One Piece anime's Wano arc to go on hiatus in July for Film: Red prelude mini-arc

It seems as though the One Piece anime will soon be diverging its attention from the Wano arc into other story aspects. Twitter user and reputable One Piece news leaker @Epicopboy recently divulged that the anime’s Wano arc will go on hiatus in july for a Film: Red prelude mini-arc.

The One Piece anime has been absolutely electric lately, with the releases of episodes 1015, 1016, 1017, and 1018 all being incredibly impressive to fans everywhere. While the lattermost has seen pacing problems resume, fans have been happy with how the Wano arc has been progressing.

These mini-arcs have historically been done in the past as well, with several of the most recent movies in the series receiving such a treatment. Follow along as this article fully breaks down this latest One Piece information, as well as speculates on what the arc may show.

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One Piece anime set to prioritize Film: Red mini-arc over Wano anime production in July

Mini-arc news

As mentioned above, Twitter user and reputable One Piece news leaker @Epicopboy recently broke the news of the anime’s imminent, albeit temporary, departure from Wano. The series will instead use the month of July to produce and air a mini-arc for the upcoming Film: Red movie.

As also mentioned above, these types of mini accompaniment arcs have been done several times before throughout the anime’s broadcasting history. The structure for Film: Red’s mini-arc will likely be the same, showing the Straw Hats getting wrapped up in the movie’s story one way or another.

It’s worth noting that no official news has been broken of this mini-arc adaptation as of the time of writing this. However, @Epicopboy referenced this in their tweet, claiming that official announcement and confirmation of the arc will come by early July.

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Mini-arc speculation

Typically speaking, the One Piece film mini-arcs have shown the Straw Hats usually familiarizing themselves with the film’s antagonistic group. This presents a method of them coming into conflict with the group as a whole, while also creating extra tension in the battle via a previously established connection.

Film: Red’s mini-arc will likely follow the same pattern, with the major question being exactly who the Straw Hats will become friendly with and how. One of the most likely choices is Gordon, who it seems will take on the role of Uta’s caretaker in Film: Red.

It’s entirely possible for the Straw Hats to become friendly with Gordon, who will then learn of their connection to Shanks before deciding to turn them over to Uta (Shanks' daughter) and betray them. While no other original characters have been revealed for the film, it’s quite possible that Uta will have a crew of her own.

If this ends up being the case, then the Straw Hats could get to know Uta’s crew before meeting the woman herself. In this scenario, it will give the overall fight against Uta’s group as well as the individual battles within the conflict much more meaning and depth. Regardless of exactly how it will be done, one of the most likely to-be-addressed points in the mini-arc will be Luffy’s connection to Shanks.

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In summation

Despite the anime’s Wano arc being on a roll lately, it seems this will temporarily come to a halt in the coming month of July. With Film: Red’s release currently scheduled for the first week of August, it makes sense that the One Piece anime would want to release the prelude mini-arc for the film throughout July.

While fans will no doubt be disappointed to see the mainline story put on hold, the mini-arc will hopefully excite these same viewers for Film: Red’s release. Despite not having an international release date as of yet, the mini-arc will no doubt get Japanese as well as international fans excited for the upcoming film’s imminent release.

Be sure to keep up with all One Piece anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2022 progresses.

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