How does One Piece Film: Red end? One Piece is one of the best anime series of all time. But, let’s be honest, after multiple arcs and over a thousand episodes, it isn’t the easiest story to follow. And the franchise’s latest anime movie, One Piece Film: Red, can be a tricky entry to understand, too, especially for newbie pirates. Warning spoilers ahead!
One Piece Film: Red follows a new adventure for the Straw Hats. Uta, the estranged adoptive daughter of Shanks, is a global pop star who invites all her fans to the ruined kingdom of Elegia for a concert. However, it turns out that the singer and childhood friend of Captain D Luffy has some sinister intentions. With the power of the Uta Uta no Mi Devil Fruit, Uta traps the consciousness of her fans and the Straw Hats into a virtual world – with the plans to force a new reality, one without pirates or death.
Obviously, keeping folks prisoner isn’t exactly on, and the Navy are gunning to stop Uta while Luffy tries to escape her clutches. From backstories, bright fights and even a Demon King involved, One Piece Film: Red moves at lightning speed and can be a lot to take in. With this in mind, The Digital Fix is here to break down all the details about the adventure movie on your behalf – here is the One Piece Film: Red ending explained.
How does One Piece Film: Red end?
Ok, so here things get a bit dicey, as we will be jumping from reality to the virtual world in this explanation – so get ready to pay attention, friends. As mentioned above, Uta has trapped everyone in a fake world with her power and plans to kill herself by exhausting her body.
She is adamant about creating a New Genesis, and if she dies, it will be impossible for her fans to escape. To keep herself awake, she begins eating mushrooms, and to make matters worse, when the Navy tries to stop her, her sleeping fans turn into zombies – effectively becoming civilian meat shields, and making her untouchable in real life; quite the pickle, isn’t it?
Well, in this fantasy world – where the Straw hats are trapped – there is a slither of hope, as Robin and the rest of the gang of One Piece characters have discovered that the only way to escape from Uta is by tricking her into performing the ancient song ‘Tot Musica’, which will summon the Demon King. Once the Demon King is summoned, both realities, the fantasy world and real life, will collide, giving our heroes a chance to escape.
Uta does indeed summon Tot Musica during a fight with Luffy in the fantasy world and a fight that is happening simultaneously with her father, Shanks, who she believed abandoned her as a child in the real world. That’s right; Shanks came to save the day and his daughter (proving yet again he is a king). And the Demon King is summoned, causing Uta’s song to spread despite the Navy’s efforts.
During the family reunion, Uta is told the truth about the events that happened when she was a child, which caused her separation from Shanks. It turns out that Shanks didn’t betray her. Instead, she accidentally destroyed Elegia by summoning Tot Musica as a child. In order to protect her from guilt, Shanks took the blame for the kingdom’s destruction and left Uta in the hands of Elegia’s king Gordon so that she could become a famous singer and make the world happy with her music.
However, hang on, folks, there is another twist. Despite hearing the truth, Uta confesses that she knew the past all along thanks to Transponder snails and that it is too late to stop what she has begun. Uta is absorbed by Tot Musica, but both Shanks and Luffy are determined to save her from herself. The Red-Haired Pirates in the real world begin to communicate with the Straw Hats thanks to a psychic connection that Ussop and his father have and start to coordinate their attacks against the Demon King.
The two crews time their attacks, hitting the Demon King at the same time in both realities, causing the enemies’ defences to collapse. Finally, after some punches and hectic kicks, Shanks and Luffy deliver the killing blow, freeing Uta from Tot Musica’s prison, who is defeated. Shanks and Uta have a touching heart-to-heart, and Uta is able to move on from her ‘New Genesis’ plans and feel the love of her family once again.
In the real world, Shanks offers Uta an antidote for the mushrooms she has been eating that will let her sleep – saving her life. However, she throws the bottle away, saying that the only way to free everyone from her virtual world is by singing another song. Uta begins to sing, and her fans and the Straw Hat Pirates begin to wake up.
But hang on, it isn’t all happy folks! Uta collapses in Shanks’ arms after saving everyone. The Navy, who had turned up to capture Uta, decide to back off from apprehending the singer, unwilling to start a war with Shanks, who is adamant about taking Uta with him. Luffy wakes up to see Shank’s ship sailing away in the distance. The crew’s backs look sombre, hinting that Uta has passed away.
So One Piece Film: Red ends with some ambiguous heartbreak, and Luffy, now back to normal, gathers his crew to depart on a new adventure. Although Uta’s fate is a bit of a bummer, the animated movie leaves us on a happy note as Luffy returns to the optimistic pirate from the series that we all know and love before the credits start to roll.
Does Uta die in One Piece Film: Red?
It is unclear if Uta dies, but it is heavily implied. Although we never see her body, we do see the Red-Haired pirates gathered around on their ship, almost like a funeral procession. Uta never took the antidote offered by Shanks, so it is highly likely that she passed away.
However, the credits, which show snapshots of the anime characters enjoying Uta’s music in the future after the events of the film, could suggest that she is still around and survived somehow. Or that at least her voice was immortalised in some way too. Since One Piece Film: Red isn’t canon, there is no guarantee that we will get a straightforward answer to this either.
It is unlikely that Uta will pop up in the anime series, but she was Shanks’ adoptive daughter and Luffy’s childhood friend, so maybe we will hear about her fate at least (fingers crossed).
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