Video summary
Two new *One Piece* films have recently been announced, marking a significant shift in the franchise's cinematic strategy with the release of *God Valley* next summer and a mysterious project titled *Bad* scheduled for 2029. The decision to announce two movies simultaneously rather than one is driven by both industry trends inspired by the success of franchises like *Demon Slayer* and the unique, often chaotic nature of Eiichiro Oda's production schedule. After a five-year gap following *Film Red*, this dual announcement helps realign the release cycle, though it also highlights the long delays inherent to *One Piece* projects. The creator himself has noted that production has not always gone smoothly, suggesting that what was originally planned as a separate film may have been reworked into the current slate due to unforeseen challenges during development.
The centerpiece of this announcement is undoubtedly *God Valley*, a film dedicated entirely to the legendary Roger Pirates and the events surrounding Gol D. Roger's death, effectively removing Luffy and the Straw Hat crew from the main narrative for once. This bold move addresses years of fan criticism regarding original anime stories that deviate from the manga, offering instead a canonical deep dive into one of the series' most pivotal moments. By focusing on characters like Shiki, Kuma, and Ivankov, the film aims to flesh out details that were rushed or left unexplored in the manga chapters. This approach is seen as essential viewing for fans, bridging the gap between the current anime timeline and the upcoming Elbaf arc, while also serving as a major celebration of the 30th anniversary of both the manga and the anime series.
However, the production of such a canonical film brings valid concerns regarding international distribution and audience engagement. Historically, *One Piece* movies have faced significant delays in reaching global markets, often losing hype by the time they arrive outside Japan due to licensing and business priorities. Since *God Valley* is considered essential canon rather than optional entertainment, there is hope that this will encourage a more simultaneous global release strategy, although precedents like *Demon Slayer* suggest otherwise. Furthermore, marketing a film without the Straw Hats poses a unique challenge for casual fans who might only recognize the main cast, yet from a storytelling perspective, it represents a refreshing opportunity to explore the world of *One Piece* through different lenses and prove that the series can succeed without relying solely on its most famous protagonists.
The second film, tentatively titled *Bad*, remains shrouded in mystery with its name likely serving as a cryptic clue related to the "Will of D" or potentially referring to Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach. Speculation suggests it could be an original story tied to the 30th anniversary of the anime or a continuation of the narrative started in *God Valley*, perhaps focusing on Emu, Davy Jones, or Joy Boy. The timing of its release in 2029 aligns with major anniversaries, reinforcing the idea that these two films are interconnected centerpieces of the franchise's upcoming celebrations. Ultimately, this announcement signals a new era for *One Piece* movies, offering fans a chance to see expanded lore on the big screen while testing the boundaries of what is possible in anime film production without the safety net of a guaranteed main cast.
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Two new One Piece movies have just been
announced. One Piece film God Valley
releasing in summer next year and a very
curious project named One Piece Film Bad
due for release in 2029 with a curious
emphasis on that big old juicy D at the
end there. All right, we have got a lot
of questions to answer here. And as
excited as I am to talk about the God
Valley movie, I want to start with why
two movies have been announced instead
of just one. One reason is because
that's just the trend these days. One
Piece as well as a lot of other anime
franchises are following in the
footsteps of the unfathomable success of
Demon Slayer. And the idea of
announcing, for example, three Infinity
Castle movies, is now the meta. One
movie, it is not enough. We need bigger
promises than that. And there may be a
strange world where these movies are
connected to one another. And God Valley
will be the first half of what will be
concluded in One Piece film Bad. And
I'll get into how that might work in a
bit. But the other perhaps more likely
reason why two movies have been
announced is because we are very
offcycle with One Piece movies. For most
of the recent life of One Piece, the
series has operated on a policy of
delivering a movie every 3 years.
However, Film Red came out in 2022,
which means that we are going to have a
5-year gap between movies for the first
time in a very long time. and announcing
a movie in 2026 that's going to be
released in 2029. Mate, it is a very One
Piece thing to do because nothing says
One Piece quite like announcing
something and then asking us to remain
alive long enough to actually experience
it. But also, this does kind of get us
back on cycle. However, the reason why
there's been such a delay was addressed
by Etra Oda in his message at the latest
Jump Fest. He said that production had
not been going smoothly, which does make
me think that there may have been some
internal chaos because production has
not been going smoothly is one of those
beautiful sentences that can mean
anything from, oh well, we had to change
directors to the building is now legally
a boat. Here's the thing, though. They
were likely not planning a God Valley
movie after film Red because the God
Valley incident was only just drawn by
Oda last year in 2025. Another movie was
probably in the works after Red and for
whatever reason it ran into problems.
