Anime 50410 One Piece Film Red Reviews

Enjoyable, Emotional, Engaging and the type of movie where you can't help but smile while watching.


It is narratively quite unique in comparison to other one piece films but it showcased the ability to highlight the character of Uta and the magical world of film red to a perfect level while also being able to combine many elements of what we love about one piece such as the same enjoyable cast as usual, occasional nice comedic bits, great fight scenes, scenes that are hype , scenes that are emotional and a nice setting and moments which make you grateful to be a fan of ... the series.

A pretty significant direction style that can be noticed is the large amount of music present in the movie and how "music-based" it is. In many cases, it can be a fair point that an incredibly large amount of seven songs is too much but the way Film Red is directed and presented, this would be far from the truth because the music is not only a key part of Uta but the movie as a whole. Everything was paced to a good level and there were never those moments where you are awkwardly staring at the screen wondering "what is even going on?". Due to the fact that it is connected to a full anime series, It is also naturally done in a way for one piece fans to enjoy it. It is a one piece movie after all so it makes sense for the target audience to be big fans of this series.

When it came to the peaks and the ending moments, Film Red knew how to do it.



In terms of Art and Animation, it can be a extremely fair statement to say it is the best one piece movie when it comes to it. There is some CGI in some bits here and there but that's about the most that can be criticized because almost everything is perfect visually. Every fight scene looks incredible, the art style and top tier animation is not only beautiful but consistent throughout the movie and it undoubtedly is one very strong point out of many strong points that Film Red has to offer.


Music Wise, It is one of the easiest 10/10's I will ever give. Maybe even the easiest ever. Like said earlier, Music is a crucial part of the story and Film Red does this perfectly. There are seven songs in the movie all sung by the fantastic Ado. Once again.. SEVEN songs. Which is a pretty large amount when it comes to songs used in a movie. With that said, it might be assumed there would be one song that's not so good. This is not the case because although music is subjective, each song was quite perfect for the scene they played in, the role it had in the movie and how it contributed. I am actually a big fan of Ado and her music, so music-wise it was as perfect as it could possibly get. There was even an interview where it stated there was supposed to be an audition for the singing voice of Uta but when Ado showed up, the audition was ended because everyone quickly knew Ado would be the one. And they were right. Because it couldn't have been better.

Even outside of Ado's fantastic vocals, many great artists and producers were also part of the music and it's a list that includes names such as Yasutaka Nakata, Mrs. Green Apple , Vaundy, Fake Type., Yuta Orisaka, Motohiro Hata and the great Hiroyuki Sawano.
The people working on Film Red understood the significance of music in the movie perfectly and it showed.


Character Wise, Uta and Shanks would of course be the main talking points and Uta specifically was a great presence in the movie. She was likable, intriguing backstory, her voice actor and the singing voice were perfect, has a great character design and has links to a classic beloved character. She had lots of focus in the movie and her character arc from start to finish was handled quite well. Shanks is obviously the poster boy of the movie and thankfully, getting to see Shanks with more than 1 minute of screen time was a joy. When I first saw promotional posters and character images, I was initially afraid there would be too many characters and too many that do nothing and add nothing and don't get that much screen time compared to what we may have expected. To be completely honest, there are actually characters that may fall under that definition but it is nothing major enough to be considered a big flaw or anything that kills off enjoyment. More importantly, the major characters that had significance in the movie all shined and had their memorable moments.


Ultimately, it is a film that can be enjoyed by many and shows quality in many forms whether it be the visuals, it's premise, the songs and the fact that it is a one piece movie like no other and although advertised and is pretty much non-canon, it does have links and large hints to canon information for the future. A memorable experience and a whole lot of fun to watch from start to finish.

First off, I would like to acknoledge the fact this is a non-canon movie althought we will get back to this. It's non canonness doesn't change the fact that, althought being a movie that doesn't inscribe in any timeline, it's still pretty incoherent. The movie is a huge purge to watch and I have seen a lot of people online stating that this is an incredible movie, they should use those words more carefully. This movie has a lot of objective flaws that are not my opinion that are simply made here to attract the fans.

At out the way, I would like to talk about ... the good part of this movie. Some of the songs are great. UTA's singer does a pretty good job. She sings pretty well and some of the songs are a BOP. BUT, most of the songs are those kind of "disney princess" song where the caracter just talk about her fellings and it's really cliche.

Now that i talked about what I liked, let's talk about what's not to like in this movie. And for a movie starring Shanks, It was clear that there would be some fan service, but damn. This is my main issues with the movie. It has numerous, to say the least, fan service that are for most, caracters doing cameos. We have caracters taking part in the film that are neither pertinent nor justified. The movie has plenty of caracters that are like this. It is clearly made just to attract the fan boys and nothing else. You can seriously wipe out half the cast and the movie doesn't change. It's like the infinity war of one piece but not in a good way. You also have elements that are still not in the anime nor the manga that appair in the movie. It's just here to spoil the anime and this not good at all.

Also, another thing you can add that's pretty funny. One Piece's (the anime) biggest flaw is it's pacing. And right here the pacing is horrible. Everything happen really fast and you have things just coming out of everywhere. For the first hour, you just altenate beetween UTA singing and the lore of the island being explained to you. So you have all of these caracters that are completely disconected with the events that come here and just explain the lore and then she starts singing again. And another one comes and then she sings again. The ending happens also so fast you don't see it coming, not in a good way of course.

Furthermore, the guys who wrote this should be ashamed. (it might be like my review) They should of reread the things they wrote because most of it is so bad, even a 5 year old kid would of done something better. It was really really bad. You have a bid deus ex machina. Characters that had no intoduction that just pop out of nowhere to save the situation. There is also a plot twist that completely ruins the movie by the end.

The animation was also a big question for me. Sequences are action are just the caracters throwing their main signature attacks and that's all there is for the combat. No choregraphy, no movement except maybe for one scene. There is tho two characters who got some fire animation : Jimbei and Brook. But why them ???

And when you thought I was done talking about the flaws. There was a promess of Shanks being developed. And I'm sorry but Shanks is more developed in the trailer than in the actual movie. The only character in the movie that get's a tiny bit of developement is UTA and it's pretty bad. She transforms from a cliche girl that sings and is just nice, to a danganronpa character. She starts doing some wacky face and some weird poses it's random. Her developement is just really cliche. The writers clearly took no risk it was really a shame.

And I could go on and on with this movie. The 2/10 is more than justified. If I was a One Piece fan, I would be embarrased. "New Gen" Toei animation is really lazy and cares more about the money they can found in your pocket that in the work they can put out. I suggest you don't watch this movie, especially if you are not up to date on the latest scan because it does spoil some things for you. You can always watch this movie later. But even so, the writing is straight up bad and lazy and really the only thing you will find out of this movie is just a warmed up fan service from the One Piece "saga"

Film Red is the second most idiosyncratic One Piece movie, thanks to its overt reliance on musical performances and the spotlight focused on Uta, a new female character. It also has the benefit of bringing out Shanks, who is one of the most important yet mysterious characters in the original work, as an active participant. While this is not a canonical story, I have found a lot to enjoy this time around and wish to share my thoughts and feelings with some open-minded readers.

Of course, it is hard to ignore the commercial success of the movie's theatrical release, which proves Film Red has resonated ... with many thousands of people across Japan. However, I will warn those who are expecting more of the same that they may not always find it here. Thus I can at least respect, even in the midst of disagreement, those who felt this movie struck a discordant note.

