Anime / One Piece Film: Red

"Listen Uta, there's no peace or equality in this world."

Will her voice bring forth eternal happiness, or endless imprisonment?

— Teaser

One Piece Film: Red is the 15th film for the One Piece series, and 4th in the Film label. Series author Eiichiro Oda returns as writer and producer for film after having stepped back during Stampede, only serving as a producer on that one and at most just writing up the premise. It is directed by Goro Taniguchi, who directed One Piece: Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack, and scripted by Tsutomu Kuroiwa, who wrote One Piece Film: Gold.

The story is related to Shanks, Luffy's mentor who gave him his straw hat when he was little and inspired him to take up piracy. It also introduces his adopted daughter, Uta, who wields a Devil Fruit connected to her singing and also just happens to be a former childhood friend of Luffy's. She seeks to use her power and her status as an idol to reshape the world, but her methods don't agree with Luffy which brings her and the Straw Hats into conflict.

Most of the lead cast from One Piece return, including Mayumi Tanaka as Monkey D. Luffy, Kazuya Nakai as Roronoa Zoro, Akemi Okamura as Nami, Kappei Yamaguchi as Usopp, Hiroaki Hirata as Sanji, Ikue Otani as Tony Tony Chopper, Yuriko Yamaguchi as Nico Robin, Kazuki Yao as Franky, Chō as Brook, Katsuhisa Houki as Jimbei and Shūichi Ikeda as Shanks. New additions to the cast include Kaori Nazuka as Uta, Kenjiro Tsuda as Gordon, Yuki Kaji as Yorueka and Chise Niitsu as Romy.

One Piece Film: Red was released on August 6, 2022.

Trailers: Teaser #1 | Teaser #2 | Official Trailer

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One Piece Film: Red provides examples of:

• All There in the Manual: Audiences attending the film's premiere at Japan received "Volume 4 Billion," a book containing extra character and world information for the series. This includes sketches showing Roger first meeting an infant Shanks inside a chest after the incident at God Valley and the author Oda mentioning that Shanks has his own secret plans for the "New Era."
• Anthropomorphic Transformation: When Luffy, Law, and Bartolomeo are at a port, Luffy can't find Thousand Sunny for some reason. Then it turns out that Sunny literally becomes an actual bipedal animal with Pokémon Speak, and she's adorable. This is all in the dream world, however.
• Anti-Villain: Uta truly only wants to help her world-wide audience be happy forever and end their suffering, and doesn't want to hurt anyone, even becoming very upset when anyone is injured in either the real world or the dream world and immediately attempting to heal them. It's just that her method of "saving" everyone involves trapping them in a Lotus-Eater Machine dream world forever so they never have to have any kind of negative experience ever again.
• Ascended Extra:
  • While never a strictly minor character, Charlotte Oven gets a lot more prominence here than in the canon story, as Whole Cake put much more focus on others Charlotte siblings instead of on him.
  • Similarly Blueno, a low-key member of Cipher Pol who's typically overshadowed by his fellow assassins Rob Lucci and Kaku, is the most prominent agent in the story with his fellow agents Kalifa and Rob Lucci only appearing in brief scenes.
• Asshole Victim: Most of the people caught up in Uta's plan are just civilians living their everyday lives, and aren't the sort of people you'd want to get their soul trapped in another reality while their body dies. Saint Charlos, being himself and wanting to make Uta his personal slave, does not bring up this reaction.
• Awesomeness Is a Force: Shanks has always been fond of this trope, but the movie has him demonstrate his masterful Conqueror's Haki when he uses it to prevent the Marines from pulling off a Sudden Downer Ending, affecting even Vice-Admirals and making Kizaru a tad nervous.
• Badass in Distress: Uta captures the entire Straw Hat crew, save for Luffy himself (who only avoids this thanks to Bartolomeo and Law). This only lasts until about the halfway point of the movie, though, before they escape with Koby's and Blueno's help.
