One Piece Film: Red is a 2022 theatrical anime film with an original storyline based on the manga One Piece written by Eiichiro Oda. The film is directed by Gorō Taniguchi and produced by studio Toei Animation. The staff credits also include writer Tsutomu Kuroiwa, character designer Masayuki Satō and music composed by Yasutaka Nakata. The film was first released in Japanese theaters on August 2022.
Background:
“Uta – the most beloved singer in the world. Renowned for concealing her own identity when performing, her voice has come to be described as “otherworldly.” Now, for the first time ever, Uta will reveal herself to the world at a live concert. As the venue fills with all kinds of Uta fans – excited pirates, the Navy watching closely, and the Straw Hats led by Luffy who simply came to enjoy her sonorous performance – the voice that the whole world has been waiting for is about to resound.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, August 2023.
It’s been a couple of decades and One Piece is still on-going, though it does look like the manga is going into its final batch of arcs which is interesting. The anime has also gotten some positive buzz ever since they began adapting the Wano story arc which is neat to see, though I had never bothered with its adaptation because for most of the past decade the series wasn’t available for legal streaming in the UK until only a few years ago, and there’s now over 1000 episodes to catch up on. So when it comes to One Piece, I mainly focused on the manga since I have the first 90 volumes thanks to Viz Media’s box sets (though I’ve only read up to before Dressrosa, and technically I have the volumes up to before Wano which is funny).
But what I have watched from the anime content are a few of the films that Toei Animation had released over the years. Primarily Movies 8, 10 & 14 which were Episodes of Alabasta (a compilation film covering the Alabasta story arc), Strong World, and Stampede. The latter of which I had watched at the cinema just before the global situation began in 2020. I did recently pickup Movie 13 which was Film: Gold but I have yet to watch it.
The One Piece films are interesting because, despite being non-canon content, they are still pretty entertaining, though I do recommend keeping up-to-speed on the characters and story arcs up to the point where the films were released to avoid spoilers on character abilities and specific appearances. Stampede for instance was a celebration film for the franchise which featured a lot of characters, which included some that I didn’t recognise or see its abilities beforehand.
With that context in mind, here we are with One Piece Film: Red, the 15th film instalment for the franchise and a another interesting addition to the franchise because we have the Code Geass director Gorō Taniguchi working on the film this time around. The story also puts focus on Shanks and her daughter Uta, the latter of which is introduced with this film, and she’s also an idol with some songs throughout which I heard did really well in Japan. The film overall had gotten a lot of buzz with the box office which is also cool, but also not surprising as previous One Piece films had done decently well.
Now One Piece is normally licensed by Crunchyroll for the United Kingdom and Ireland, but in this unique circumstance Toei Animation has decided to let Anime Limited handle the theatrical and home video distribution for One Piece Film: Red. This is also one of the many titles that Anime Limited were able to license from Toei Animation in recent years, joining Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna, The First Slam Dunk and Looking for Magical Doremi.
What’s also interesting is that while Crunchyroll are releasing the film in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on Blu-ray, Anime Limited was allowed to release One Piece Film: Red on 4K Ultra HD for the United Kingdom and Ireland, which marks the first time One Piece will be available in 4K for English speaking territories. In addition, Anime Limited is also breaking another record by providing the fans with three episodes from the show on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, as Crunchyroll’s UK branch are only releasing the newer episodes on DVD compared to the combo packs that United States are receiving.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Personally I would classify this as a deluxe edition package but Anime Limited kept the collector’s edition name for this rather large box set. Never-the-less, this is the first time that any One Piece anime media (whether be film, special or television) had received this type of treatment outside of Steelbooks for English audiences to my recollection.
The package is presented as a rigid box housing two Amaray cases, one for 4K Ultra HD and another for Blu-ray. Also included with the set is a 40-page booklet, a poster, three art cards, a vinyl sticker and a numbered concert ticket. The booklet features character posters from the film.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray set is limited to 1,500 units for SRP £79.99, and is exclusive to Anime Limited’s webstore. A standard Blu-ray will also be available on the same day as the collector’s release.
I pre-ordered my copy through Anime Limited’s store during their early bird sale at £49.99 but using their membership discount for £44.99.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 40-page booklet
- Poster
- 3 Art Cards
- Vinyl Sticker
- Numbered Concert Ticket
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 7th August 2023
The collector’s edition release for One Piece Film: Red contains the film on a single 4K Ultra HD disc and two Blu-ray discs.
The 4K UHD disc is encoded and authored by the folks over at VDMS, mainly due to their experience dealing with Dolby Vision for High Dynamic Range which is included with this disc. Dolby Atmos is also available for Japanese audio. The audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and English SDH, Japanese with English Audio Description, and the Crunchyroll English dub. As for the playback, the white subtitles are locked during playback, and the disc is all region.
It is worth noting that as of the time of this write-up, Crunchyroll has yet to release One Piece Film: Red on 4K Ultra HD in the United States & Australia, so the disc will be all-region if you feel like importing the UK release.
The two Blu-ray discs are also encoded and authored by the folks over at VDMS. For the main feature Blu-ray disc, the audio options include Japanese with English subtitles and English SDH, Japanese with English Audio Description, and the Crunchyroll English dub.
The additional Blu-ray disc (which is also included with the standard Blu-ray for those wondering) covers both the on-disc bonus features as well as three television episodes from the One Piece anime series:
- Episode 1029: “A Faint Memory! Luffy and Red-Haired’s Daughter Uta!”
- Episode 1030: “An Oath of the New Era! Luffy and Uta!”
- Episode 1030.5: “The Captain’s Log of the Legend! Red-Haired Shanks!”
The bad news is that while Crunchyroll has included their English dub with their Blu-ray release in North America & Australia regions, the UK release is Japanese with English subtitles only. As for the playback for both discs, the white subtitles are locked during playback, and the discs are locked to B for Blu-ray players.
4K Ultra HD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) Japanese with English Audio Description DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 1.85:1 aspect ratio Dolby Vision HDR |
| Region | All Region |
| Subtitles | English, English SDH |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-100 |
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Main Feature Film: English, Japanese Television Anime Episodes: Japanese |
| Audio | Main Feature Film: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese with English Audio Description DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Television Anime Episodes: Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | Main Feature Film: 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio Television Anime Episodes: 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | Main Feature Film: English, English SDH Television Anime Episodes: English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-50, 1 BD-25 |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras on this disc
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- TV Anime Episodes:
- Episode 1029: “A Faint Memory! Luffy and Red-Haired’s Daughter Uta!”
- Episode 1030: “An Oath of the New Era! Luffy and Uta!”
- Episode 1030.5: “The Captain’s Log of the Legend! Red-Haired Shanks!”
- The Making of One Piece Film Red
- Trailer
- Web Preview
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
One Piece Film: Red is available to order across multiple retailers in the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray combo pack is exclusive to Anime Limited’s store, but the standard Blu-ray can be acquired through Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s store, MVM’s Anime-on-Line, and United Publications.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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