Few franchises have become as international household names as One Piece, and few of Eiichiro Oda’s big manga/anime franchises have been as high-profile as last year’s blockbuster One Piece Film: Red. The film’s Blu-ray release is handled by Crunchyroll, which also handles theatrical release. Crunchyroll’s ambitious plans for the film are on full display on the physical Blu-ray release, with new date and feature information suggesting the release will be a valuable addition to any fan of the Straw Hat Pirates.
One Piece Film: Red originally set sail for theaters last winter, though the Blu-ray release was scheduled to sail for the warmer summer months. Fans and first-time viewers of the film can look forward to its full North American release on July 11, 2023, which includes a dubbed and subtitled version of the film. In addition to the main content of this film, the Blu-ray also includes three special animated series episodes related to the film.
The three special episodes are titled “Faint Memory! Luffy and the Red-haired Daughter’s Song!” (ordered as Anime Episode 1029), “New Genesis Promise! Luffy and Uka!” (Episode 1030) and “Captain’s Legendary Log! ‘Red Hair’ Shanks!” (cut between episodes 1030 and 1031). These episodes greatly expand the lore of the characters in the film and may be essential for fans of the film, while also hopefully helping to bring less experienced One Piece viewers up to speed on what’s going on.
One Piece : Red tells the story of monkey D. Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat Pirates traveling to a distant island to meet Uta, a world-renowned singer who is associated with the red-haired Shanks. The movie gave the One Piece franchise a more musical twist, while combining established characters from the One Piece lore with a very self-contained story. Released in 2022, the film is One Piece’s fifteenth solo feature film (not to mention the franchise’s 1,000-plus manga and solo anime episodes). Film Red is by far the highest-grossing of all franchises, one of the most commercially successful animated films of all time, and a Japanese live-action or animated film.
Given the success of their home video and theatrical divisions, Crunchyroll plans to release several other physical releases in July. One Piece Season 13 “Voyage 1” and Obey Me Season 2 will be released on July 4th! On July 18th the second season of The Devil Is a Part-timer will be released on Blu-ray, as well as the second OVA episode of The Sorcerer’s Bride, “The Boy of the West and the Rider of the Mountain” With all these releases in mind, Crunchyroll will delight fans We’ve had a very busy summer.