s break down the ending and how it fits in the long-running anime series.
Warning: full spoilers for One Piece Film: Red ahead!
One Piece Film Red Canon?
First off, is the movie canon? It is not, according to an interview with producer Shinji Shimuzu. “They are separate stories,” he says, which makes sense because none of the other One Piece movies are fully canon. Instead the movies may have little bits of canonical references, such as Shiki the Golden Lion from the Strong World movie.
In Film: Red’s case, we learn a little bit more about Shank’s background. For instance, towards the end of the final battle, Shanks is reminded of the time that he first met Uta. To the Red Hair Pirates’ surprise, she was hidden alongside the treasure they’d taken. At that moment, Shanks remembers looking up at a young Gol. D Roger and Rayleigh and he mutters to himself, “Maybe this happened for a reason.” We knew that Shanks was a young crewmate with the Roger Pirates back in the day, but this seems to confirm that he has been with the Roger Pirates since he was an infant.
Why is such a small note important? According to an interview with producer Shinji Shimuzu, Eiichiro Oda himself has participated the most in this movie than any other One Piece movie as “executive producer, character designer, and script reviewer.” For such an important and mysterious character like Shanks to be highlighted, it’s not surprising to see an extra level of care with the movie.
New and old faces
This is most action we’ve seen from the Red Hair Pirates ever! We see the familiar Yasopp using his Observation Haki to connect with his son, Usopp. A few are really skilled with guns, but we also see an electrified staff and one crewmate that appears to have the ability to blast projectiles from his mouth. As the major battle ends, the Navy threatens to take Uta again and Shanks releases his Conqueror’s Haki which has the power to even take down some vice admirals. As expected, from one of the Four Emperors!
Will we ever see Uta again? We more than likely won’t. As it mentioned in the movie, Uta was using wake-shrooms to stay awake long enough to take people into her dream world where they can ultimately stay happy forever when she dies from the after-effects. She denied the medicine from the Red Hair Pirates’ doctor, Hongo, so she can sing everyone back from her dream world. As we learned in the movie, anyone affected by her singing wakes up again after she goes to sleep. Looking closely at the last shot of the Red Hair Pirates crew, they are all surrounding what looks to be a casket with their Jolly Roger flag draped over it. It’s pretty clear that Uta has passed away.
Is there a post-credits scene?
Lastly, there is no major post-credits scene in the One Piece Film Red movie. There’s a quick bit of Luffy saying his usual catch phrase atop the figurehead of the Thousand Sunny as he remembers Uta. Otherwise, the most interesting tidbit at the end of the movie is the long credits as we see glimpses of the characters the Straw Hats have met along their journey as they’re enjoying what we assume to be Uta’s music. They even included small characters like Rika, the girl that gave Zoro food when he debuted in the series, and Gaimon, the pirate trapped in a chest who also seems to have found love.
What did you think of the One Piece Film Red movie? Let us know in the comments below and please no manga spoilers for the anime-only watchers out there.
If you want more anime, check out our top 10 best anime series of all time update, and also our list of the Fall 2022 anime in case you missed the last batch of new series.
Mike Mamon is a Syndication & Digital Specialist at IGN, devil fruit user, and world-renown JoJo poser. Let's chat anime on Twitter @xPmnms
source https://www.ign.com/articles/one-piece-film-red-movie-ending-explained