Why are there such vocal viewer reactions, alternatively expressing their love and hate for the end product? It's because Film Red brings together a relatively unique mix of rock opera, character drama and all-star battle through a couple of daring artistic choices. Thematically speaking, this movie also implicitly challenges a few of the assumptions that are common among a certain percentage of the One Piece fanbase.

As you can easily imagine, that approach will not sit well with everyone. For me, Film Red doesn't seek to establish a new standard in terms of shonen battle spectacle, but it still reflects a key part of the emotional core of One Piece. There is plenty of merit in this.

From a certain perspective, one of the great virtues of Eiichiro Oda's manga masterpiece has to do with the value of found family and the clash between different ideals of justice in a world that can simultaneously be incredibly colorful and whimsy while also continuing to be fundamentally unfair and occasionally outright cruel. Despite all of the twists and turns of this latest cinematic narrative, I would say the movie remains true to an interpretation of this idea.

STORY: 7.5/10

In many fictional stories, the most admirable heroes are those who simply fight against absolute evil and win. In the case of One Piece, there are plenty of those situations and our hero Luffy usually has his heart in the right place, but for me some of the best parts of the original story focus on the struggle of those characters who combine virtues with flaws and imperfections. Even if their motivations are ambiguous or even misguided, I have always been more interested in the little stories of characters who, whether important or not, at least try to stand up against the world to fight for what they believe in. Sometimes they win, sometimes they fail.

Regardless of the merits or even the desirability of either side's beliefs, there can be a lot of poignancy in those moments. It doesn't matter if you're part of the Marines, Shichibukai or Yonko...your position doesn't necessarily mean all of your beliefs are right or wrong. Sure, we all know that One Piece is ultimately a Shonen Jump publication and this means there are certain ethical limits. I don't expect the grand tale of Luffy and his friends to end on an unhappy note, to be honest, but the story has occasionally reached towards exposing a darker underbelly than what its colorful surface suggests. In the long run, we trust those glimpses into a dark reality are only obstacles and a brighter future is waiting for our cast of characters.

On the other hand, there is also a degree of artistic value in the act of depicting what would happen in the One Piece world when the pressures are just too strong and you'd rather escape from reality...both for yourself and for the sake of others (or say, to meet the expectations and demands of others). In a way, that same sensation of tension and determination is part of what I can appreciate about Film Red's script.

Predictably enough, it isn't simple to make One Piece: Film Red fit into any specific part of the larger One Piece story.

You would quickly find small and large inconsistencies upon looking at the chronology. Yet, speaking only for myself, I was able to watch the movie as a standalone project with ease. When we are dealing with an alternate non-canonical storyline, as almost all One Piece movies are, the screenwriter can afford to play rather fast and loose with the absence and presence of various characters, abilities or locations.

Is it perfectly written? No. Does it need to be? Nope. While the formal narrative is arguably the weakest link in Film Red, it has also incorporated quite a few of the themes of One Piece while bringing a certain amount of fresh air into the room. I happen to find the features and consequences of that decision to be worth appreciating in multiple ways.

In short, Eiichiro Oda himself supervised the creation of this movie and he was getting tired of creating "legendary old men". With a small number of honorable exceptions, most of the One Piece theatrical entries have fallen into a rather typical methodology: Luffy and the Straw Hats run into a new and seemingly all-powerful male foe, leading to a great battle where this enemy is inevitably defeated. Everyone can go home and be happy. The End.

That's all well and good, but at some point it's nice to add a little variety. Based on that premise, the story of Film Red is less of a straightforward pirate action adventure and more of a vehicle for the exploration of a new fictional character, Uta, through the use of musical expression. It would not be out of line to say that the term "musical battle" has been applied both literally and figuratively to this production with controversial yet arguably excellent results.

Specifically, Uta, the idol and songstress who is the undeniable center of this movie, represents a concrete departure from the norm.

Saying too much would be a spoiler, but the first half of Film Red is essentially built to introduce us to a set of mysteries. Mysteries with a degree of useful foreshadowing, as a matter of fact, although not everything will be immediately clear. To be sure, there are at least two big plot twists that aren't even remotely hinted at in the trailers. One of them is rather typical and can be found in plenty of other fictional works, yet it is still comparatively new within the context of the One Piece universe.

Unsurprisingly, resolving any mystery usually requires exposition. Around the midway point of the movie, the pace does tend to drag. This mystery-solving, so to speak, does provide a number of secondary characters with a chance to shine, but I agree it can feel rather heavy in the moment. That said, the musical sequences were able to revive my interest whenever it threatened to drop.

Now, strictly speaking, it would be incorrect to label Film Red as a complete musical. There's been some hyperbole about most of the movie being nothing other than songs in the old-school Disney fashion, which is objectively inaccurate.

However, I can find a grain of truth in that statement. The viewers' ability to enjoy this project will rely, to a considerable extent, on their willingness to open their hearts and minds to what the movie is trying to do. Frankly, this is always more of an emotional process than a purely logical one. If that fails, then the entire house of cards will crumble and you'll leave the theater bored and bitter. Not my personal case, yet I can understand why other folks might reach such a conclusion.

Once certain narrative keys have all been unlocked, Film Red's story pace speeds up during the second half and there is a large-scale battle waiting at the end. Yet this time, I would readily recognize that the outcome of the battle is the least interesting part. As spectacular as it is to see certain unexpected team-ups and so many powerful attacks being used...the real threat is not the external enemy, but an internal one. It is there that the Film Red script will play its final card and, for my money, the gamble was worth my investment. Naturally, this will vary depending on the viewer's own preference, tastes and capacity for empathy.

To put things in perspective here...any truly action-based movie like the mega-hit One Piece: Stampede would place far more attention on the battle choreography aspect. Yet Stampede, for all of its adrenaline, felt comparatively emotionally shallow. I dare to say that One Piece: Film Red is almost the exact opposite. For me, the relatively underwhelming combat was compensated by more of a theatrical and engaging approach to the drama.

CHARACTERS: 8/10

Oh boy. I'll only discuss a limited number of individuals in detail, because there's a large cast involved here and it would take too long. Ironically enough...they're a lot, but not near the level of Stampede's famously enormous list of participating pirates.

That said, I found even the secondary or tertiary characters to have a more convincing in-universe reason to show up. You still need a certain amount of key One Piece figures to really sell the scale of the threat. Quite a few get their own small moment too.

Is that fanservice? Sure, but celebrating existing characters is fine. When it serves a valid narrative objective it actually doesn't bother me. In a perfect world, I'd have liked to see the Straw Hats taking on a more formal leading role, yet one of the unique freedoms provided by the concept of a non-canonical One Piece movie is that the staff can afford to experiment. In other words, the camera can temporarily move away from them a little bit to serve other purposes. They'll continue getting more than enough development and a strong public profile in the main story, so there's no overwhelming urgency to feature them at this point.

Having said that, let's talk about the more central players.

Without being the deepest psychological examination ever, I think the storytelling's focus on the new character of Uta adds up to a fairly complex and potentially appealing characterization. From a bird's eye view, you could even draw a couple of contrasts with Nami's and Robin's arcs from way back in the day. All of which is part of why I'll honestly give Film Red a good amount of credit here.