And perhaps a compromise was reached
after or during publishing the God
Valley Incident in 2025 to make that the
next One Piece movie and maybe film bad
is the troubled project that was
supposed to come before it. There was
definitely a lot of foresight in making
this decision though, and this is almost
certainly a big part of the calculus of
making the Tollway anime seasonal.
Because the way I see this happening
next year is that we start the Harold
flashback and we get all the way up to
meeting rocks and then the God Valley
film takes over to tell his story and it
ends with the Roger pirates finding
Shanks and then the anime picks up again
with Harold on Elbaf which is the sort
of thing that we can only do with this
seasonal break model. The movie comes
out in between Kors and it bridges them.
And I would like to say that I am
absurdly excited for the prospect of God
Valley being a movie because this has
been the wet dream of One Piece fans for
as long as I can remember. And since I
am a withered old man, I remember quite
a lot. There's always been this outcry
of, oh, why do we keep doing these
original anime stories? Why not do a
canon one piece movie like all of the
other animes are doing? And a movie
focused specifically on rocks has been a
meme since a long, long before we even
met rocks. as this teaser trailer was an
April Fool's joke posted 5 years ago and
I am very much on the record of saying
that they would never do this and my
confidently incorrect opinion has now
been given a feature film budget. I
thought that because it would mean
making a One Piece movie where Luffy and
the Straw Hats are not the main
characters or potentially not even in
the movie full stop. From a storytelling
standpoint that sounds really cool, but
from a marketing standpoint that's
terrifying. It could be very hard to
sell a movie like this to more casual
One Piece fans. That's why I said they'd
never do it. But mate, I was wrong and I
love it. And full credit to the
production committee for making such a
bold choice. Because the God Valley
movie, as excited as we all are watching
this video, is not the safe thing to do.
The safe thing to do would have been to
make One Piece film Red 2. One Piece
film Red or One Piece Film Red 2.
Somehow Uta returned because it is one
of the highest grossing films in
Japanese history. And I don't know if
the God Valley movie will make as much
as Red, but I'm personally much more
excited for this than I was for Red.
Now, in terms of what we're looking at
here, the Albar Flashback is currently
the longest flashback in One Piece,
spanning a wild 18 chapters, which is a
huge amount of content to cover in a
movie of 90 minutes or even 2 hours,
unless the entire film is narrated by an
auctioneer. And that's why I suspect
that the Harold stuff will be covered in
the anime instead. And this film will
purely be focused on rocks, Roger Shaki,
the rocks pirates, and maybe even
characters like Kkuma, Ivanchov, and
Jinny. Anyone who is actually part of
the incident, which Harold was not. But
the main question I think people have
is, is this going to be a movie
adaptation of the manga chapters, or is
it going to be something a little
different? I've seen people hoping for,
say, this is going to be a movie that
shows us the God Valley incident from
the perspective of the Roger Pirates,
which we didn't really get. We weren't
really focused on the Roger Pirates in
the manga. It is much more the story of
rocks. But my feeling is that it's going
to be a straight adaptation with some
room for expansion on the incident
itself. Because one of the only
complaints I heard whilst these chapters
were being published is that everything
happened too fast. A lot of fights
happened offcreen. And this movie is a
fantastic vehicle to flesh out stuff
like that with the time and budget that
a spectacle like this truly demands.
That's the thing about this idea. God
Valley is an event worthy of leaving
your home and going to watch it on a big
screen with a ton of other people you
don't know around you. It is also worth
noting that 2027 is the 30th anniversary
of the One Piece manga and 2029, which
is the release date of film Bad, will be
the 30th anniversary of the One Piece
anime. So, those timings definitely have
something to do with it. And these will
no doubt be treated as centerpieces of
the anniversary celebrations, which is
what makes me think that God Valley is
probably going to be released in August
because that is when One Piece's
birthday is. And Film Red, I believe,
was released early in August in Japan
anyway. But that's what makes me a bit
nervous at the moment. There are
advantages and some concerns to doing a
canon piece movie. And one of those
concerns is the excruciating release
schedule of these films. Because
generally what happens is a One Piece
movie, it comes out in Japan. Let's say
it comes out in August, but the rest of
the world doesn't get the movie until
October, November, or even December. And
that's if they get the movie at all.