• Badass Normal: The film as well as the 4 Billion book confirm that nobody in the Red Hair Pirates crew has Devil Fruit powers. Instead, Shanks and his close comrades being exceedingly skilled in the three forms of Haki allows them to go toe to toe against any opponent with superpowers.
• Big Bad: Uta is the main antagonist of the film, though of the sympathetic variety.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Bartolomeo and then Law saving Luffy from being captured by Uta along with the rest of his crew.
  • Shanks and his crew arriving in time for him to grab Uta's knife hand to stop her from committing suicide (which would have trapped everyone in the dream world).
  • Gordon Taking the Bullet for Luffy when Uta tries to impale him.
• Big "WHAT?!": Luffy meets up with Uta while she's giving a concert. When Usopp and Chopper ask how he knows her, he reveals it's because she's Shanks' daughter, prompting this reaction from the entire crowd watching.
• Bilingual Bonus: Some subtitled lyrics shown in a song during Tot Musica's reawakening are left untranslated in a runic/Elder Futhark language.
• Bittersweet Ending: Probably one of the most bitter in the series. Uta's plans to trap people in her Uta World forever are completely thwarted, and her Tot Musica is stopped—but she rejects the antidote to the self-inflicted poisoning her entire plan hinged upon, leaving Luffy, Shanks, and both of their crews completely unable to prevent her death in the process. Luffy loses his childhood friend, Shanks his own adopted daughter, and ultimately the tragedy could've been avoided had Shanks and his crew better handled or hid The Reveal that Uta was the one that destroyed Elegia. It's telling when even Luffy isn't celebrating afterwards.
• Black Speech: When Uta begins to summon Tot Musica, the subtitles for her singing switch to untranslated Nordic runes.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • This film marks Jimbei's debut with the crew in official new material ever since he joined during the Wano arc, making this the first new piece of media to have a new Straw Hat crewmember ever since Brook was the last to join back in 2008.
  • Uta being a young woman is a deliberate contrast to the major characters of the previous four major films (Strong World, Z, Gold, and Stampede), who were older men.
  • The Final Boss of the film is not Luffy against the Big Bad, but an effort from numerous characters to stop the rampaging Tot Musica.
• Bullying the Dragon: Saint Charlos attempts to capture Uta for his own amusement, but underestimates her power and is quickly humiliated, defeated and captured as a result, especially when he shoots his own men for hesitating.
• The Cameo: Big Mom of the Four Emperors briefly appear at the beginning of the movie, wishing to obtain Uta's powers for herself. Some of her sons and daughters such as Perospero or Flampé also appear, although the former is the only one to speak amongst them.
• The Cavalry: Several characters turn up at the film's climax to help out. Them being Shanks, his crew and Charlotte Katakuri.
• Central Theme: According to Volume 4 Billion, the main theme of the movie is the idea of "reality" vs. "virtual reality". Uta tries to force the world into living in her "virtual reality" because there, they won't have to face any negative experience ever again. When her fans find this out, they're horrified, as they feel she's going too far. While yes, "reality" can be harsh and cruel, it's overcoming and learning from these hardships that allow people to grow and make life meaningful. Nobody wants to live in a world that's an endless concert of fun, because it eventually makes every subsequent moment of joy meaningless and tiresome. Part of Uta's character arc is coming to terms with this idea; as a young girl who grew up on an island completely isolated from other people, she has a hard time understanding it because, for all her tragedies, she's never really had the chance to live her own life.
  "What is virtual reality? What is reality? Is it evil to escape to virtual reality?"
• Chekhov's Gun: The Video Transponder Snails serve as Uta's sole communication with the outside world. She soon weaponizes them to put everyone to sleep and into her dream world. Besides that, it was one of those snails that revealed the real truth of why Uta was abandoned, which led to her Death Seeker reveal.
