The next couple of episodes of One Piece will be a tie-in to One Piece Film: Red, but what’s odd is that the episodes will be airing after Red premieres in Japan. If Red is already going to be out when the episodes air, then having a tie-in meant to build up to the movie can come across as rather pointless. That being said, while producer Shinji Shimizu told CBR that production of the film was “surprisingly smooth“, the timing of the episodes probably wasn’t intentional, and there’s a logical explanation for why that would be.
One Piece episodes 1029 and 1030 will put the Wano arc on hold to tell a story about Luffy’s friendship with Shanks’ daughter, Uta. The episodes will serve as a tie-in to the new One Piece movie, One Piece Film: Red, but the problem with that is that Red has already been released in Japan and the tie-in won’t start airing until a week later. While it’s not a problem for people living in Western territories who won’t be able to see Red until the fall, at least in Japan, any buildup the episodes try to provide will be rendered moot because people will have already seen the movie the week before.
The timing of the tie-in episodes to One Piece Film: Red doesn’t work with the movie’s release in Japan, but there’s a good explanation for it. In March 2022, Toei Animation was the victim of a ransomware attack that forced a lot of the anime they produced to go on hiatus for over a month, including the One Piece anime. This is the most likely reason why the episodes are airing when they are because if the hiatus hadn’t happened, then the episodes likely would have aired in July before Red came out, which would have allowed for them to properly build up to the movie.
Is One Piece Film: Red Canon?
With the One Piece anime devoting time to have a tie-in to One Piece Film: Red, this invites the question of whether or not the movie is canon. In chapter 1055 of the manga, a silhouette of a character resembling Uta appears in one of Shanks’ memories, which seems to confirm that Uta is canon to One Piece. Characters or elements from the movies have been canon before, such as Shiki from Strong World and the spelling of Laugh Tale from Stampede, but the stories they appeared in were still One Piece filler. Based on the trailers for Red, numerous elements simply wouldn’t work with what’s currently happening in the manga, so as of right now, the simplest conclusion is that One Piece Film: Red won’t be canon, even though Uta is canon.
While One Piece’s upcoming tie-in episodes to One Piece Film: Red are a little late, the timing probably wasn’t intentional. The ransomware attack on Toei Animation forced One Piece to go on hiatus for over a month, and that likely prevented the episodes from airing before One Piece Film: Red was released, which would have made the tie-in work. The tie-in element might be moot for Japanese fans, but at the very least, it still works in the west, since Toei Animation’s One Piece Film: Red won’t be released outside of Japan until the fall.
One Piece releases new episodes Saturdays on Crunchyroll.