Uta's motivations are tricky, because there's technically three of them, depending on what part of the movie you want to consider and how you interpret the meaning of these events. In this regard, her status as the daughter (!?) of Shanks provides a common starting point of understanding. Uta's background allows us to compare her with Luffy and his own aspirations. In practice, this achieves the goal of successfully introducing her to the existing One Piece world. The flashbacks are quite helpful as a method of humanization in this respect. Which is vital, given the twisted path the movie takes.

In a few words, there really isn't any other music-related character in One Piece with quite the same combination of positive and negative traits, especially not in the movies. She can go from genuinely funny and friendly to courageous, selfless, selfish, frustrating, annoying, pitiful, desperate and, yes, endearing. As a result, we can almost track Uta's emotional journey as communicated through the different songs. That's quite a novel approach for a One Piece project and, in and of itself, already makes her stand out. Furthermore, I recommend paying a bit of attention to her facial expressions.

I am not entirely surprised that people will either find a lot to love or a lot to hate in her, because both evaluations can be objectively supported. If we asked ten different people, we would get a significant split in terms of their judgments of Uta. Similarly, my own range of emotions towards her went through a lot of highs and lows...until the end, which left quite a lasting impression. With that in mind, I believe the creators of the film made the right decision to focus on Uta. Rather ambitious and even risky as an artistic decision, yes, but you'll never win big if you only ever dare to make entirely safe bets.

The other new individual of note is Gordon. Even though his screen presence in Film Red is significantly less than Uta's and his looks aren't anything special, I think Gordon was a surprisingly good fit for this story. While it's easy to dismiss him, especially without going into spoilers, there's a reason why ageless wisdom teaches us to avoid judging a person by his or her external appearance.

Next, there's the significant matter of Luffy. He is still Oda's eternal protagonist for the larger story of One Piece, by all rights and with all the benefits this position brings, but in this particular movie it's going to be a little different from the usual.

Luffy's still going to participate in battles and remains our nominal entry point into the situation. Yet, for once, his normal level of importance was held back by the nature of a standalone narrative focused on, gasp, someone else. Imagine that.

All the same, he still serves an interesting role in Film Red. In a sense, it's another way of putting him to the test compared to the usual type of enemies he has had to deal with.

You can also ask a number of questions as a result, not necessarily in the strict canonical sense but as general themes. What is Luffy's exact relationship to Uta? Does Luffy share her beliefs or does he maintain his own way of thinking? Can Luffy really solve every problem? What does Uta's story imply about Luffy's?

While it would require spoilers to address those points here, for me Luffy's role was still more of a positive than a negative.

Now I've finally come to discuss Shanks, who is the obvious elephant in the room.

Most viewers will be incredibly glad to see Shanks in Film Red. In fact, Shanks gets to do a lot more during this one movie than you might expect. More than what he's done in years, regardless of whether or not you're up to date with the manga. This inclusion might be debatable, because some other One Piece fans would prefer to keep Shanks strictly away from the spotlight until the original creator gives us all the details about him in a completely canonical work.

I can respect this way of thinking, despite not sharing it. Sure, there is also going to be some skepticism in light of the commercial nature of anime production. After all, Shanks was part of the promotional materials for the movie, but he isn't the protagonist. If you haven't paid any attention to the trailers, which make clear he isn't supposed to be the one central figure in this new story, that might be disappointing.

And yet, I would argue using Shanks in Film Red was a valid creative choice for two reasons.

First, because it's naturally cool to see Shanks as an active player in the action after so long. Why shouldn't we be hyped about that? They even found a creative solution to the "impossible problem" posed by Shanks being in a movie featuring Luffy.

Second, perhaps more importantly, because the movie does serve to tell us more about him. Both directly and indirectly.

There's his relationship with Uta, which has value in and of itself by developing Shanks as a father figure as well as by providing us with a curious method to reflect about the meaning of his relationship with Luffy. The way he reacts (or doesn't) to the events of this movie can show us more about his personality.

While almost the totality of the movie can never happen in the original storyline, I am confident that Oda made sure to supervise how Shanks would be depicted to guarantee he would be fully in-character here. Plus, as a bonus, we also get a couple of pieces of extra information about the past of Shanks that can add fuel to the fan theories about what's really going to happen with him.

ART AND ANIMATION: 8/10

Film Red was a very nice looking movie, for the most part. In particular, the musical performance scenes are a visual highlight for anyone who cares about this medium. Outside of the minor use of 3D with mixed results, I was pleased by the presentation, including quite a few nice storyboards. Great job!

Let's get this out of the way: yes, you can still find a number of less relevant sequences with pre-Wano arc levels of animation, particularly during a bunch of regular conversation scenes. It doesn't bother me, but I can see why those moments could take a few of the viewers out of the experience if they're used to the best parts of the TV series in terms of animation.

When the animators put their skills and resources at work, however, Film Red can be a feast for the eyes.

SOUND: 10/10

Perfect. No, seriously.

If you're going to make a movie where the use of music plays a central role in the storyline and one of the main characters is a singer, then the songs should be excellent. Otherwise, what would be the point of such an enterprise?

I'm glad to report that Film Red's creative staff made an impressive decision when they selected Ado to provide Uta's seven songs. She's great. Ado's collaborations with many famous artists cover a wide spectrum of emotional expression and musical genres, which bring a welcome variety to the sound of the movie and also feeds into Uta's characterization by reflecting her mental and emotional state.

They're used very well. I would say my favorites are "Backlight", "New Genesis", "Tot Musica" and "Where The Wind Blows".

Significantly, even the lyrics gain a different layer when you sit down to listen to them after watching the movie.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10

I like One Piece. Not as the most hardcore of fans, but enough of one to appreciate Oda's skillful storytelling and follow along with the storyline at my own pace.

At the same time, I think it's good to have movies where different aspects of the world of One Piece can be explored, even outside of strict canon. I welcome creators who try to do something new, even if it means taking a risk and not pleasing all of the audience.

The real goal of these movies isn't to satisfy every single person, which is almost impossible in this age, but to add new blood to the property and, at least in a manner of speaking, provide a path for new people to come in (and to make money, yes, but that is already evident to anyone reading this).

For me, Film Red has achieved the majority of what was required in this respect. As a work of entertainment, you don't necessarily need to be an expert on One Piece to appreciate this movie. In fact, I have heard of former One Piece fans in Japan who came back to see this film and had a good time. If at least some of them decide to pick up the manga or the anime, then this represents a net gain to the community.

Even so, there are specific things that will be more appealing to existing fans, especially those who are less interested in the result of a battle than in the emotional fallout. As mentioned elsewhere, this is less of a rollercoaster of action than a rollercoaster of emotions. If you are strictly logical and not particularly romantic (in the classic sense of the term, mind you), then Film Red may disappoint you.

In my personal case, I would like to invite anyone who found anything of interest in this review to give the movie a chance.

OVERALL: 8.5/10

See? This is the evidence of why Divas/Idols element would never work inside this medium. Please, please! stop creating a character with their sole characterization is only "Good At Singing". A character development contained solely on a progress of: "from a good singer, to a great singer, to a world famous singer solving a world wide problem with a song" it's so fricking lame! cringe! and lazy!

It's doesn't work on Black Clover with their mermaid diva. It doesn't work on Belle. The most boring part of Vivy and Kongmin is the singing part. And the only things that make Zombieland Saga became atleast a bearable ... idol anime, is because it's a fricking parody!