• Childhood Friends: As Luffy reveals within the first few minutes, he and Uta have known each other since childhood, since she was originally considered to be the musician of the Red-Hair Pirates and was with the rest of the crew on their trips to Windmill Village until they were forced to leave her behind on Elegia. It becomes clear that time has not dulled the strength of their bond at all, as it's only when it looks like Luffy is about to leave her again that Uta begins to show her true colors.
• Concert Episode: The movie takes place on the island of Elegia, where Uta's concert is held. The main cast are already attending, and Luffy just happens to know her since they were kids.
• Conspicuous CG: Uta occasionally switches between being hand-drawn and computer-generated during her performaces. The demon king Tot Musica is entirely CG.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Gordon laments how he really should have destroyed Tot Musica's script, being unable to bring himself to destroy any sheet of music on sheer principle.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Shanks left Uta because being with him would have painted a target on her back, Uta accidentally destroyed a kingdom with her devil fruit and Shanks had to lie to the world and be The Scapegoat. While being with Shanks was already dangerous there is also the fact that her devil fruit was wanted by a lot of people (even Emperors). Shanks was not strong enough to keep her safe back then so he had to hide her.
• A Day in the Limelight: A big selling point of the film is the focus on Shanks, who despite appearing in the very first chapter is ordinarily a walking example of Small Role, Big Impact. The tie-in episodes of the anime, flashbacks in the film itself, and the supplementary booklet all greatly focus on him and serve to fill in information about his character and crew. Come the climax, he and Red-Hair Pirates show up and are instrumental in resolving the conflict.
• Death Seeker: It's revealed toward the end of the movie that Uta's entire plan is basically one elaborate suicide attempt to atone for accidentally destroying Elegia. Either the poison of the Wake Shrooms kill her, or somebody else kills her to stop her plan. Either way, she gets what she wants. Despite the efforts of the people who love her most (Luffy, Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates, Gordon), Uta still chooses to die.
• Demoted to Extra: The Straw Hats sans Luffy spend most of the first half of the movie strung up by Uta, and after being freed end up in a short subplot separate from the main action where they investigate the nature of Uta's powers. It's only in the climax when they join the main plot, and even then act purely as support while Luffy and Shanks try to save Uta.
• Did Not Think This Through: Well-intentioned her goals sound, Uta fails to understand that her fans gathering in Elegia for her concert have their own personal lives and jobs to return to when it ends. They want to see her fulfill her promise to bring world peace, but some have moved on from their strife or not as affected, and no one really wants to stay cooped up on the island. Because they are all in the dream world, however, Uta tries desperately to hold them all.
• Disney Acid Sequence: After staying relatively grounded in presentation for the first couple of songs and only getting particularly strange with those that were in the Dream Land of Uta's, "Fleeting Lullaby" comes in with animated choreography meant to be in the waking world that gets nothing short of trippy, and is the only song in the film to get so surreal with its visuals.
• Doorstep Baby: Shanks found an orphaned infant Uta inside a chest and happily adopted her upon realizing he was found by Roger in the same circumstances. Interestingly, Volume 4 Billion specifies that Roger found baby Shanks inside a chest brought from God Valley after the war against the Rocks Pirates.
• Dream Land: Uta World, the Lotus-Eater Machine that Uta's devil fruit ability drags everyone's souls into. Within Uta World, Uta is a Reality Warper of near-godlike prowess whose strength trumps the likes of even Luffy, at this point one of the most powerful pirates in the world. Uta World is almost completely separate from the real world, with only bridge between them being Uta; if she dies, then Uta World is permanently cut off from the real world and the souls she's already captured will be trapped there forever.
• Driven to Suicide: If Uta dies while everyone is under her spell, they can be trapped in her dream world forever. She is well aware of this and invokes this by constantly consuming Wake Shrooms while pulling more and more people into said world, until she fully succumbs to the Shrooms' poison. Luckily, her friends help her see the error of her ways, leading to her waking everyone up so she can die alone.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Not of a person, but a form. During the final showdown, Luffy very briefly awakens his Devil Fruit and activates Gear Fifth to deal the final blow alongside Shanks. This only lasts a few seconds and doesn't reveal any of the context surrounding the form or what its unique skills are. The anime, as of the time of the movie's release, was adapting chapter 1010, several dozens chapters before the form's emergence at the peak of the Onigashima raid.
