One Piece Will Soon See an Anime Reunion More than 20 Years in the Making

July 20, 2022, 11:18am

It won’t be much longer until One Piece launches its summer comeback, but the manga is not the only thing gunning for fans this season. Eiichiro Oda will resume work on his hit manga shortly, and once August rolls in, Luffy will return to the big screen. One Piece FIlm: Red is just on the horizon, and it turns out the anime will welcome a massive reunion on screen when its movie goes live!

Videos by ComicBook.com

So yes, your guess is more than likely on point. After 23 years, the voice actors for Luffy and Shanks are working together once more. A new promo picture shows the One Piece stars talking behind the scenes, and we can only guess at how much the pair have to catch up on.

View on X

As you can tell, Luffy’s iconic voice actress is shown to the left, and Mayumi Tanaka looks comfy in a beanie and tan jacket. She is pictured in a theater with Shuichi Ikeda sitting beside her. The voice actor behind Shanks may not have red locks like his character, but he has all the charm. And as you can tell, Ikeda is tapping into Shanks’ style courtesy of a fiery handkerchief.

For those who have kept track, you will know One Piece Film: Red marks the first time Tanaka and Ikeda have worked together on the anime in decades. The last episode they worked on jointly was episode four, believe it or not. Shanks has shown up numerous times in the anime since, but he’s never met with Luffy head-on. And despite some close calls in previous films, One Piece will finally reunite Luffy with Shanks this fall when its new movie goes live.

For those curious, the movie will hit theaters in Japan this August, and it will eventually spread to theaters globally. No word has been given on a U.S. release date just yet, but Crunchyroll will update us all soon enough. Right now, the licensor is busy with Dragon Ball Super as the anime’s second film is set to hit theaters stateside next month.

Can you believe it has been this long since these One Piece stars worked together? Do you plan to check out the anime’s next movie in theaters? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.