Can you guess why? why is this formula became one of my most hated tropes in all anime? Because idols or divas in real life, are relaying so much on the "fame factors" that they've had from the established fanbases. So, creating a fictional character or group based around this premises meaning that you're also have to create, fabricates and establish that fame factors from a fictional fanbases to make that character alive. And a fabricated fame, just like a sign on the audience seat that says "cheers", would always be counted as a plot armor!. Not to mention that the taste on music are varies on everybody, that'd just make the narrative became more and more unaccessible.

Uta is the embodiment of plot conveniences. And for some people that says Uta is the condensation of every themes in One Piece, yeah, no wonder it feels shit. They're trying too hard for basically making a speedrun of creating a likeable character by expositioning everything. So yeah sure, for some who doesn't understand what exposition means, she would appears soo deep. I mean, the only themes that i found aligned with Uta from the canon-piece, is the child abandonment.

Why Oda? Why would you tarnish your reputation like this? From Stampede to this, it's a lazy work to create a scenario with its sole objectives just to incorporates as many cameos as you like. No! more character does not mean more fun! The more crowded it is, the more lazy work has to be done! Are you happy that all of your characters are reduced to be just a hollow animated figures with an attack name and catchphrases?: The Straw Hat Pirates turned from a lovable protagonist into a squad of Power Rangers, shouting their secrets moves. Shanks crew turned from a mysterious figures into a boring deus ex-machina, solving all the problems with a biblical power. The Admirals and the Navy's are turned from a terrifying forces into a party tricks, just to enliven the ensemble. I mean what else could i say? Great job! *clap**clap*

Seems like it would be a long way for me until i see the next movie Z.

And oh yeah, for the positives,... atleast most of the songs are banger! Would surely jamming to the soundtrack when it's released

Okay, listen up! For all those who are bored to read a long review just know this: "I found a lot of subjective flaws in this movie and I don't recommend it. Heck, as a fan of the franchise for more than 20 years I even found it insulting."
For all the others fellow OP fans, keep reading...

Firstly let us look at the summary of this movie.
Cruela de Vil's daughter, dyes the black part of her hair red (because of her daddy issues with Shanks), becomes a famous singer a la Katy Perry, gets high on cute addictive mushrooms on stage and creates her own ... colorful Matrix so she can sing endlessly to her zombie fans and consequently wipe out piracy. Her sasaeng fans (this time in the form of the Straw Hats) were not very happy with that as they have other idols' concerts to attend to, thus decide to ruin all her fun.The end.
What you've just read is a summary to a very mediocre fanfiction story I would glimpse on a lazy Sunday. Unfortunately, for all of us, somebody from the OP team, also read this idiotic plot and decided that it would be a great idea to make an OP movie out of it.

Well, here is my own short plot if I would have any say in creating an OP movie called Red:
Shanks, the captain of the infamous Red Hair pirate crew ventures to seize a mythological artifact known for being able to cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely. Little did they know though that this artifact demands a great sacrifice in return for its gifts, thus leaving the Red Hair pirates decimated. As the world gets restless at the sudden loss of one of the most powerful crews, Shanks, asks for help from the only pirate crew he trusts: The Straw Hats.
Together, they strive to unravel the mystery of the artifact, save his crew from its guardians and bring back balance to the world.

And now be honest, which one of the aforementioned plots would you rather watch and think better suits One Piece and a movie called RED???!!!

Okay, back to being serious now. What is trending for the last two years in Japan? Ado, the singer behind Uta's songs. What is trending in Japan since 1997? One Piece manga/anime. Let's make a musical combination of those two. Eeeeh... wrong! You could have done that if your anime was Cardcaptor Sakura or Little Witch Academia. But, in relation to the two aforementioned shojo anime, One Piece's grand franchise is the only beacon attracting such a massive audience to watch Red. A pirate themed anime that has more that 70% male audience is not supposed to be this girly and wishy-washy. This whole thing screamed that the marketing team of OP just wanted to attract more females to the franchise or in plain English, the huge fan base of Ado. The only thing I can give kudos for to the marketing team is that they had the audacity and ruse to name the movie Red and make it look like we would see more of Shanks' involvement.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Ado. I googled a couple of her songs after this movie and her voice was enjoyable. Nevertheless, a movie in this franchise can’t be carried only by it’s soundtrack. I would have been more satisfied if the songs focused more of their lyrics on the world of OP instead of being another pop cliche single ready to be sold after the release of the movie.

My experience with this movie has been quiet straightforward. After watching Gold and Stampede my expectations were low to say the least. Red was an overall mess with no structure that's almost impossible to follow as the previous two movies. It keeps most of it's focus on Uta (Heck, she even has more lines and screen time than Luffy!), but everyone else feels like jam-packed in and there for the sake of it. Even Marvel's Infinity War had a lot of characters but they all had a purpose. As for the battles... hahaha! What battles? They seem like cut scenes from a video game. Especially if you see that the final battle is a full-on clusterfuck against something that wasn't even supposed to be in a pirate themed anime. How much weirder this franchise is going to be? The only things that made me give this movie a 3 were a couple of songs, Usopp's link with ****** at the end and Uta's devil fruit (which was a fantastic power but unfortunately very badly used).

I understand One Piece is huge and there's so many great characters outside of the Straw Hats, however I think future movie entries could stand to tell more intimate, shorter stories going on instead of being two & a half hour, poorly made money grabbers. Even Marvel learned their lesson and stated: "We will be focusing more on quality over quantity."

Might be a bit of spoilers in this review, fair warning:

One Piece has become such a staple to current day fans to where once people heard a movie was coming, everyone was ecstatic. This was also a movie I have been longing for as a Shanks fan, but I will try to be thorough and keep the information involving this review concise.

Story: The story was fairly simple but I would have preferred if the movie did not promo Shanks as the headliner rather than Uta since it mostly surrounds her entire story. She is portrayed as Luffy's brother and the daughter of Shanks, which she ... is then left alone due to a certain incident, thus trying to protect her for the justification. The story also feels very different in regards to how One Piece typically does their story especially for movies. This movie feels most similar to Strong World if I had to compare it to any of them.

This movie tried something different, just like how Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero had done and I think it depends on the person on who watches this movie when it comes down to how they feel about the story or if they felt misled.

Animation: Regarding the animation, just like current One Piece they just pop off from the dancing of Uta to just the fight animation. The animation that will stick out to people the most is the last bit of the fight and I think it is very fair to compare it to the level of hype that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero final scene with how much justice was given for those who are aware. I personally believe in regards to animation, nobody will be disappointed and have any complaints on.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack here gets very iffy because I would like to mention one of my cons here as well. The singer does a FANTASTIC job with singing, beautiful voice and very befitting to what Uta portrays. The issue here becomes how much it was used throughout the movie. You could classify this movie as a musical and I would have believed it with how many times songs are played within this movie. If you're thinking this is a typical One Piece movie and this becomes your first watched One Piece movie, I strongly advise to not walk into the movie thinking that and to start with something else.

Character: When it comes down to the characters, I personally believe there was too much potential left out such as Uta and even Shanks in all honesty. Uta was the main character of the movie, yet nothing really hit home when it came down to her. Uta was very enjoyable and I did find her refreshing but much more character could have been brought out within the time period of the movie. In regards to Shanks, I believe those who are OG Shanks fans will fall in love with him even more because I personally felt that myself. There is not much to say in regards to him, just him being how he was from the get go should speak enough words as is.