  • The same extends to some of the Straw Hats' techniques, like Sanji's Ifrit Jambe and Zoro's use of Conqueror's Haki.
• Eldritch Abomination: The movie's final battle is against Tot Musica, a being that can only be described as the demonic embodiment of music, which was created by a previous user of the Sing-Sing Fruit and sealed within the island of Elegia in ancient times. Notably, this is the second time it was unleashed by Uta, the first time being when she nearly destroyed Elegia twelve years ago.
• Enemy Mine:
  • The Big Mom Pirates are still quite antagonistic to the Straw Hats, even fighting them in the beginning of the movie, but Oven and Brûlée both end up having to briefly bury the hatchet when they realize the situation they're in.
  • Koby and CP9's Bluno work together despite their own agenda, rallying the pirates in the process in order to stop Uta.
  • Similarly, the Marines outside of the dream world partner up with Shanks and his crew - as well as Charlotte Katakuri - to fight Tot Musica.
• Even Evil Has Standards: As bad as the Elder Stars may be, they're not about to accept that Uta's trying to basically kill everyone, and they act accordingly. They don't even raise any objections to the union of pirates and Marines that end up saving the day.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • The Marines aren't willing to kill innocent people unless they absolutely have to. When Uta begins controlling the sleeping masses, they begin to do just that before Shanks' crew intervenes.
  • Uta is horrified by how Saint Charloss immediately kills his own guards for failing to kill her. She makes a point to beat the crap out of him before trapping him with everyone else.
  • Before they part ways when everyone wakes up, Uta asks Luffy why he never once attacked her directly. Luffy responds that it's because he can't bring himself to hit a friend, especially when his punches are equal to that of a pistol.
• Exact Words: Uta promises to keep the show running forever for her fans. The Straw Hats later discover exactly how she can do that: if she dies, then she can trap them all in her dream world forever.
• Fighting Your Friend: Because the methods of bringing peace are very different, Luffy is forced to fight Uta throughout the movie, even though he outright tells her he doesn't want to fight her and reveals in the end that he never considered hitting her. Once she loses control of Tot Musica, he and the others take the monster down to save her.
• Foreshadowing:
  • The tie-in Vtuber-style "Uta Diary" episodes on Youtube chronicle Uta's daily life, and gradually begin building to the time of her concert in the film. But bit by bit, she begins dropping hints as to what her endgame goal is when the day finally arrives.
  • Elegia starts out foggy before turning sunny after Uta's concert begins. The reason it's sunny is because the audience has been pulled into Uta's dream world as the real Elegia is still foggy when the Marines arrive.
  • After her first song to the crowd, Uta sheds a single tear. While it's initially written off as her just being overwhelmed with joy it soon becomes apparent she's crying over the weight of her actions and what she intends to do everyone.
    • Said first song, "New Genesis", includes a line that can translated to "Just let me live in a dreamland". This is the earliest hint of Uta's true motivations and plan of trapping her audience in her dream world with her Devil Fruit powers forever, while also being a hint of Uta being a Death Seeker due to being unable to live with the guilt of destroying Elegia in one night.
  • Gordon is seen at one point, overlooking the concert with seeming apprehension and anger. He knows what Uta is planning do to the audience.
  • When Uta is giving everyone food, Sanji finds a Wake Shroom among the ingredients, staring at it with disgust before throwing it into a bin. Sanji as a Supreme Chef never wastes food so anything he deems inedible can't be good. Uta is devouring multiple of them in the waking world to keep herself awake and everyone else affected by her power asleep, with the Shrooms' poison killing her at the end.
  • In a flashback when Uta was singing to Luffy, Makino, and the Red-Haired Pirates back in Foosha Village, there is a flash of images before Luffy is shown waking up and sees everyone else was asleep. This is the first show of how Uta's powers actually work: her singing put listeners to sleep and keeps them into a Dream World until she falls asleep.