Some countries just never end up getting
a release. And the ones that do have to
wait so long that by the time the movie
comes out, the hype is kind of dead. And
this happens for a lot of reasons,
mostly businesses and licenses and such.
I swear mate, the Grand Line is easier
to navigate than international anime
distribution. But it's mostly because
Japan prioritizes the Japanese market,
which is fair enough because that is
where they make the bulk of their sweet,
sweet yen monies. And you know what?
It's usually not such a big deal because
the movies, they're not cannon, so you
don't need to see them. You can afford
to wait a bit. But that will not be the
case with a God Valley movie. It is
essential viewing. You need to watch
this movie or you are missing one of the
most important stories ever told in One
Piece. So, I'm hoping that this
awareness will result in a more friendly
approach to the international release.
Although, what doesn't give me a lot of
hope is that even something like Demon
Slayer still subscribes to this.
Infinity Castle Part One came out in
July in Japan, but it wasn't in theaters
internationally until September. If I
had to guess, I would say that there is
definitely going to be a delay. Japan
comes first. That's the rule. Japan
comes first and then France comes
second. France is a very profitable
market. So actually they got the release
of film red in August as well. The only
other country to do so and then everyone
else gets whatever because no one cares.
But my hope is that this will be the
first One Piece movie with a
simultaneous global release. But I doubt
it. Meanwhile, let's talk about film
Bad. This is one of the most curious
pieces of information that has ever been
teased because it seems like it means
both everything and nothing. My
speculation is that this is a movie that
has something tied to the will of D
because of the big emphasized D at the
end. However, this could also be a
placeholder title. Often when One Piece
movies are announced, they're done so
with working titles and those working
titles get changed closer to the release
date, like how One Piece film Strong
World was originally titled The Crystal
Ships Log. Although that's a bit of a
different case because the entire film
was reworked because Oda thought that
the original script that he wrote was
too depressing. But I would not be
surprised if Bad had a different title
or if this is a cryptic clue to the true
title. Like if it's One Piece film
Blackbeard and the bad is just his name
with a lot of letters removed. I'm in
two minds about what it could be because
we have two base possibilities which is
that bad is either canon or noncannon.
One argument for non-cannon would be
that as mentioned before it is going to
be released in line with the 30th
anniversary of the One Piece anime and
so it could be treated as an original
project. However, I think it might be
hard to sell a non-cannon movie after
having done God Valley and especially if
God Valley is like massively successful.
It feels like that is a line that is
very difficult to come back from once
you've crossed it. However, the issue
with speculating over whether or not Bad
is a canon movie is that we have no
material to really work with. I mean,
sure, there is another Elbar flashback,
which is Brook's story. Although,
there's no way that we would get to 2029
without having told that yet. With the
God Valley movie, we're probably going
to reach the Brooke flashback episodes
in 2027 or early 2028. So, if we're
talking about cannon, it would have to
be something that has not happened in
the manga yet. Something that Oda has
told the producers that he is going to
draw. And I would not discount that as a
possibility. Not at all. Again,
announcing these two films at the same
time could mean that there is a
connection between them and that the
story of one is not complete without the
other. The announcement of them even has
this fun black and white duality
happening. They look like they are
designed to be partner projects whether
that is their intention or not. So if
God Valley is the story of rocks for
example then perhaps film bad is
intended to continue that and show us
the story of his son Marshall Dache or
something else that ties into the will
of D. I do keep mentioning Blackbeard
but we are dealing with some serious emu
stuff right now in the manga and at this
moment in time a void century flashback
might not be off the table in the Elbath
arc. Emu's definitely got a story to be
told. He has a lot of emotional angst
that's been building for centuries. He's
a very rare bottle of delicious vintage
trauma ready to be cracked open. And so
maybe film bad ends up being about Emu,
Davy Jones, and Joy Boy. And it's
planned out to slot into a seasonal gap
in the anime just like God Valley is. If
something like that did happen though,
Oda would need to start drawing it
pretty damn quickly. And as time goes
on, we'll probably have our answer as to
whether it's canon or not just by seeing
what's happening in the manga. So
consider this. The God Valley film, it
has about a 2-year production window
because God Valley was published in the
manga in the latter half of 2025. And
the movie is coming out in the latter
half of 2027. So, whatever's happening
in One Piece Film Bad, we might not even
have seen it yet. The events of that
movie could be being drawn in the manga
this time next year and it would still
make its release. Or again, it's a
completely anime original movie. I don't
know at this stage, but also more
questions. So, is the anime still going
to cover GV or is that solely the film's
job? It could be both. We might not skip
God Valley in the anime because there is
quite a bit of precedent for uh
repurposing canon movies. For example,
the Demon Slayer Infinity Train movie.
