Eiichiro Oda’s pirate manga One Piece has been round for a very long time—longer than a excellent quantity of its fanbase has been alive, even—however it feels find it irresistible’s handiest just lately develop into a mainstream anime juggernaut. It has damaged the Guinness international report for being the best-selling manga of all time, and its anime adaptation noticed the discharge of its 1000th episode again in 2021, in addition to the forged expose for an upcoming live action series.
Suffice to mention, One Piece is on a prime at this time, and that’ll proceed for a excellent whilst following the discharge of its latest theatrical film, One Piece Movie: Pink. Introduced again in 2021 all through a party of Episode 1000, the movie used to be part of the franchise’s total twenty fifth anniversary party previous this 12 months, and lately stands as each Japan’s highest-grossing movie of the 12 months, at the side of the highest-grossing One Piece film typically. In all probability because of that, it’s supposedly the primary movie within the franchise to have as a lot involvement from Oda as imaginable. If that’s the case, he picked a good time to get entangled, as a result of Pink is an utter satisfaction from begin to end.
A large number of what makes Pink paintings is its central personality, Uta. Voiced in Jap by way of Kaori Nazuka and in English by way of Amanda Lee (or AmaLee, superb identified for covers of anime openings on YouTube), Uta is a pop superstar sensation that’s long gone viral around the identified international. To start with, it kind of feels like Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka/Colleen Clinkenbeard) and the group have stumbled into gaining her friendship after saving her from a kidnapping try, however the movie takes a swerve when it’s printed early on that very similar to Luffy, Uta is a surrogate kid of the notorious pirate Pink-Haired Shanks (Shūichi Ikeda/Brandon Potter).
That shared connection between them makes for a few of Pink’s most powerful moments. Luffy’s continuously been located as an oddball on the planet of One Piece, so it’s amusing to look anyone who’s on his stage, and in some circumstances, even goofier than he’s. Their friendship feels very actual in each provide day and flashbacks, and as simple as it could be for her to really feel like a plot tool, she seems like a herbal extension of Oda’s international and completely shaped personality in her personal proper.
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Like most pop stars of the present day, Uta’s presence can be overwhelming to the point of being too much. One Piece has such an incredibly large cast of characters, sure, that comes with the territory of being around 25 years. But while Red makes the right call honing in on what Uta means to both Luffy and the rest of the world who’ve connected with her singing voice, it makes nearly everyone else not in that category feel extraneous. Despite having sporadic appearances throughout the film, Shanks just barely manages to avoid this, but that’s not really a fate afforded to other characters.
Outside of Luffy, the other Straw Hats don’t really have much of anything to do except look great in the film’s plethora of action scenes—outside of the incredibly wild end battle, they get a fun fight sans Luffy during the second act, both of which offer some fun fan service for lovers of Zoro (Kazuya Nakai/Chrisopher Sabat), Nami (Akemi Okamura/Luci Christian), and the rest of the gang. I’m nowhere near caught up in the present events of either the One Piece manga or anime, but the non-film specific characters who appear, of which there are many, feel like they’re just here to be here rather than serve a plot or thematic purpose to the film.
As a result, the movie sometimes threatens to collapse under its own weight, and it’s an issue that gets exacerbated towards the middle portion when the plot truly takes shape. But by some sheer miracle, the film ultimately doesn’t fall apart, and manages to pull itself together for its climax.
Music is an important part of One Piece, primarily its various openings over the decades. But Uta’s existence in Red kicks things up a notch by turning the raucous pirate anime into a musical. Her concert, held on the secluded island of Elegia, feels like a blend of Coachella and the Super Bowl halftime show, and her opening number “New Genesis” is incredibly splashy and colorful in the way that pop songs just are. Sung by Japanese singer Ado, the songs themselves are consistently great, and for the most part, the visuals are able to match the lyrical energy of each tune. Nearly all of them will be an earworm for some time, and some of the final songs may end up being tearjerkers for viewers. If you’re someone who only recently heard of Ado (like myself), these songs perfectly showcase her range as a vocal performer.
The weekend of New York Comic-Con in October, promos for One Piece Film: Red took over Occasions Sq.. The ones promos handiest lasted an hour, however their mere life additional drove house how large One Piece has develop into, and Pink will simply lend a hand it get even larger. It’s an utter satisfaction of a movie that’s the franchise firing on just about all cylinders. Even if it every now and then will get misplaced in itself, it’s simply amusing and encapsulates why other people have spent years following the Straw Hats on their grand adventures.
One Piece Movie: Pink releases in theaters within the West on November 3.
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