• Given Name Reveal: The Five Elder Stars initially assume Uta is Shanks' biological daughter and mention he belongs to the Figarland (フィガーランド) family. It is not made clear if those are also a part of the Celestial Dragons.
• Godzilla Threshold: The fact that the Five Elder Stars didn't object at all when their forces allied themselves with pirates in order to defeat Tot Musica, shows how dangerous the latter is.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Once the rest of his crew is captured by Uta and Luffy is saved, he hangs out with his rescuers—Law (filling this role once again), Bepo, and Bartolomeo—to try to figure out together how to stop her. They're later joined by Koby and Blueno as well.
• Hope Spot: When Gordon reveals the truth about Elegia's destruction, there's a brief pause in the fighting, with an overjoyed Luffy exclaiming that now that the mix-up has been cleared up, Uta can stop Tot Musica's rampage, release them from the Dream World and get treated for her poisoning. Then Uta attacks him again, and tearfully reveals that she found out the truth a year ago, and that is what prompted her to make her plan in the first place. It's in that moment Luffy realizes that Uta's plan isn't about Utopia Justifies the Means, but really an elaborate attempt to fulfill her death wish.
• Ironic Echo: The movie begins with the usual narration of the Great Pirate Era for those sailing for "Wealth, Fame, and Power". However, the first couple of minutes show a perspective of people who have suffered from plundering pirates and the ignorant Navy, and begging for someone to help them. This is where Uta steps in.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: The Marines still want to fight after the climax, but getting hit with a burst of Shanks' Conquerer's Haki — which is so intense even some Vice-Admirals drop — convinces Kizaru and Fujitora that retreat is the more pragmatic choice.
• The Leader: With elements of The Strategist. At first, in the dream reality, the leader of the coalition trying to get out is not Luffy, but Koby, as he's the one gathering the different captives together to help fight Uta. He's also the person commanding the different groups of the coalition in their combination attacks on Tot Musica - eventually, he's forced to hand command to Usopp due to his and Yasopp's mental link allowing both groups to coordinate attacks, but he definitely shows that being a Marine Captain has given him a fine military mind.
• Light Is Not Good: Uta is a beautiful young woman dressed in white, uses beams of light in her concert, gives herself angel wings and gold embroidery and explicitly likened to an angel with her angelic signing voice. She's also planning to put the entire world to sleep to free them from pain, trapping the souls of billions of people as their real bodies wither away. Perhaps to reflect her villainous actions, her wings turn black while fighting Luffy and co in the Final Battle. She's still a very sympathetic example, though, as she does genuinely just want everyone to happy.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Gordon raised Uta alone on Elegia, isolated from the rest of the world. That means Uta is very ignorant of many current events, including the fact that Luffy has become a very well-known and extremely powerful pirate in his own right.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Uta's Music Magic is revealed to create this. Everyone who hears her singing falls asleep and enters a dream world that she has full control over, and will only reawaken when she herself sleeps. Uta eats Wake Shrooms to actively ensure that she doesn't fall asleep; this puts her audience (ultimately 70% of the entire world) at risk, since these mushrooms are poisonous and will eventually kill her when she runs out of stamina, which will in turn trap everyone who's in the dream world there forever.
• Meaningful Name: The Kingdom of Elegia takes its name from Elegy, a composition meant as a lament for the dead, which alludes to its fate, as well as Uta’s.
• Mood Whiplash: The film starts out upbeat and colorful, with a live broadcast of Uta's first concert that the Straw Hats are attending. The tone continues after Uta's first song is over and through her initial reunion with Luffy. Then Luffy decides to leave, and that's when everything goes to shit.
• Music Magic: Uta seems to be virtually unstoppable as long as she sings, warping reality and summoning minions to deal with any troublemakers. However, there is more to it. It is revealed that her Sing-Sing Fruit power pulls any soul that hears her in a dream-like state and into her personal world where she can shape and control anything as she desires. If she remains awake at the same time, she can use the sleeping bodies as puppets. While it is discussed that her falling asleep can break the spell, it is possible that the effect is permanent if active for too long. It is shown in the end that she can sing everyone awake as well.
