One Piece: Who Is Uta? (2024)

One Piece Film: Red was announced last year and it recently went on to premiere in Japan and France earlier this month. As the name suggests, One Piece Film: Red is based heavily on the pirate Red-haired Shanks, who set Luffy out on the journey to becoming the Pirate King. However, Shanks isn't the only character this movie focuses on.

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The heroine of the movie is none other than a mysterious girl with red locks, named Uta. Uta was teased to be an important character by Oda himself, which just goes to show how significant she truly is. Having ties with not only Shanks but also Luffy, Uta is a very successful idol who has her own plans for the new age of the One Piece world.

Uta's Creation

As with all the major characters in One Piece movie, Uta is created by none other than Oda himself. The movie, One Piece Film: Red, sees Oda deeply involved, which is a rather rare occurrence. Mostly, One Piece movies are written by the anime staff and Oda usually goes over the script and gives his thumbs up. One Piece: Strong World was the only movie that saw Oda deeply involved in the actual script. This, however, was surpassed by One Piece Film: Red, which sees Oda get involved on an even bigger level, further showcasing how important Uta is to him.

One Piece Film: Red was written to be quite different from your average One Piece movie. While the majority of them have a big bad villain for Luffy to defeat, One Piece Film: Red is quite different. It has a much deeper and richer story that connects the entire cast, especially Luffy, Shanks, and Uta together. The movie also has several songs sung by the talented and young Japanese artist Ado, who is the singing voice of Uta, the best idol in the world. According to Oda, the staff had different plans for One Piece's next movie. A legendary old man was ready to stand in Luffy's path and prove to be his biggest challenge, however, Oda wanted to change things up. For the movie, he wanted a main female character and, thus, Uta was born. Surprisingly, Uta is also a canon character, meaning all her past with Shanks was written by Oda himself and is considered to be within the actual timeline of the One Piece world.

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While the exact placement of Film Red might not be canon, the events of the movie certainly can be considered so. This makes Uta the only second confirmed canon character in a One Piece movie, with Shiki, the Golden Lion, being the first. This was further backed by the fact that Oda drew a few pages of Uta in the last few manga chapters of Wano Country. Furthermore, Utah also made a silhouetted appearance in Shanks' flashback in One Piece 1055 when the Yonko confronted Admiral Green Bull and forced him to retreat from Wano Country.

Shanks And Uta

Uta is a character who ties deeply to both Luffy and the famous pirate and one of the Yonko of the Sea, Red-haired Shanks. As revealed in the trailer for the movie, Uta is Shanks's daughter, and thus holds tremendous importance to him. She was found by Shanks and his crew in a treasure chest long ago and was then raised by him for quite a few years. Uta is known to possess the blood lineage of the Figarland family which could be tied to the Nobles of the One Piece world, possibly even the Celestial Dragons themselves. The Gorosei are seen discussing this when they deliberate on whether to kill her or not.

Shanks, being considered her father, is also believed to be a member of the Figarland family, meaning he could very well have ties to the Nobles themselves. Together, the two spent quite a lot of time in Uta's early childhood days. When Shanks visited Foosha Village nearly 12 years prior to the current events of the story, Uta accompanied him. There, she met Luffy and introduced herself as Shanks' daughter. The two quickly became great friends and announced their plans and dreams for the new era. Uta's dream is to use her music to create a new era where everyone unites. Meanwhile, Luffy's dream is still not known to the fans.

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At some point, Uta ate the Uta Uta no Mi and gained its frightening powers. This ultimately ties to Shanks leaving her behind for her own safety. Uta then went on to use her immense talent and powers to become a great idol who is loved and respected all over the One Piece world. Her voice is known to be godly and it brings together both enemies and allies. Although Uta made a great name for herself and is famous all over the One Piece world, she still longs for something very simple yet valuable to her, that is, her bond with Shanks.

Uta's Plan

Uta plays the role of both the heroine and somewhat of an antagonist In One Piece Film: Red. According to Oda, one of the main themes of Film Red is virtual reality and whether or not escaping from it is good. Uta's voice holds the power to trap people in a dream world and, making use of this, she plans to cause chaos all over the world which sees even the likes of the Cipher Pol and, eventually, the Red Hair pirates get involved. One Piece Film: Red might not be your average fighting movie, however, it offers something much more unique as it goes over the connection between a father and child and brings it to life beautifully with music, which Oda believes is key to the Pirates of both old and the new generations. Uta tries her best to create a new age and for that, she is truly an incredible character.

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