CONS: First con I already mentioned, which would be the whole musical performance spam within the movie. It felt out of place and super unnecessary which wasted a good chunk of time for the movie. Another issue being an influx of filler characters which I will not name, however, I do feel that the characters that were used in this movie had such little time and was only there for usage of fanservice. I think this con only really could relate to some people, but I personally felt misled when I first saw that Shanks was having a movie based on him but it involved him only so little and was rather based on his daughter.

Overall/Enjoyment: I love One Piece and I certainly do love this movie regardless of the minimal flaws and all. The enjoyment I had for the movie and rating in general is certainly bias, but I would like to think I gave good information involving the movie. I personally believe the enjoyment of the movie comes down to what you look for in a movie regarding One Piece specifically and also what you were looking forward to. If you were just wanting to watch the movie due to animation and characters like most fans, this movie will not disappoint at all. In regards to if you were looking for story, I think this may lead to some disappoint due to the spamming of musicals within the movie.

I never thougt I do a review on it. But here I am.

I was a privileged one to saw a preview on august 6 (for once, us europeans, we have the chance to have something before the "worldwide"). It was really great to saw it on a big screen, yes, visually it was fantastic.

The all thing was like to be on a rock show, really, the sound design/the music/voice acting, it was rad. Keep in mind that the movie is bascially a musical comedy, so you have a bunch of song, but it fits with the story.

The protagonist you're gonna follow (outside of luffy and ... the mugiwara obviously) is Uta, à girl who only wants to make the world a better place by her songs without war (pirates, marines and other shenanigans). So the only character who's gonna sing, is the singer herself. Don't worry, you're not gonna have "I'aM gOnNa Be ThE kInG oF pIrAtE YEAAAAAAAH !!".

So yes, the movie follow the story of Uta, who's presuambly Shanks's daughter (like you have probably saw on the multiples trailers or teasings). She have been left alone on a country where she gonna rode to be a star.

I think the thing I love the most to the movie it's what it tells. For the first time in One Piece (in that way and to be the big plot at least), it shows you the bad part of the pirates, peoples dying/stealing poor peoples/rumbling of entire isle, I think it's very interesting. And the idea to left the world, to live in a dream to leave the horrible world or the music allowing to be free, it simply big ass philosophy and I love it.

It something new in world of One Piece. You have to see it by yourself.

Also fan service, lot of alliance in battle, you love to see it. Like Stanpede, you know this part.

I do not understand how this movie has such a high score. Is it from all the One Piece fans that have yet to see it and just assume it is going to be great, so they give it a 10? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge One Piece fan, but this movie is the worst One Piece film out of the bunch, taking into account when they were each released.
You can feel the force of the movie, from the beginning, trying to rush you through. It felt so choppy and there were instances, that I will not spoil, that simply did not make ... sense for what was going on at the moment. There wasn't a single remarkable fight scene. The animation was subpar in comparison to past OP films. Honestly, it was a cluster f* that only had decent music, which in itself didn't mesh 100% of the time. Like, how are you gonna have a flashback of a child singing [multiple times], but have a clearly adult voice? It was disruptive in itself, causing you to lose any momentum the film may have gained. Could the producers not find a Japanese child with a decent singing voice?
The more I think about it, the more I want to lower my rating for this film.

So FIRST: This movie is a weird hybrid, more like a shounenish MUSICAL rather than a previously expected 100% shounen movie.
AND SECOND: I think the storyline of the movie and the attitude of Toei utterly do not contribute to this vivid world.
THIRD: Movie titled RED but Shanks is not a main character of the movie, he has a longer cameo, but that is ALL!

Prologue:

Before I start the real review, I have to say something about One Piece, and about my connection to One Piece. For my One Piece the anime for a long time, even though I do not tend to like mainstream shounen, ... somewhy me, as an adult close to 30 this whole complex world simply enraptured Arc by Arc. I had hard times with One Piece when I started more than 10 years ago, and probably not the best show ever, and not the show that contributed to most of my adulthood, still think One Piece itself is a miracle and am proud to be a part of it and I am 100% will be a One Piece fan until the end of the series.

Storyline:

The storyline of the movie is about Uta, a great singer who is a viral Den-Den Mushinternet star, and recently undertook her first IRL concert, on the Island of Music, so-called ELEGIA. First, it looks like a concert, but it reveals a lot of pirates who want to kidnap Uta, probably for bribe money, but none of them - even the SuperStrong Big-Mom Pirates- is able to do it. Soon, Uta reveals her plan, which she calls "New Genesis" which is a peaceful Dreamworld where everyone is equal, which means mostly dead. Also, a new "antagonist" is mysteriously revealed the TOT MUSICA. The WG, Akainu, Gorosei, Pirate crews and soon everybody wants to stop UTA.

I MUST mention this movie can not be inserted anywhere in the storyline. So for me, it is 100% COMPLETE FILLER, even though Uta was mentioned in the Manga once. Was a bit confusing because, for example, if you are up to date on the manga, you must know, this movie contained a lot of characters that obviously CAN NOT appear after Wano, but like Sanji or Luffy late on in the movie used a skill that is from or after WANO.

REVIEW:

I think in these kinds of criticism far easier to highlight the problematic things, and because of it, the CONs part could be longer than the PRO part. For this reason, I start with the GOOD part. As I mentioned before, It was not a standard shounen movie. I love One Piece's uniqueness, and this movie has a good one in the style, which was pretty interesting. So, basically, even though it has an all-variety of shounen demographic styles (like fights, skills, etc), still this movie was closer to a musical in the genre. We heard at least 10 songs during these 100 minutes, and the songs were pretty cool. And surprise, the audio part was simply DOPE, outstandingly GOOD. The kashuu (Singer) did a great job with Uta's songs, which was unquestionably the BEST part of the movie. And because the songs were connected to Uta's skills, a lot of fights were like a well-choreographed AMV video mashup.

So in one world, the style of this movie was unique. However, this uniqueness probably does not for everyone. Some people could call it weird as I did, and I know it could be a double-edged sword so maybe there could be a layer that does not like this musical/shounen style.

Also, the second PRO for me is the last fight. Yep, it was not too long. Yep, the animation in the whole movie was so-so. But MY GOD, the last fight was really interesting... even though the fact story did not but it is too early. So it was a World of Warcraft RAID boss fight, with 3 factions in two timelines, but instead of the TANK HEAL DAMAGE holy trinity, we got Fighters, Guardians, Gatekeepers, Realm-Projectors (Usopp/Yasopp;Katakuri/Brulee). For me it was phenomenal. Short but readable.

Yet, I have to turn to the CONs soon, and this is a good start. Since the Movie was maybe entitled partly to Shanks, but he does not fight. We saw him and his whole crew but did not show any specific skills. The most mentionable move of him was to slice and dice with his -OBVIOUSLY- One-Handed sword against Kizaru and the final boss. I expected far more, especially after the buildup of Uta's character which showed a lot of relations with Shanks and the Akagami no Kaizokudan. But probably it was an acceptable choice to not show Shanks's skills since we still do not know too much about him.

But the movie showed something else about Shanks, and hell yeah, I would be MAD really MAAAADDDD if it would be the part of Original storyline. They showed some fractions of Shanks's childhood, like only glimpses of the past but without any sense. It was only good to make some more questions about Shanks's anyway too much mystery character. And this is because I said One Piece would lose its uniqueness if this movie would be part of the Story. And not this is the only example of this.

