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TL;DR

  • A new teaser trailer for One Piece Film Red was released, linking Shanks to the new, original character
  • Here’s what we know so far about the film
  • Where could this story go and how will it tie into the main One Piece plot?

One Piece Film Red is the 15th anime feature film for the franchise, and series author Eiichiro Oda has teased really big things for this project. Red Hair Shanks is one of the most mysterious characters in the series, especially through recent revelations in the manga, so it’ll be interesting to see where this story goes. Now that the second teaser trailer is out, we have more information to work with.

The official 'One Piece Film Red' poster
The ‘One Piece Film Red’ poster | Crunchyroll

Spoiler warning for the teaser trailer as well as some elements from the latest arc of the One Piece manga

The second ‘One Piece Film Red’ teaser trailer

The trailer begins with Red Hair Shanks speaking to a young Uta while they look out into the distance. He says to her, “though we’re apart, you’ll always be my daughter.” Clearly, the staff wanted to waste no time dropping such a huge bombshell of a revelation.

A few clips pass by of other characters (some who might be a surprise like Koby and Bepo) before Luffy addresses Uta with a note of displeasure due to her current activities. No direct villain was hinted at, but it appears that Uta might not be the innocent fluff character type that typically characterizes some of the latest films in the franchise.

Shanks goes on to mention that there’s no equality in this world. That’s interesting dialogue from someone who has been revealed to be on good terms with the Gorosei – the leaders of the World Government that actively hunts pirates down.

Uta is called “the world’s greatest diva” and there are many tears shed throughout this brief, 45-second look at the film. It’ll be interesting to see what emotional beats this movie takes, especially with a character like Shanks who hasn’t actually had much screen time throughout One Piece‘s 1046 chapters.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Eiichiro Oda will serve as One Piece Film Red‘s producer, and he has a hand in the story.

Everything we know about ‘One Piece’ Film Red so far

The One Piece Film Red release date is tentatively scheduled for a theatrical release in Japan on August 6th, 2022. There hasn’t been any confirmed delay due to the Toei Animation hack situation that led to several shows, including One Piece being delayed from airing for a month.

We know for sure that the film is set to feature all of the Straw Hat pirates, including the most recent member, Jimbei. The official Twitter account of the movie has been releasing character posters showing off different outfits the characters will wear throughout the film, according to Crunchyroll.

The movie will be directed by Goro Taniguchi, who’s returning to the franchise for the first time since 1998. Tsutomu Kuroiwa will write the screenplay after working on One Piece Film Gold.

This One Piece movie was announced in November as a part of the celebration around the 1,000th episode of the series. As can be seen in the teaser, the focus of this movie will be Red Hair Shanks and Uta, a character originally made just for this film.

What could happen in the plot of this film?

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Based on what we’re seeing in the One Piece Film Red trailer, we’ll likely get more than just family drama between Shanks and Uta. This is a story that will span decades as we go from Uta’s childhood to her meeting with the present-day Straw Hat pirates.

In previous films like One Piece Strong World, One Piece Film Z, and One Piece: Stampede Eiichiro Oda has used canon characters to tell a non-canon story. This may be the case yet again. While the main series timeline (while the Straw Hats are waging war against Kaido on Onigashima) probably won’t allow for the events of this film to occur yet, the character of Uta may well end up being a permanent fixture of the story.

Additionally, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Uta is not, in fact, Shanks’ actual daughter. We just don’t have enough information to know for sure, but this could end up being a red herring. Perhaps she’s a daughter-like figure in the same way that Luffy is like a little brother to Shanks. Fans and influencers are already taking to Twitter to make jokes about Shanks and his relationship with Makino from Fusha Village (and potentially Shanks’ other child). Is it all connected?

We’ll have to wait for the film to come out on August 6th, 2022 to know for sure.

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