• Mythology Gag: A one-off character that is put to sleep by Uta's Sing-Sing Fruit briefly appears just for this scene, his design being nigh-identical to Ganzack as a reference to the director of Red having also directed that very OVA twenty four years prior to the movie's release.
• Non-Serial Movie: Much like the previous three One Piece movies this one doesn't quite slot into place with the series timeline. With Luffy being recognized as the Fifth Emperor, and Big Mom being shown to be alive and well at Whole Cake Island, this movie should theoretically take place after the Whole Cake Island arc. However, the fact that the entire crew is together for this movie, and Law and Bepo are at Elegia as well, doesn't fit with this, since half of the Straw Hats and Law's whole crew are at Wano while the other half go to Whole Cake Island, and they all only meet back up again once the WCI group reaches Wano. Jimbei's presence with the crew further muddles the waters since he only fully joined up during the raid of Onigashima in the third act of Wano. The movie likewise can't take place after Wano since, by the climax of that arc, Luffy had been declared one of the new Four Emperors after Big Mom and Kaido were defeated and seemingly killed after being sent into the volcanic caldera at Wano. Similarly, Koby plays a major role in the film, and by the end of the Wano arc, he's been kidnapped by Blackbeard following their confrontation at Amazon Lily. Lastly, Law's awakening, RE-ROOM, would have been an instant counter to Uta's singing based power, via the sound nullification move, Silence.
• Oh, Crap!: Uta has this reaction when Luffy reveals just who her adoptive father is.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • A subtle one, but notably, Sanji's lovesick antics aren't present after the beginning of the film likely because he quickly realized what was really happening with Uta after finding a Wake Shroom among the ingredients.
  • Gear 5 Luffy has a notable angry scowl in his Combination Attack with Shanks. Gear 5 usually runs the risk of Luffy becoming too goofy to focus but in this case, he's serious and pissed.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Like Whitebeard with Ace, Shanks sadly watches as the life of his adopted daughter pass away before his very eyes. And while in his own arm no less.
• Outside-Genre Foe: Tot Musica is something more out of a Cosmic Horror Story than a typical One Piece villain, being a straight up Eldritch Abomination that's awakening can depopulate entire islands. It's only vaguely humanoid at best.
• Papa Wolf: She's not his blood daughter, but Shanks shows how much he cherishes Uta when the Marines (including Admirals Kizaru and Fujitora) try to take her away and he tells them in no uncertain terms to back off and punctuates this threat by unleashing a wave of Conqueror's Haki that knocks 90% of the fleet, which includes a few Vice-Admirals, and makes even Kizaru and Fujitora quaver.
• People Puppets: One reason why Uta is such a threat outside of her dream reality is that, even if someone can counter her voice, anyone she's knocked out can have their bodies be used as her personal guards. Fujitora and Momonga is confronted by the unconscious bodies of Koby and Helmeppo, and Law's body is also seen in action.
• Pokémon Speak: The Chibi-ified Bepo and Thousand Sunny seem to only be capable of saying their own names. Strangely, this is not the case for Blueno, whose voice changes pitch but can still speak normally.
• Psychic Link: In the climax, this forms between Usopp (in the dream world) and his father Yasopp (in the real world), who instruct their respective forces to hit Tot Musica in the same place in both worlds at the same time to be able to damage it.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The group that forms an Enemy Mine trying to escape from Uta's reality consists of the Straw Hats (already a wildly varied bunch), some of Luffy's allies (Law, Bepo, Bartolomeo), some of the Charlotte family (Oven and Brûlée), and special operatives from the World Government and Marines (Koby, Helmeppo, and Blueno). Outside, the group begins with select Marines (Momonga, Issho, and Borsalino) and is gradually joined by the Red-Haired Pirates and Charlotte Katakuri.
