There is absolutely zero question that One Piece is not only one of the most famous anime of all time, but one of the most famous animated series, in general. Being animated and aired consistently since its debut all the way back in 1999, this show is one of the longest-running animated series ever made. Still running strong a whole 26—almost 27—years later, there should be no wondering whether people love it. Some call it overhyped, some call it the greatest anime ever made—regardless of what one thinks, there’s no denying the impact that One Piece has had on pop culture.
Like most popular anime shows, One Piece has made its way to theater screens and home video stores all over the planet. With 15 films that have premiered since 2000, it’s no wonder that they’ve continued to make them, even recently in 2022. Which do fans generally think are the best, though, and why? The perfect place to go for these answers is none other than the extremely popular movie reviewing social media platform, Letterboxd.
10
‘One Piece: Dead End Adventure’ (2003)
Letterboxd Score: 3.3/5.0 (6 Fans)
In the early days of One Piece, it seemed like the Straw Hat Pirates were always desperate for cash, and it almost always got them into trouble. In One Piece: Dead End Adventure, the crew decides to enter a race between pirate crews for cash known only as “The Dead End Competition”. This, however, as usual, leads to quite a chaotic misadventure.
This causes them to cross paths with the likes of some tough foes, like Captain Gasparde (Tarô Ishida), and the bounty hunter gunning for his head. Many claim that One Piece: Dead End Adventure truly gets the franchise and its characters, best described by Aiden Zhang on Letterboxd, “This is one of the one piece movies that gets it. It gets everything about the world right- it gets Luffys ambition for the purest form of freedom…”
9
‘One Piece: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventure in Alabasta’ (2007)
Letterboxd Score: 3.3/5.0 (18 Fans)
When the Straw Hat Pirates set out to save the kingdom of Alabasta, they find that a civil war has broken out and the land of Princess Nefertari Vivi (Misa Watanabe and Caitlin Glass) is in great danger, thanks to the enemy known as Crocodile (Ryūzaburō Ōtomo and John Swasey) and his gang, the Baroque Works. Acting as a retelling of the show’s Alabasta Arc, One Piece: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventure in Alabasta may feel familiar to fans of the show, but it features new animation and a more concise retelling of the story.
When this One Piece flick came out in March 2007, it debuted #2 at the Japanese box office, grossing a total of 7,075,924 yen ($46,640.20 USD). Seeing the Straw Hats take on one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea was very entertaining. Fans’ only issues with the project, however, were the fact that, to keep the film’s runtime where it needed to be, it left out a lot of seemingly crucial parts of the story arc, like the Rain Dinners, which keeps it from being rated higher. This is best described byuser, George, on Letterboxd: “The story is far too long to be meaningfully represented in what little running time the film has.”
8
‘One Piece: The Movie’ (2000)
Letterboxd Score: 3.3/5.0 (192 Fans)
When it came to releasing the first One Piece film, the studio had a lot to prove in the manner that they were going to define whether a theatrical film for this franchise could work or not. Thankfully, One Piece: The Movie was generally accepted positively by audiences when it hit screens on March 4th, 2000. Featuring a story that is completely original to the anime and is pretty much a “side quest” to it, fitting in between the Syrup Village and Baratie story arcs.
The Straw Hat crew gets split up as they attempt to stop a new foe, the pirate known as El Drago, from stealing the Great Gold Pirate Woonan’s secret stash of treasure: about one-third of the world’s gold. At this time in the series, One Piece was still finding its footing, with only under 20 episodes in at the time. It’s only lacking some characterization for El Drago, which would have made him a bit more compelling as a villain. It’s also quite short, being a mere 51 minutes. However, Letterboxd user, Blekksverd, actually praised this in their review, “I think it’s the perfect length for this series. Any longer and it would probably have dragged on. With this limited amount of time, the comedy is also a lot more fast-paced, and I think that generally works in its favor.”
7
‘One Piece Film: Red’ (2022)
Letterboxd Score: 3.3/5.0 (761 Fans)
The most recent of the One Piece theatrical movies, One Piece Film: Red, has generally positive reviews. While some are mixed on it, due to the music, people mostly liked it. The movie gained some great accolades upon its theatrical release, being the only One Piece film to pass 10 million yen at the box office, garnering a whopping a little over 19 million yen. When it came out in 2022, it was one of the highest-grossing movies in Japan at the time, and currently sits at the number ten spot, under iconic films like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Because of all this, the hype for this film was pretty high all across the world. The highlight of the film was the iconic character, Shanks (Shūichi Ikeda and Brandon Potter), and that is described pretty hilariously by Letterboxd reviewer, ♡, in their review, “theater full of grown men hollering at shanks”. So even if one wasn’t particularly impressed by One Piece Film: Red, they can almost all agree that it was filled to the brim with what the kids nowadays would call, “hype moments and aura”.