The whole Uta story was like something they forgot, something important. Hard to formulate what is it, but a lot of happenings in the movie were clearly artificial. And even though, the One Piece world is kinda artificial BUT IN A GOOD WAY, this movie was the same artificial but in a BAD way. The island of Elegia ITSELF was artificial in a bad way. It has no purpose besides the movie. I love the One Piece world, so, a Music Island, WHY NOT? There are a lot of characters that are connected to the Music, like Apoo, Brook, etc... BUT without any place in the actual One Piece world, it is just simply self-serving. Even cameo characters (Blueno for example), the overused jokes (with BEPOO), and the unjustified cute characters were also self-serving here. It felt like and outcast, if we take the original storyline.

And this is true not only for Uta, but for the whole island of Elegia, and everything itself. Elegia's past does not affect the world. We did not know anything about the chaos in the past of this island before. One Piece has several trillion mysterious or interesting things but they came up with a new "oh GOD we never heard about this" enemy, the TOT MUSICA and demon-god. Truly, I am speechless about this.

And the worse of the worst is connected to this. Uta's plan was ridiculous, even though it was anticipated by the whole World Government, Uta easily outwitted 70% of the world (Including Yonkou crew, Gorosei, Admirals, Government, Celestial Dragons, Cypher Pol agents) with some singing and a bunch of magic-mushrooms. In one sentence, I LOVE TO THINK about One Piece's complexity, and why that is why I think this whole story of this movie is simply below mediocre.

I saw the movie twice. Once in a cinema in 4DX for the experience, but after the second I find the worst part, which is this movie thinks the whole One Piece world is like 1-bit shounen bullshit, and that should be a trigger point for any One Piece fans. I love One Piece because of its complexity, in One Piece every single small act has at least a previous reason. Because of this, I DO NOT ACCEPT that a depressive singer outwitted this complex world with a stupid 4/10 plan.

If you could abstract from the real storyline, this movie could be a nice experience with a unique musical-shounen style, with a lot of funny scenes and some interesting cameos then, I would recommend it. In this case, it is a 7/10 movie.

But if we take the OG One Piece complexity and the world-class world, this movie is 5 out of 10 in the best scenario, and 3 out of that 5 are the songs.

Mostly Spoiler Free.

This movie was not made for me, since I do not have TikTok. A lot of the focus of this movie is on Music and dance choreography, and I just do not care. If you are like me and find those Dances a bit cringy, some sequences of this movie are hard to get through.

First, let's talk about the good things. The movie was mostly animated on a good to very good level. Little sakuga like we got with the finale of Wano and some CGI Models that stuck out a bit, but the finale was beautful and many art decisions, like the ... new character outfits, were really good. It is definetly a visually pleasing movie.

Sadly, the same cannot be said about the story. Overall, it is pretty simple: This Idol Uta uses music to cast Eternal Tsukuyomi.

This is an oversimplification, there is a reason for her actions, but the story is anything but deep. In fact, it often feels like you look at the backbone of a story that could have been a good but basic story for a one piece movie if developed beyond the first few drafts. It really feels like the writers didn't care a lot. Instead, the focus was on giving every single important character a cameo, just to get some hype from the fanbase, which began to feel jarring, especially regarding the relationship between characters that felt wrong.

This need to cram in as much as possible made the pacing way too fast, which is wierd to say as a One Piece fan. Everything was so fast and the good moments were soon met with something stupid and I was barely able to build up any sympathy for the character of Uta before she was revealed to be fucking crazy and basically Obito.

This basically the moment I also realised, what I was watching. This movie was not ment to be watched. This movie is way too fast for that. It's also not cohesive, it avoids storytelling thoughout the movie at most points. This movie is made to be consumed in the form of 30 second clips on TikTok, Reels or Shorts. Not at a homescreen or a theatre, on the phone while you are scrolling. Just take a short, senseless fight from the movie, add one of the multiple original songs from Uta in the Background and have someone do the fitting choreography thats also in the movie in front of it, that was the vision when this movie was made. Once I came to that realisation, it all made sense, but I lost all interest left in me. I actually had to take 3 attempts to get through it because I began to fall asleep all the time.
3/10

I will be very clear about why I gave this film a low rating and why it is horrible: UTA IS A TERRIBLE CHARACTER!!

What's more, are they playing with us? Did they create so much hype around Shanks' appearance for the damn thing to appear in very few frames? Honestly, horrible, I found the story really boring too, Uta is a spoiled girl who can't get over her traumas and wants everyone to get involved in it. I swear, when they put that scene showing that Uta was part of Luffy's childhood, I wanted to leave the movie theater. I've seen One Piece movies that ... didn't really captivate me, but this one gave me a feeling that I hate: disgust.

Uta is inseparable when talking about Film Red. This is one of those cases, I believe, where viewer reception to a story is contingent upon their attachment to a character. A One Piece musical starred by a young diva of relevant relations with Luffy and Shanks, with utter focus on her character journey as she descends towards the depths of an antagonist's despairing motives. The first four words already spells "novel" in capitals, and it keeps on getting unconventional. And that's just the synopsis alone. The experience is entirely something else, something that I never expected out of any One Piece story, canon or not. ... To put it out of the way, One Piece Film Red was a delectable taste of a grand recipe revamp that shines through with a positive aftertaste despite executionary shortcomings on the narrative and animation and a not-so-full-proof Devil Fruit mechanics.

And yes, I have no major problems with Uta herself.

The movie partitions our lead's character journey through seven Uta no Uta (Uta songs) plus some essential flashbacks. It feels proper to judge the effectiveness of a musical through its creative presentation of the starring actor by means of songs suitable to piece together the fragments that make up the theme and message.

~New Genesis~
New Genesis introduces Uta's motivations for building a brighter future by escaping through the portal of music where dreamland resides. It serves as the bedrock in explaining her dreams. The upbeat nature of the music echoing through the whole setting masks her methodology's characteristics, which makes the way Uta's performance all the way through these opening sequences is airtight aid the twist's catharsis and telling of her personality filled with genuine empathy, albeit misguided. New Genesis perfectly paves the way for the rest of the story along the path it aims to tread.

~I'm Invincible~
Here Uta shows off her fearsome abilities by effortlessly fending off powerful foes while performing a happy pop song. In a way it takes a laughter and a few from me seeing how breezy that feat was for her to achieve. It was around this portion that the tone starts to show hints of shifting. Film Red does a good job in playing with the atmosphere in the right notes and beat as it effectively drew me in to the narrative.

~Backlight~
Spawns of fury light the stage with a burning number coming from Uta. Even against the Straw Hats her fearsome control over her overpowered Devil Fruit took her to a landslide victory. We receive a glimpse of her rage and her conviction that it is ultimately "for love". Such a powerful performance that reveals her stance on the story and confronts Luffy's ideals with opposition. The gremlin-like effects and voice style on some lines additionally adds a degree of mockery, screaming an unleashing of bottled emotions. Miles away indeed from the upbeat nature of the first two idol songs.

~Fleeting Lullaby~
Uta maintains the pixie tone in singing her lullaby which elucidates her wish for a new world by taking up the responsibility and justifying her actions through the promise of paradise in the dreamworld. Moreover, we know now that she is experiencing a deep sense of loneliness and therefore increasing self-certitude to carry out her plans due to a longing for everlasting connection with everyone, especially her fans; escapism through dreams, taking the whole world to slumber with a fleeting lullaby while remaining as the sole person awake until her body breaks and everyone unites through death. What makes this ironic is Uta actually being the one closing her eyes to reality.

