One Piece Film: Red Panel Live Blog

Anime Expo is pushing forward with another massive event! If you did not know, One Piece: Red is taking over the massive convention ahead of its new movie release. This August, One Piece Film: Red will check in on Luffy as he prepares to undergo a wild new mission on the high seas. And as always, ComicBook.com is here on the ground to give fans a live look at the movie’s panel featuring special guests like executive producer Shinji Shimizu!

Describing Eiichiro Oda and Producer’s Favorite Memories

In One Piece, nakama is a very important word and is true for Shimizu and company behind the scenes. There were a lot of challenges, but there is a lot to be proud of. When we hit that big milestone, we got so much encouragement. On behalf of Oda and the team, Shimizu wants to thank fans.

Shimizu is asked to describe [series creator Eiichiro Oda]. He says the artist doesn’t sleep. In a single week, he pulls all-nighters 3-4 times. Early on at his manga studio, he says he would not eat because that would make him sleepy and he wanted to work.

As for his favorite memory, Shimizu loves the Alabasta arc. When Vivi is mentioned, the producer says the girl was included in his expanded nakama. Vivi was offered but turned him down which never happened before. So at ADR, the actress of Vivi, was so invested and knew she would be written out.

What’s Uta Up To?

When asked about Uta, the film’s female lead, Shimizu says the anime is used to big bulking co-leads. So Oda wanted to do something different. Luffy will not raise a hand to women, so he cannot say anything else there without spoilers. Shimizu then address Shanks and says his entire crew will all appear in the movie. The rest, he cannot say.

One Piece has hit 1,000 episodes. Shimizu says the manga is now 25, and the anime is 23 now. If you rewind the clock 25 years, he was young and so was Shimizu. We have had an interesting relationship. We cannot always translate things in the manga to anime so we had heated discussions about that. And as we did ADR with stars, after all this time, we are all now family.

One Piece: Red Producer Kicks Things Off

The panel begins with introductions to the team on stage. Shinji Shimizu is on stage as a producer on the anime.

Shimizu says he didn’t get much sleep so he is tired but the crowd here woke him up. The producer goes over highlights of the film. Eiichiro Oda is the supervising producer so Shimizu is excited to work with him. He is more involved here than he was in Strong World. Oda did not just design characters but picked music and soundtrack choices.

Shimizu says Oda told him he has the Babble Babble Fruit. He will talk a lot. His colleagues told him to keep spoilers to a minimum but if it happens… oh well