It was chopped up into anime episodes or
like a little bit of bonus stuff
sprinkled in. Also, way back in the day,
this happened with Dragon Ball Super.
The first chunk of episodes covered the
Battle of Gods and Resurrection F
movies. And only after that did Dragon
Ball Super start doing something new.
So, it's very possible that a God Valley
movie could end up being anime episodes
as well. And there's even an argument to
say that they should be. That argument
is that I'm not personally a fan of
fragmented media. I don't think that you
should need to see a movie to keep up
with a TV show or have to watch TV shows
to keep up with movies like Marvel or
something like Black Clover where
characters pop up in the manga very
suddenly. But if you've not read the
light novel, then you have no idea why
they're there. So the God Valley movie
becoming anime episodes, it's probably a
reasonable approach just to make sure
that the series isn't fragmented. I am a
little concerned that extended fights in
the God Valley movie will be taken as
canon. It's a delicate balance. Yeah, I
don't think it would cause any more
problems than the anime already does.
There's already a ton of filler fights
or, shall we say, creatively adapted
cannon fights in the anime that either
make the characters look way stronger or
way weaker than they are in the manga.
But this movie, it's probably going to
do much more of the former and it is
going to go all out. Big spectacle. Just
when I thought Shiki was going to
feature in the anime series, Oda jumps
scares us with another film. That's
right. Golden Lane Shiki, main
antagonist of One Piece Strong World, is
cursed to be a movie only existence. I
mean, we do see him briefly in the Kuma
God Valley Flashback, but he was about
to have an actual role in the anime, but
now he's been pushed into a movie again,
denied entrance into the wonderful halls
of Tolli. And it's as if this man can
only ever exist in the big screen
alternate dimension. So, the first movie
without Luffy being a main character,
right? Technically, no. One Piece movie
5, the cursed holy sword would be the
first because Zoro is the main character
of that film. And despite Zoro being my
favorite character in all of One Piece,
it's just not a role that he was made
for. And this is one of, if not the
worst movie in the entire franchise. It
really is a race to the bottom between
that and One Piece movie 3, which is the
the island of animals. However, both of
them are so bad that they're kind of
funny, and this announcement does make
me want to go back and make some videos
on these strange, strange movies.
However, making a movie without Luffy as
the lead, it is a big gamble. I don't
know how they'll promote a movie without
any of the Straw Hats. This will be a
challenge. If you're watching this
video, you're probably the kind of
person who's already in too deep to
care, and like me, you're probably just
salivating over this God Valley idea.
There is a gargantuan glob of people out
there who watch or read One Piece very,
very casually. Maybe they haven't kept
up in a few years, but they see a movie
coming out with Luffy's smiling face.
All the straw hats are there, and so it
convinces them to buy a ticket. This
movie is going to be a challenge to tap
into that audience, and I'm really
interested to see how they tackle it.
But from my perspective, I am very
excited about a movie without the Straw
Hats. We don't need them. And it's
because, let's be really honest about
this, the straw hats other than Luffy
often have nothing to do in the recent
One Piece movies. For Stampede and film
Red, they were just kind of problematic
because you've got this cast of 10
characters who are theoretically main
characters and have to be given
something to do. But because the movie
isn't about them, you've got to keep
them in the background and busy doing
stuff, stuff that doesn't matter to the
point where they may as well not even be
in the movie. Although, weirdly enough,
I'd say that Usopp is an exception to
this. He's very important in both Red
and Stampede. So, he doesn't do much in
the actual series, but in the movies,
that seems to be where he shines. And I
do think that this is a huge opportunity
for One Piece. If they can prove that
movies without the Straw Hats can still
sell extremely well, then it opens up a
whole new world of possibilities for us
where we don't have to keep making the
same kind of movie with the same
template and the same staples. And this
announcement has made me much more
excited for the future of One Piece
outside of the manga than anything else
in recent memory. But of course, I want
you to let me know what you all thought
about this in the comments below.