The way we learn more about Uta through songs that lean on madness and insanity despite her flashbacks and her promising ideals amplifies the tragedy. And it's just badass that this song choreographs Uta as the puppeteer giving the navy a run for their money.

~Tot Musica~
"Tot Musica" is the climax we all needed. It showcases what lies at the precipice of Uta's mind when cornered by contrarians stranger and familiar and the taxing side-effects of the wake-shroom. A grand culmination of suffering with epic music blaring on the background which captures the distorted notes of Uta's holistic state. It speaks for itself, a legitimate yell for a brighter future clouded by desperation and tunnel vision which manifests as the essence of the apocalypse. When the only way you could believe life can be happy is away from reality, spelling out death by implication, even resorting to using the very cause of your trauma to hopefully turn it all around, then it's one hell of a situation. Cataclysmic stakes led by a colorful character such as Uta paints tragedy in more profound layers, and I love how Film Red handled the plot like that.

~The World's Continuation~
The world's continuation, where we can find the fulfillment of dreams in reality. Uta gazes back to the simple things in her life which shape a castle of meaning and answers and how it clicked on her that there can be positivity lying ahead, and that everyone should brave themselves to confront it. It's a highly appropriate song in reclaiming the consciousness of her victims from the Uta World to the real world. Thus the music sheet filled with devastating noises closes and the wind blows open the sound of a hopeful future.

~Where the Wind Blows~
The film calls back the first song we saw Uta sung back when she was still a child as the closer as she breaths her last in the arms of her father. It evoked high emotional resonance to me as it augments Uta's genuine wish to be the one sparking change in an era fraught with conflict and loss. "Where the Wind Blows" echoes a commonplace message which desires to revitalize the hopeless, remind the strayed, and embrace the lonely.

Every individual song performance provides an avenue to explore Uta's character in a more creative and engaging way. Not only that, it speaks to the story's setting which takes place in the Great Pirate Era drowning the voice of light in an age of heated differences clashing together everyday. Film Red's Uta expresses a fervent wish for world peace, an ideal world. I guess something like this can fit well in the political One Piece world and is expected to come one way or another. That answers its relevance as an entry in the series.

Beside the songs is the sense of urgency due to the pivotal ground Uta stands on in connection to Luffy and Shanks. We are used to Luffy's crew saving someone important every arc, but when this someone who needs saving is his childhood friend AND Shanks's daughter AND turns out to be the villain, now that twisted shade swells in devastating melancholy. It ultimately lies on Uta's credibility to be the antagonist, which through the songs and the flashbacks solidify it properly, allowing the drama to become as full-blown as it can be with success.

One Piece Film Red is not without flaws of course. The novelty is not a problem per se, but in many occasions the execution was jarring in the musical performances. It's just hard to make everything work perfectly in incorporating sung songs in the middle of a battle. Knowing that it's One Piece, the exotic approach distances satisfied reactions further. I think it worked out well for the most part though. Something to be reflected upon, however, is how there are plenty more eye candy battle scenes with fluid animation rather than the act of singing and dancing in anime. The latter usually lacks substance or is presented awkwardly. Also, they should have casted someone else that fits kid Uta's voice to sing Where the Wind Blows and not Ado navigating all ways to make it suitable (it didn't sound so good to me).

Overall, I enjoyed Film Red because I enjoyed Uta as the heart of the story. I restrained myself making this an Uta analysis and neglecting the film as an entity along with its other factors, so I hope it all ended well in that regard. It's what I was most difficult for me, seeing as how interconnected the character is to the movie itself. Bridging to other related topics was an ordeal. Anyways, good movie!

~~

Song rankings because why not
1. Tot Musica
2. The World's Continuation
3. Backlight
4. Fleeting Lullaby
5. Where the Wind Blows
6. I'm Invincible
7. New Genesis

The latest one piece film is a visual and musical feast for fans old and new alike. The center focus is on Uta, a childhood friend from Luffy's past who is none other than Shanks' (adoptive) daughter. She uses her talented singing skills to charm the audience and usher in a new era of peace. But at what cost will she manifest her dreams?


Uta is an exemplary example of an anti villain done right. She grew up seeing how much despair pirates cause with their mayhem so she set out to make songs to soothe the hearts of their victims. She genuinely wants what is ... best for the world but goes about it in the worst way possible. I loved the dynamic she had with Luffy. It started out as a cheerful reunion between two distant friends before their clashing ideals results in conflict. Luffy embodies the idea of freedom while Uta uses forceful measures so everyone follows her version of happiness. This contrast makes the drama all the better. Seeing Uta devolve from a high spirited girl to a broken martyr was so gut wrenching to sit through. I truly feel that she's one of the best female characters in the entire franchise from just one movie alone.

The animation and music were also stunning throughout the entire movie. Uta's musical numbers were vividly animated and full of detail. Character designer Masayuki Sato elevated Oda's designs to the next level and brought them to perfection. I wish he was the main character designer for the anime, but the art has improved ever since the Wano arc began so I'm content. The animation goes full throttle during the final battle against Tot Musica where all the straw hats and Shank's crew team up, albeit indirectly. One piece has never looked so eye catching before. Buffy briefly tapping into gear 5 in the final battle was icing on the cake.

Ado absolutely killed it on this soundtrack. I've been a fan of her since discovering usseewa and she doesn't disappoint at all. Each song captures how Uta feels at the current moment in the film and sheds light on her character. My favorite songs are the victorious sounding "Backlight" and the captivating haunting " Tot Musica", which is also the name of the ultimate villain in Red. Fun fact, Tot Musica was composed by legendary composer Hiroyuki Sawano, the same guy who worked on titles like Promare and blue exorcist. He's not the only high profile name on the list either. New Genesis is composed by Yasutaka Nakata, a man who played a pivotal role in the 2000s J-pop scene. I'm hoping these ambitious musical collabs become more common in one piece soon.

Overall, One piece film Red outshines all other films in the franchise with its gripping character drama and impeccable soundtrack. You can officially watch the movie on Vudu.

The first 80% of the movie is really bad imo. Very childish and many "musical"-like scenes, overall very cringe and not enjoyable for me. (My friends got dub ticket's on accident which made it even worse lol)
Many plot essentials like Uta's motives aren't really made clear. Shanks action isn't enough, imo calling the Film "Red" is just a marketing scheme.
Then once the final battle starts I find that the music fits much better and you get the usual one piece hyped feeling. And if you don't want to be spoilered in the movie, you should either have read the manga or wait till the final ... battle in Wano is over.

I am not sure about the target audience of this movie, for some kids the age under 14 who have watched all of one piece the movie will probably be way more enjoyable then it was for me. I think many One Piece fans are 20 and over, and for those that I know it was a cringefest.

To be fair the animation was solid, although not on the level of the demonslayer movie. I didn't enjoy the silly backgrounds in the final fight.

Most of the songs were very nice and fitting, there was just way too much focus on them imo.

The story doesn't feel well written at all.

Overall the movie was a big disappointment for me.

In a Worldline far removed from the one piece world, lies a story that is being told. A tragic story of one who wanted to bring about a new era. Her name was Uta and this is her story, one of laughter, tragedy and warmth.


