One Piece’s newest movie, Film Red, is nothing short of a wild ride. With an interesting and well-developed villain, great action and epic entrances, there’s a lot for fans to love. 2022 has been a great year for One Piece, and this film manages to keep on delivering.
However, not every moment is equal, and there are some moments in the film that did and will have audiences cheering uncontrollably. With so many hype moments throughout the film, here is a selection of the best of the best.
Bartolomeo’s Return
Starting off with everyone’s favorite fanboy, Bartolomeo makes his triumphant return to the series in this film. While it’s important to remember that Film Red is technically non-canon, this is still the first appearance of the character outside of a cover page in years — ironically, when he attacks one of Shanks’ territories — making this a very welcome treat for fans. Even though the rest of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet doesn’t make it into the movie, Bartolomeo on his own is more than enough.
While Bartolomeo doesn’t get to interact with the majority of the Straw Hats that much, unfortunately, he does spend most of the movie with his idol, Monkey D. Luffy, giving him ample screentime to fanboy. Watching him be overprotective of Luffy while they are running away from Uta and her powers is funny enough, but seeing the two trapped in one of his barrier bubbles, ultimately causing Luffy to become increasingly more nauseous, had the theater in tears of laughter.
Sunny (and the Rest of the Tiny Crew)
While a rather small (pun definitely intended) part of the movie, the introduction of a little representation of the Sunny is both incredibly cute and funny. Considering how heavy the themes get throughout the film, having Luffy discover the Sunny in the form of a little humanoid lion is a great way for the movie to remind the audience of just how much fun One Piece is and how it masterfully blends serious and lighthearted moments.
It would be a disservice to the film if the other “tiny” characters weren’t mentioned. A running gag throughout the film is that larger characters are turned into chibi versions of themselves. While chibi-Bepo is probably the funniest and arguably most adorable, seeing the same thing happen to CP0’s Blueno is also hilarious. While the gag itself is never really explained, it doesn’t really need to be considering how much fun the audience has with it.
Charlotte Katakuri Joins the Battle
Quite unexpectedly, the Big Mom Pirates play a relatively large role during Film Red. While the ones that get the most screentime are Charlotte Oven and Charlotte Brulee (Branch), the most hyped return obviously comes from Charlotte Katakuri, who hadn’t been seen since the “Whole Cake Island” arc.
While he doesn’t get nearly as much screentime as his siblings and sadly doesn’t even get to reunite with Luffy at any point, his return is as epic as can be. Not only does Katakuri get to interact directly with Red-Haired Shanks himself, but he even delivers a few powerful blows against the film’s final villain, Tot Musica. It isn’t a large role, but it’s still incredibly satisfying to see on the big screen.
Usopp & Yasopp Team Up
Much like almost every other anime, dads in One Piece are almost all rather terrible. This is unfortunately the case with the Straw Hat’s Usopp and his father, Yasopp. Yasopp left both his son and his wife behind to go join the Red-Haired Pirates, which for some reason the series doesn’t try to fault him on at any point. If anything, Usopp has taken this form of abandonment in stride, idolizing his father and hoping to become as great a marksman as his old man one day.
In a touching moment during the film, Yasopp and Usopp have their Observation Haki sync with one another, allowing them to see through each other’s eyes in-between reality and the dream world. It’s an interesting and sweet moment because it shows that Usopp has grown enough to at least be able to fight alongside his dad as relative equals in the same position, as they each support their respective crew and captain by giving commands on when to attack. They even have a moment where they both attack Tot Musica together. While the film doesn’t show Usopp or Yasopp interacting outside of this moment, it’s still great to see how happy Usopp is to fight alongside his dad.
Shanks Finally Does Something
Probably the biggest moment of the entire film is when Shanks appears. While the character has largely remained out of the story, only appearing on a handful of occasions, this film truly capitalizes on all the hype surrounding the character. While many fans probably expected to see Shanks only attack once or twice or just use his Conqueror’s Haki as he has in the past, Film Red shows Shanks fight for real against Tot Musica and even the Navy Admirals.
Not only does the film show off how strong Shanks is in combat back when he has both his arms, but it also provides a much clearer idea as to how strong he is now. He manages to stop and intimidate Kizaru, one of the series’ strongest characters, with one move, matching him in speed even though the Admiral can turn into light. It’s also a huge treat to see him perform a sort of team-up attack with Luffy at the end of the film. They might not speak one word to each other in the film, but it helps highlight just how far Luffy has come since Shanks gave him the straw hat. Film Red also helps establish that Shanks might not be the villain some fans have been theorizing since his meeting with the Gorosei, as throughout the film, he does everything he can to save people, including Luffy.
The Red Hair Pirates Finally Get Screentime
If getting to see Shanks wasn’t enough, fans get to see the rest of the Red Hair Pirates too, finally showing why everyone, including the Navy Admirals are so afraid of them. Fan favorites like Benn Beckman make a reappearance, even going up against Kizaru like at Marineford, but so do Lucky Roux and the rest as well. Even Rockstar shows up.
What makes this so interesting and eventful is that fans finally get to see how each of the officers fights during the final battle against Tot Musica. While it seems like none of the members have any Devil Fruit powers, it shows how strong the Red Hair Pirates are despite that, offering an interesting comparison to Blackbeard’s crew that seems to consist of only Devil Fruit users. Seeing them and their captain in action is an incredible moment for the franchise.
The First Anime Appearance of Gear 5
It might have only been for a split second, but it would be wrong to not mention that Gear 5 is shown off in the movie. While none of the crazy attacks that manga readers saw in the fight with Kaido make an appearance, and the whole moment is admittedly pretty hard to follow, it’s still the first time Gear 5 has ever been animated, and that alone makes this movie a must-watch for One Piece fans. It’s showcased during Luffy’s combined attack with Shanks, which is presented in a gorgeous black-and-white sequence, giving the moment even more weight. It provides the impression that after awakening his Devil Fruit, Luffy is finally the pirate he promised Shanks he’d one day become.
While some fans might have issues with the film due to its emphasis on music, the movie has too many great moments to really say that it isn’t worth the watch. Thanks to an increased budget that anime movies tend to get, One Piece has never looked better animated. Even after watching the film, fans will want to go back to the theater and watch it again just so they can relive all these great moments.