6
‘One Piece: Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Cherry Blossom’ (2008)
Letterboxd Score: 3.4/5.0 (16 Fans)
If it isn’t already apparent, a handful of the One Piece movies sometimes find themselves retelling arcs from the show. Some fans appreciate this, and some do not. One Piece: Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Cherry Blossom (a mouthful, for sure) took on the job of revisiting the Drum Island Arc. Despite being a recreation, though, this 2008 film changes quite a bit from the anime Drum Island Arc’s story. “More than a recap of the Chopper arc, it’s a recreation of it but with characters that weren’t there before and with a more advanced crew than when this arc came out, something like a what would happen if Chopper was the last member of Luffy’s crew to be recruited?” is how Letterboxd user, Dratiko, explains it in their review of the film.
A lot of fans really didn’t appreciate this. Many others, however, declare it to be a pretty good flick if one goes into it not as a replacement for the Drum Island Arc, but more like an Elseworlds iteration of it. Chopper’s (Ikue Ōtani) character arc in this new version of the story is incredibly heartfelt and compelling, leaving many in tears by the end.
5
‘One Piece Film: GOLD’ (2016)
Letterboxd Score: 3.5/5.0 (95 Fans)
The best aspects of One Piece Film: GOLD‘s story can be summarized in one Letterboxd review by, izzy craw4d: “a story about the dangers of living in a late stage capitalist society and also las vegas”. One Piece has always been a story about the Straw Hats against the world, and One Piece Film: GOLD is a great example of this. The plot of this flick is a lot more grounded, without the typical world-ending stakes that Monkey D. Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka and Colleen Clinkenbeard) and crew typically deal with.
However, like most One Piece films, the villain is a bit underdeveloped, with some claiming that said baddie, Gild Tesoro (Kazuhiro Yamaji and Keith Silverstein), would have been a lot more compelling if they took more time to really delve into his backstory. Despite this, though, many enjoy this as a One Piece take on a heist film, and it does the genre justice, for certain.
4
‘One Piece Film: Strong World’ (2009)
Letterboxd Score: 3.6/5.0 (73 Fans)
Compared to all the other One Piece films, One Piece Film: Strong World finds itself being the most special of the bunch. Since it is the tenth film in the series, and therefore, came out on the year of the tenth anniversary of the series, Toei Animation made a special request… they asked the One Piece creator, Eiichiro Oda, to step in and write the film himself. For all the past movies, he helped with character designs and gave the OK to story ideas. This time, the story was going to come from the father of the franchise himself.
People genuinely adore One Piece Film: Strong World, which makes total sense, given the fact that Oda helmed the screenplay pen. CozyKactus, a Letterboxd user who seemingly had watched another One Piece movie before watching this one, said this about their viewing experience: “Bizarre going from a One Piece movie that felt nothing like One Piece to the very next movie feeling like I an arc I didn’t read or watch yet. Which is attributed to the fact that Oda joined the crew to work on the movie.”
3
‘One Piece Film: Z’ (2012)
Letterboxd Score: 3.6/5.0 (122 Fans)
In the One Piece universe, most pirates can at least relate on one thing: they want to become King of the Pirates. The 2012 movie, One Piece Film: Z, asks the question: What would happen if there were a pirate who was hunting and killing all pirates who dreamed that iconic dream? The project finds its answer in the character known as Zephyr (Hochu Otsuka and Jeremy Schwartz), commonly called “Z”.
Luffy and his crew get their butts whooped, and this sends them on a journey unlike any other, with the likes of Nami (Akemi Okamura and Luci Christian), Nico Robin (Yuriko Yamaguchi and Stephanie Young), and Chopper being turned ten years younger in the process. Not to mention, TexMex on Letterboxd says that the film has “beautiful animation,” and this is wonderfully true, making this film a visual spectacle.
2
‘One Piece: Stampede’ (2019)
Letterboxd Score: 3.6/5.0 (250 Fans)
Another anniversary-driven One Piece flick, coming ten years after One Piece Film: Strong World, is One Piece: Stampede, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the series. While Oda may not have directly written this one, he did serve as Creative Supervisor for it. Every time the Pirates Festival emerges, a festival “by pirates, for pirates,” pirates from all over the planet come together to have a scavenger hunt for legendary treasure. This festival’s treasure? The one belonging to the ever-famous Gold Roger (Masane Tsukayama and Sean Hennigan)!
This movie really is a celebration of the One Piece franchise, bringing so many characters from the series together for one spectacular event film. It borderline feels like the Avengers: Infinity War of the One Piece universe. Franky_Duran describes it perfectly in their review, “Chances are that your favorite character is in this movie and thats awesome. It really makes the film feel grand and like a marine ford level event in the OP world.”
1
‘One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island’ (2005)
Letterboxd Score: 4.1/5.0 (626 Fans)
One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island is, by far, one of the most unique One Piece movies ever made. While the first half of the film feels pretty close to what the series typically is like, the second half twists everything on its head and brings viewers on a ride they would never have expected from the One Piece series.
“This explores channels of the adventure that feel almost taboo for a saga that has always put friendship and camradarie before all else. A very, very risky experiment that paid off better than anyone could ever have imagined,” says Jim in his review, which is pretty accurate. While it may have been risky, the chances taken in One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island—turning into a full-on Lovecraftian horror film in the second half—ended up being worth it for the One Piece team.
One Piece Film: Strong World
- Release Date
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December 12, 2009
- Runtime
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1 hr 55 min
- Director
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Munehisa Sakai