This movie is a condensation of everything themeatic about one piece and its pretty sad that alot of people dont seem to get it, but praise the series as for its deep themes and maturity.
IS it just because this movie is non canon?
Is it just because theyre salty shanks isnt evil nor does he fit their headcanon of what he should ... be?
Is it just because they dont like the musical aspect or Uta?
Is it just because they think this is just a ripoff of naruto?
Perphas its all of this, we will never know but lets get this out of the way.
Yes the movie could be better paced, and it defintely could use more runtime, i wont dare to tell you otherwise, but im just saying to understand the kind of story oda wanted to tell.


The basic plot of the movie is in laymans term
> the strawhats and a whole bunch of other important characters just decided to drop everything theyre doing and attend the concert of this new diva idol called uta.
> We find out from luffy that she's shanks daugther.
> She then evantually turns on luffy for being a pirate whom she proclaims to hate
> She traps all the pirates that attended her show and chased after luffy with her fans.
That's it, the whole rest of the series is just a mystery box of figuring out Uta's goals, her motive, her powers and resuce everyone.
In a different worldline,
we cut to a kakera sprinked throughout the story which tells of uta's relationship with luffy .
TBH this was my favorite part of the movie,
as oda has said before this movie challenges luffy beyond just physically and its shown throughtout the film
Uta isnt someone luffy wants to actually beat, nor does he directly attack her for anything, hes being challenged mentally and emotionally, hes confused that someone he used to know turned out so different.
It was never about just beating the opponent in this case.
Its about truly understanding why someone would turn to the dark side.
Sometimes the answer is never just about beating the opponent to be done with it.
OF course, in the end this is a box office action movie for a battle manga so ofc it ends in a big thrown down fight against a giant thing with alot of sakuga which im cool with but can see why others find it a controversial film.


On another facet of the kaleidoscope, the mystery element i would agree is handled pretty badly, which is one of the few elements i would say is handled badly and would agree on.
So much buildup for all this mystery elements, only for most of it to be plot expo dumped on us in the last 3rd of the film. And utas motive which were initially great, ended up being filmsy after a certain reveal.


The musical elements to be honest tied in super well with the plot and premise, its the ideal mix. I dont see why people are upset with it tbh, it makes the film unique and gives it color. It ties in very well with the theme of the movie, music uniting people.


The themes, which is imo the best and my favorite parts of the film.
There are quite a few but i would say theres 3 main ones.
- Music unites people, as i mentioned eariler. The symbolism is best shown when everyone unites to defeat the big bad, who is named after a musical entity, they unite everyone with a singular goal and even before that, utas entires goal is to unite the world with her music, if you replace the theme of music with freedom and you literally get your main theme of one piece right there.
- Life may be hard but that doesnt mean escapism is good. The NPCs characters were initially happy at being able to escape and even desire for escape from the cruel world and reality but once they got it, they started to realise it wasnt good and wanted out. This ties into the next main theme very well.
-Expecations of a messiah, the show keeps emphasising that uta is the savior that will bring the world peace and save the suffering people which evantually leads to her mental breakdown and her deranged plan. Both ties into the idea of toxic otaku mindset.
Both idol worship and escapism are prominent in reality these days, and no wonder the world is a shit place.
But that doesnt make it ok for you to escape into a false reality nor is it ok to look for a false savior , whether it be an imganiary one or a real one.


And yet all of this ties into the deeper one piece lore too, luffy DOES end up being the messiah of sort, and he will evantually be one for spoilers reasons, if you know you know.
The climax scene power up is reflected on that, he will evantually bring freedom to the world, but he wont force it on anyone like uta does and that in lies the key difference.
Heck even in the movie, luffy only got fully serious once he saw uta truely suffering and she wanted to be saved as well as once he fully got her story straight.
Heck the idol worship theme is also a good mirror for luffys worship of shanks, he worships him but he knows that shanks isnt an end all god, hes just someone luffy wants to surpass, and hes able to see shanks for who he really is, hence why he knew uta was wrong about shanks from the beginnging.



All in all its a good film, haters capping.
Maybe in a different Heaven, this film will be better apperciated

Well, here we go. RED.
That one color has made us rilled up this entire series upon its appearance on screen. RED.
That hair, that swag, that cools badass look, and those eyes. THOSE CONQUEROR'S EYES. RED.

it's a good film, worth watching. NOT PERFECT. It's a film, so they tried to put their best. Good time though, for around 2 hours.
Great choice of picking Ado, and exceptional animation.

And, well SHANKS. Simple as that. What more to say. That's more than enough to stick our bums on seats.

Go watch it, you might like it if not you'll come out at least glad knowing that you were able to ... support the one piece story.

This is the only movie I've seen where the singing is better than the rest of the movie combined.

The writing is questionable at best, and tries too hard to jam in everything One Piece fans recognize. That leaves no time for any kind of character establishment or development; the movie assumes you already know all the characters and just want to see them do their signature thing.

The 3d animation is not good. The 2d animation is surreal, even more than One Piece normally is, and ends up being incoherent. The whole movie is more of a fever dream than a satisfying story.

But...the songs are good. ... One of them was #1 in Japan for a while, and honestly, it deserved that. Maybe it's better to just find the songs on youtube.

First of all the movie is not for everyone! If you expect action like Stampede, i wouldn't recommend One Piece Red!
If you disregard that, movie Red is relatively solid! The best thing about the movie is in my opinion the music! The female singer Ado can express her feelings perfectly! Especially "Blacklight" shows a touch of musical perfection. Besides the music, you have to honestly say that the story is "ok". Nothing really special but seeing the Strawhats along some other characters(spoiler) was very cool to experience! The animations were also really good (ignoring Uta's CGI dance). All in all, totally recommended for any ... One Piece fan who wants to see more than just action!

Because of the music i would give a rating between a 7 and 8!
(without probably a 6)

Here is my review of this anime in 2023!

Story (10)
The story is about U.T.A who is Luffy's childhood friend and they meet after a long time. In this movie, U.T.A sing a lot of music and it's power is really powerful. But there is some conflict between U.T.A and Luffy's idealism that makes them fight each other. Not only that, you will see a new form of Luffy's new gear.

Art (10)
The art of this anime is excellence! I love how they make all the animation from scratch which makes it comfortable to watch especially when they fight.

Sound (10)
All the sounds they used are very good ... and adjusted to the animation. There are a lot of songs that U.T.A sing.

Character (10)
The main and supporter character is very memorable, especially the main character.

Enjoyment (10)
It's delightful to watch this movie in 2023.

Overall (10)
Recommended for those who love action, adventure, music, and One Piece anime!

This movie was just perfection to my eyes.
It has everything to love if you are a fan of the series. The action is very enjoyable, and the animation is very crispy. I loved all the designs for the movie and the envinronment was eye candy. The biggest con of this movie is its for sure its music. There are a TON of bangers to listen to, i came home and im still banging some tracks and i will probably still do for days to come. The star of the movie Uta does not disappoint at all. She fit to the story extremely well and i ... love how oda implemented her. She is a very enjoyable,complicated character with a lot of depth to explore. Now lets talk about the biggest attraction of the show Shanks! I enjoyed his presence in the movie and the fact that we got more actual canon information about him and his crew is just amazing.The strawhats did have a nice part in the movie and i liked them in total but they got outshined by Shanks and Uta which i loved this decision. In total this movie is a must for any one piece fan, it has everything you love about this masterpiece of a show, amazing action, beautiful music,deep worldbuilding and top notch characters and character interactions. This was my first anime movie that came to my country and i watched in an IMAX cinema and im very glad it took my virginity from that!. The movie made me shed a tear near the end and i cant wait to re-watch it again in the near future!