One piece will soon release the next major feature film in the franchise in theaters in Japan later this year, but the question remains whether the next one or not One Piece Film: Red it will be placed in the official canon of the series. As fans of action anime franchises have seen over the years, when an anime makes the jump to theaters, it usually does so with the intention of reaching as many eyes as possible. That meant that, until just a few years ago, most of these releases shared their own original stories.
This has been the case with the One piece past movies too. Although they are stories by the creator of the original series, Eiichiro Oda, each one has been a unique and closed adventure that many times (except in very, very rare cases) is not mentioned in the official canon of the series. Sometimes they can be part of the anime, but it is very rare that I develop something in the manga. However, this could change with One Piece Film: Red, as it already promises some major changes to what we know about Red-Haired Shanks.
One Piece Film: Red has released its first trailer as of this writing, and with it has introduced Shanks’ daughter (a new character named Uta) to the series. Now the question here is whether she will become an official part of the canon as a whole. Such a massive introduction to Shanks’ identity could provide some major changes to the rest of the series as a whole, as it’s not only a new look at his mysterious past, but it could also shed some light on more of the mysteries that remain. surround his current goals in the series as well.
Without going into too much detail about the current events of the manga, the recent reveal about Luffy and his devil fruit puts Shanks’ early possession in a whole new light. As well as the fact that he had some influence with the Five Elders during the Dreaming, and this could provide a key clue to putting all these puzzles together. But that’s only if she’s part of the official canon. It’s not entirely unlikely to see a family member introduced but never mentioned again, but that’s not something One piece as a whole does. Once a character appears, fans can expect to see him again (even if he is in a small cameo capacity).
Given the success franchises like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen have had in theaters with completely canon feature films, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that One Piece Film: Red it is used to develop the main canon. It could be anything from being a big reveal (like potentially giving us the first “current” meeting between Luffy and Shanks), or a hint to the future, like getting the first proper canon spelling of “Laugh Tale” within the events of One Piece: Stampedethe movie before this.
But what do you think? Do you expect One Piece Film: Red to tie into the official canon of the series? If so, what do you hope it reveals about Shanks? Let us know all your thoughts on it in the comments! You can even contact me directly about all the animated stuff and other cool stuff. @Valdezology on Twitter!