• Remember the New Guy?: One of the leading characters in Red is Uta, a girl who is Shanks's adopted daughter and who Luffy met during his childhood. Luffy immediately recognizes Uta as his friend, to the confusion of everyone else on the scene. In the manga proper, the single allusion to Uta and her relationship with Shanks was a silhouette of her in chapter 1055 which was released a short time before the film.
• Sanity Slippage: Though not falling into complete insanity, the Wake Shroom has a nasty effect that messes with Uta's emotions when it keeps her awake. The more she loses control of the dream world and its inhabitants/prisoners, the more desperate and unhinged she becomes, resorting to keeping her fans in, until she finally decides to unleash Tot Musica. It is later revealed that she knew of her involvement in Elegia's destruction sometime after Shanks seemingly abandoned her, leading to her falling into despair and for Tot Musica to take control again.
• Say My Name: The second trailer has Luffy shouting out Uta's name as he goes on the attack.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Tot Musica, an ancient demonic entity that was sealed within the island of Elegia and can only be released by a user of the Sing-Sing fruit. When Uta visited Elegia as a child with the Red-Haired Pirates, she accidentally woke up Tot Musica when the residents had her sing throughout the island. The entity then sent the sheet music with the song that would release it to a young Uta, who found it and sang it, not knowing what it was. Tot Musica was subsequently unleashed onto the island, proceeded to destroy Elegia and would have continued its rampage had Uta not gotten exhausted and fell asleep, leaving her unable to properly sustain it. It's been lingering within her and the island ever since, just waiting for her to release it again, which she ultimately does during the climax of the movie.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: During the climax of the film, Gordon tries to reveal the truth about Elegia's destruction to Uta in order to convince her to stop her rampage. Uta subsequently reveals she found out the truth over a year ago due to one of the video transponder snails she found having a recording of the attack. It is finding out the truth that prompted her to concoct her plan, not the lie that Shanks was responsible for it.
• Ship Tease:
  • There are several tender moments between Luffy and Uta throughout the film, helped by the strong bond they forged in childhood:
    • When Luffy recognizes Uta at the beginning of the concert, the two share a heartfelt hug that's softer and more understated than Luffy's usual "octopus" hugs.
    • Uta is absolutely delighted to see him again and so desperate to keep him with her that she only begins to show how broken and twisted she is when it looks like he's about to leave.
    • Later, after it becomes clear he doesn't approve of her plan and has no intentions of letting it go through, Uta decides to kill herself early rather than wait for the poison to take effect as was her original plan. Just she's about to stab herself in the chest with her knife, the last thing she does is caress the sleeping Luffy's face in the real world.
    • Luffy spends most of the movie trying to reach out to her with his words and avoids fighting her until he literally has no choice, and even then he can't even bring himself to actually hit her, as he later admits to Uta herself.
    • In the end, Uta elects to spend her last moments alive in the Dream World to say goodbye to Luffy, and making him promise that he'll become a great man worthy of Shanks's straw hat.
  • Funnily enough, this happens between Sanji and Brulee of all characters. He saves her from an attack at the film's climax, causing Brulee to blush when Sanji tells her he'd always help a lady in danger.
• Shout-Out: Supplementary material showcased the Straw Hats' starting wardrobe to be themed around music with Usopp costumed as Gene Simmons from KISS Jimbei dressed as Elvis Presley and Franky wearing a G1 Blaster outfit.
• The Stinger: Luffy tries to talk to the Thousand Sunny, despite knowing its anthropomorphism only existed in the dream world. Remembering Uta one last time, he continues his journey to become King of the Pirates.
• Supporting Protagonist: While Luffy is one of the main heroes and his relationship with Uta is at the core of the plot along with Uta's relationship with Shanks, the actual main character is Uta herself. Her backstory, her motivations, and her overall Character Development take up the bulk of the story and drives the plot into the climax and its inevitable resolution.
