Summary
One Piece Film: Redhas so many great things going for it that you can spend hours picking apart various story elements without running out of things to talk to. The unique power of the main antagonist, the contrast between Uta’s pure intention and the cruel solution that she comes up with, and the numerous musical numbers that cover all kinds of genres, just to name a few.
However, the one area that puzzles a lot of people is the ending. What happened to Uta at the end of the movie? Is she even still alive? So many questions regarding Uta’s fate. So let’s use this chance to look at the many clues scattered throughoutOne Piece Film: Redand figure out what truly happened at the end.
Moments Before the End
The prelude to the end officially begins the moment Uta summons the “Demon King of Songs”, the insidious creature called Tot Musica.This colossal monsterlay waste to everything on its path. No matter what Luffy and the other powerful pirates and Marines do to this monster, it simply shrugs it off and continues destroying everything around it.
A Two-Front War
As powerful and terrifying as Tot Musica turns out to be, this demon king is thankfully not invincible. The key is in its body. Since its physical body manifests in both the real and the dream world, the only way to defeat this monster is by defeating both bodies at the same time. Which means engaging in a two-front war.
In the real world, there are Shanks, the Marines, and Katakuri of the Big Mom pirate. In the dream world, there are Luffy, Koby of the Marines, and pirates like Trafalgar Law and Oven of the Big Mom pirate. The ones who guide their attacks are the marksmen from bothRed Hair and Straw Hat pirates,Usopp, and his father Yasopp. Thanks to the perfect coordination between the two forces, they successfully defeat Tot Musica.
Her Last Song
Unfortunately, defeating Tot Musica is not the end of the story. The souls of those who listen to Uta’s songs are still trapped inside the dream world. to release them from that accursed place, Uta has to sing one last song. But things are not that easy. Tot Musica has pretty much sapped every last drop of energy from Uta’s body.
Not only that, she has also grown so weak and tired after using her power nonstop without a break for such a long time. SoUta gets up one last time and sings her last song.A beautiful song that brings everybody back from the land of the dream and into reality.
The Passing of a Great Singer
The film never explicitly mentions it,but it is heavily implied that Uta passes away at the end of her song. She uses every ounce of what little energy she has left in her body to sing that final song. Had she stayed put for a while and drank the medicine that Shanks gave her, she might’ve survived. But she knows saving those poor souls is more important than her life. So she puts her all into this last song. As she sings the final note, she lets out her last breath.
A Final Resting Place Among Her Red-Hair Family
When Luffy eventually wakes up from his slumber, he asks for Uta’s whereabouts. His crew points to the Red Hair pirates’ ship, specifically to a place where the crew, including Shanks, standing around what appears to be a coffin. We don’t get to see who is inside the coffin, but based on the despondent look on the crew’s face and Luffy’s pained expression, we can safely guess that the coffin belongs to Uta.
She spends most of her life hating her father,the “Red Hair” Shanks, and pirates in general.But deep down, she knows that Shanks loves her and she belongs to the Red Hair family. So, as devastating as it may be, there’s no better place for Uta’s final resting place than with her Red Hair family.
A Misguided Soul
At heart,Uta is actually a pure girl who only wants the best for her fans and the people at large.Unfortunately, she grows up without knowing about anything that’s been going on in the world. Once she has the means to find out about those things through the fans who love her music, what she sees and what she hears is nothing but sadness, death, and destruction, perpetrated by both Pirates and Marines alike.
The voices of the innocents and the victims reached out to her, asking to be lifted out of their miserable lives. And Uta takes that request literally. She figures out a way to use her power to let other people live inthe dream world that she has created.A world without sadness, a world where you can have fun 24/7.
Sure, they have to die to keep living in that world for a long time, but what’s a mortal death compared to living happily for eternity, right? Well, nobody else offers a better solution for her, so she just goes with this crazy plan instead. So yes, she is a misguided young soul with too much power in her hands.
“I know. I know, everyone. I’m going to create a new age where you all be happy.”
– Uta, One Piece Film: Red
Life After Death
So what happens to Uta after her death? What happens to the world after it losesthe greatest singer in this era? As it turns out, Uta’s desire to spread joy and bring smiles all over the world through her songs lives on even after her untimely passing.
Uta’s First and Last Album
In the end credits sequences, we can see images of people from all around the world singing and dancing along to beautiful songs. Appeared in some of those images is a white and pink box, with the words “Uta’s First and Last Album: New Genesis” written all over it. This means not long after her passing, Gordon and other people close to Uta released an album comprised of all the songs that Uta had been singing while she was still alive.A compilation of tunes that are dearly loved by her fans.
Unfortunately, this is also confirmation that Uta is no longer in this world. Because there’s no way somebody who loves singing and making beautiful songs like Uta would be satisfied with just producing one album. The fact that the word “Last” is plastered on that album means this is truly the one and only album by the greatest singer in the world.
Spreading Joy All Over the World
Uta’s biggest dream is to spread joy all over the world.To make people smile through her songs. She tried to do more than that, but unfortunately, she used the wrong method and failed. That being said, it doesn’t mean the initial power of her songs is suddenly missing. Her voice is still majestic and her songs are still as mesmerizing as ever.
But most importantly, she still has people from all around the world eagerly listening to her songs every day. And with the production and distribution of her one and only album, she now gets to spread smiles and happiness around the globe, even when she herself is no longer here to see the wonderful fruit of her labor.
One Piece Film: Redis available to stream onCrunchyroll.
One Piece
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, to become the next king. The manga’s popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
