One Piece Film: Red hit U.S. theaters on November 4th, generating mixed reactions among fans. Some fans adored the film with its compelling narrative and fantastic music, whereas others found the story to be riddled with too many plot holes and far too much music.
The film was doubtless an action-packed movie with plenty of music along the way. The story is fantastic, and Uta is a beloved character by many fans already. However, despite it having a great story there are many plot holes spread throughout that bothered many fans.
Uta’s Motivations Didn’t Make Sense
As fans progress through the film, many of them found themselves surprised that Uta in fact knew all along that she was the one responsible for destroying Elegia and not Shanks and his crew.
Redditor BryceMMusic comments on this saying, “Uta was a bit confusing at the end when she revealed that she knew she was responsible for everyone dying” and that it “Kinda threw her previous motivation out the window. ” Her original motivation against pirates was because of what Shanks did to the island and yet, it was never actually Shanks. It was herself.
The Film Showed A Misunderstanding Of Gear 5
Gear 5 didn’t make a long appearance in One Piece Film: Red, and many fans were disheartened that it felt far more like fanservice rather than something that made sense to the story. Redditor WeedWeeb goes over this by saying, “Gear 5 is not Super Saiyan transformation, Luffy is free and he’s fun the whole time he’s fighting Kaido in that form. He doesn’t go angry to use it, it doesn’t even give a strength boost.”
“It ruins the whole theme of Gear 5,” the Redditor continues. Gear 5 is an incredibly unique transformation, one that Luffy unlocked in one of the best fights in the Wano arc of One Piece against Kaido. It is a power-up, but it’s much more than that as it allows Luffy to be gleeful and free while manipulating everything around him to rubber.
Observation Haki Is Handled In A Way That Feels Random
While many fans were mesmerized by the team-up between Usopp and his father Yasopp with their Observation Haki many fans felt this didn’t make sense. WashMassive8775 from Reddit comments on this saying “I really disliked how suddenly observation haki let you see through other people’s eyes suddenly.”
Observation Haki has been touched upon multiple points in the series and the strongest of the abilities tend to involve seeing the future. In most situations, being able to link with another to see through their eyes doesn’t sound useful and feels forced. It’s an odd change to continuity.
Tot Musica Doesn’t Fit Into One Piece’s Worldbuilding
Uta has one of the most overpowered Devil Fruits in One Piece and that is especially seen with Tot Musica. However, Tot Musica, or the Demon King of Songs, doesn’t really have a solid place in the world of One Piece. Redditor ElektricDynomite touches upon this as they say “the existence of a Demon King really didn’t sit well in a series so praised for its world building.”
Which is a fair point considering how well-known the weapons of the world are and how terrifying of a beast this was. This should have been more common knowledge. More than this, it doesn’t make sense that Uta happened to be the only one that could truly use Tot Musica thanks to her Devil Fruit. For such a vast world, it seems extremely coincidental that she would end up there.
The Revolutionary Army Is Totally Absent
While the Revolutionary Army doesn’t always have a heavy presence in the series, it’s clear given the story that they were taken out to make the plot more convenient for writing Uta and her objective. Something982 from Reddit comments on their lack of appearance saying, “My biggest issue with this movie is that they completely erased from existence the revolutionary army.”
The Revolutionary Army makes sense not to appear because Uta’s objective is to give the people of the world a place where they can be happy and be free of the oppressions of the World Government and the pirates of the world. The Revolutionary Army is actively attempting to make the world a better place and the movie seemingly ignores them and makes it appear that Uta is the only one trying to help the common people.
Big Mom Is Alive Even Though Fans Believe This Is Post-Wano
One of the oddest inclusions is the feature of Big Mom in the story. Circajusturna from Reddit comments on this briefly by saying, “So BM is alive considering this is canon and post-Wano?” This is where confusion has come with many fans.
It’s believed the movie is post-Wano due to the appearance of Gear 5 and yet, Big Mom is supposed to be dead. It also doesn’t seem that the film is fully canon, however, with only aspects of it supposed to be.
Gear 5 Shouldn’t Have Appeared
It seems most likely that this story took place between the Whole Cake Island arc and the Wano Country arc. This is evident by multiple things like Big Mom’s appearance and the fact that Luffy is referred to as the 5th Emperor. However, there is a singular problem that involves one of Luffy’s best techniques in One Piece.
Arthiman__2005 from Reddit comments that “They put it last minute to get reactions from the fans. If you watch closely right before the impact, you can see that it was supposed to be Snake Man.” The “it” he refers to is Gear 5 and it some clear that they didn’t originally intend to have Gear 5 in the film they just threw it in for a bit of fanservice, but it does create a multitude of more problems for the film because of it.
Luffy Should Have Recognized Uta
Luffy doesn’t seem to recognize Uta until he sees her in person, which is extremely odd because Luffy highly values his past like Shanks and his brothers. Redditor Professional-Life745 says, “how did Luffy not recognize who they were going to see if it is literally his childhood friend who wanted to be a singer?”
There is a clear strong bond between Luffy and Uta, so the fact that Luffy didn’t realize that a famous singer named Uta wasn’t the same Uta he knew from his childhood that wanted to be a famous singer makes no sense.
Shanks Leaving Uta On Elegia Didn’t Make Sense
Naiofe from Reddit comments on this, saying “Shanks leaving Uta on the island was stupid.” While it might be a bit more understandable as to why Shanks had Uta believe that he brought disaster to Elegia, it in truth only served as a tension to the story.
There’s a lack of an explanation as to why Shanks left her, and in truth, he is the cause of everything bad that happens in Film: Red. They shared a deep bond and both deeply cared about each other and Shanks didn’t leave Uta on the island for her love of music because Elegia was ruined.