• Taking the Heat: Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates willingly made it appear as though they were the ones to raze Elegia, both to protect Uta from people who'd want to take advantage of her powers, but also to stop Uta from being crushed by the guilt of accidentally killing so many people.
• Team Spirit: To truly defeat Tot Musica, parties from both the waking and dream worlds need to attack it at the exact same time, but it takes the coordination of Usopp and Yasopp to accomplish this, allowing Luffy and Shanks to deliver the final blow.
• Title Theme Drop: Bits of "We Are!" can be heard during the instrumental arrangement of "New Genesis" that plays during the film's climax, which is notably the only track in the movie scored by the franchise's main composer Kohei Tanaka.
• Too Powerful to Live: Uta's Sing-Sing fruit allows her to force anyone who hears her singing into a Lotus-Eater Machine where she controls all of reality, and allows her to use their sleeping bodies in the real world as People Puppets. That's on top of said ability being the catalyst to unleash an Eldritch Abomination onto the world. And the only way to stop her is that she has to willingly release you or fall asleep as killing her would leave everyone trapped in the dream world forever. Naturally she dies at the end by essentially committing suicide through poisoning herself with mushrooms that force her to stay awake. Even if she did live, she would have spent her entire life on the run from the government due to how powerful her ability is and her use of it to nearly entrap 70% of the world population.
• Tragic Villain: Uta puts almost everyone in a Lotus-Eater Machine and goes nuts when people defy her well-intentioned wishes. She's still extremely pitiable as she knows she's the one responsible of the massacre on Elegia, on top of having the Red Haired Pirates leave her and being unable to see Luffy again. Ultimately, for all her actions, she's just a very broken and lonely person who's been stuck on an island pretty much her entire life and desperate for companionship. It's no wonder she underwent Sanity Slippage.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • The citizens of Elegia trying to convince Uta to stay had her sing throughout the island. Tot Musica ended up stirring due to her singing and sent an oblivious Uta the sheet music needed to unseal it, resulting in Elegia being wiped out in one night and sparking the chain of events that followed.
  • Shanks had a very good cause for leaving Uta with Gordon and pretending he and his crew had razed Elegia for its wealth, as aside from the practical concerns, it would destroy her to know that she'd massacred an entire kingdom, especially being at such a young age. Unfortunately, this trauma directly results in Uta's outlook on the world and especially pirates becoming gradually obsessively warped and vindictive, leading to her actions taken in the film after she ends up finding out the truth anyway.
• Villain Protagonist: Uta is essentially the de-facto main character of the film, having the film's central narrative arc revolving around her, being the character with the most dialogue and screentime, and being who the ending revolves around, with Luffy ultimately acting as Deuteragonist. She's also a mentally unstable and deeply broken Tragic Villain.
• Villain Song: As the film's main antagonist and an Evil Diva, all of Uta's songs count. 'Tot Musica' stands out, as it's her having completely snapped and summoning a nigh unstoppable demon.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Uta's ultimate goal is to bring about a new era of peace for everyone in the world through her singing; free from violence, strife, and, above all, piracy. Unfortunately, this involves trying to keep intruding pirates and marines hostage, dragging friend and foe alike to a dream world with no hope of waking up, attempting to crush her old friend's dream, and unleashing a demon upon both the dream and waking worlds.
• Wham Shot:
  • Since the start of the movie, it seems like Elegia is a bright and sunny gathering for Uta's concert. When the Marines arrive, they find all of the attendees asleep on the ground, revealing that everyone affected is trapped in the dream world.
  • Bluno, Bepo, and even the Straw Hat's Thousand Sunny ship are warped into Super-Deformed versions of themselves thanks to Uta's dream world.
• The Worf Barrage: When Uta unleashes the cursed partition's full power and releases Tot Musica, it effortlessly shatters Bartolomeo's barrier, when said barrier has been able to withstand incredibly powerful techniques such as the King Punch or Doflamingo's Birdcage, amongst others. Justified per Word of God, as this happens in a Dream World of her own creation.

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