The One Piece manga just celebrated its 25th birthday on July 19th. The anime, however, debuted two years later, in 1999. If you’ve zealously imbibed both, like I have, you know they start out slightly different. The manga starts in Luffy’s childhood and details his past with Shanks, in full, in the triple-length first chapter. The anime, however, opts to introduce Luffy in the present, and introduces Zoro and Nami as well before going back to Shanks in episode 4. (In my humble view, the anime’s introduction of Luffy, in which he bursts out of a barrel screaming, “WHAT A GREAT NAP!,” is one of my favorite character introductions of all time.)
Shanks is arguably the reason Luffy wanted to become a pirate. He’s absolutely central to our main character’s drive and to the series’ mythos overall. But fast forward 23 years. There are now over 1,020 episodes of the One Piece anime, and the series’ 15th film, One Piece FIlm: Red, is releasing in Japan on August 6. In over 1,020 episodes and 14 movies, how many times have Luffy and Shanks been in the same location—at least, while both conscious—since episode four? Exactly zero. Until, perhaps, Red.
This absurd statement explains why the very name of the film made One Piece fans tremble with excitement (Shanks is known as Red Hair Shanks) and then positively lose their minds when it was revealed the film revolves around Shanks’ daughter. Now that the initial hysteria has died down ever so slightly, fans are realizing that the fact that characters Luffy and Shanks haven’t been in the same scene in fiction in 23 years also means their voice actors, Mayumi Tanaka and Shuuichi Ikeda, haven’t worked together in 23 years.
One of the biggest questions surrounding Red is whether or not Luffy will meet Shanks for the first time since he was a child. However, in a new interview, Tanaka and Ikeda insinuate that Luffy and Shanks are at least in the same scene together. Whether or not the two talk to each other directly, Tanaka and Ikeda got to work together for the first time in 23 years.
Also, if you didn’t know Luffy was voiced by a (presently) 67-year-old woman—surprise! Mayumi Tanaka is a treasure of humanity. Even before voicing Luffy, she was a legend for voicing Krillin and Yajirobe in the various Dragonball series. Ikeda, too: you may have heard him as Char Aznable in the Gundam series, or else as Masayoshi Shido in Persona 5. Anyway, watching Luffy’s voice come out of this lively elderly woman is objectively one of the most sublime joys of the internet.
As for when you’ll be able to see Luffy and Shanks in action: One Piece Film: Red comes out in Japan on August 6th, just a couple weeks away! But the US release date is much more uncertain. Crunchyroll has officially said “fall,” and One Piece‘s producer leaked at Anime Expo that fans might be looking at an October release. Personally, I’m heading to Japan at the end of August. Do I speak fluent Japanese? No (I’m intermediate). Will I come to this website with my impressions and feelings anyway? Yes.
Image credit: Toei Animation
