One Piece is one of those long series that you either get into when you have a wealth of free time or you forgo watching any other anime in order to dedicate several months to watch or read the entirety of what is available for the series.
However, while those dedicated to One Piece can make time for the main series, its many, many movies are not always so tempting. The good news is that you can fully enjoy One Piece without giving a second glance to the movies, but if you are on maintenance mode with One Piece, you may see that gaping void of free time stretched out in front of you and wonder, “are any of the One Piece movies actually any good?”
Are the One Piece movies worth watching? The hardened One Piece fan would say that yes, every one is worth watching for whatever reason they need to tell themselves in order to believe it.
However, if you are a One Piece fan with say, a job or some kids or a Warhammer addiction that sucks up free anime-watching time and money like a sponge, then no, some One Piece movies are not really worth hunting down and watching. This is a list to help you make an informed decision on which, if any, One Piece movies are worth your time.
One Piece Movies Worth Watching
There are 15 One Piece movies currently. This list will go through them in order and detail what is – or isn’t – worth watching.
One Piece: The Movie
Is It Worth Watching? – No, unless you crave nostalgia (But it’s still pretty good)
Modern One Piece is in a very different place from how the series started, and the first One Piece movie perfectly captures the feeling of those first few arcs. The movie could very well have been a filler arc in the early anime, taking place before even Sanji joined the crew.
It captures the fun and more carefree nature of the Straw Hats before everything started power scaling. However, as an older movie, its age shows and, like any filler arc, there isn’t anything particularly special about it.
Clockwork Island Adventure
Is It Worth Watching? – No, not really. Unless you still crave nostalgia. (But it’s also still pretty good)
Clockwork Island Adventure is the perfect example of a ‘just fine’ movie. If you watched the first One Piece movie for the nostalgia, then you mind as well watch this one too. With the crew now featuring Sanji, it is more lovely nostalgia as the Straw Hats hunt down the Trump Siblings – who are sadly not named Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka, and Barron – the thieves who stole the Going Merry.
You get better animation and still that early One Piece aesthetic, but again, the movie lacks any interesting meat to merit a must-watch status.
Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals
Is It Worth Watching? – No, not unless you like Chopper.
Making an entire movie about Chopper. It is like they didn’t want to make any money with this movie.
While the spare few hardcore Chopper fans may still want to give it watch, this movie about – as the title really gives away – Chopper becoming the king of an island of strange animals, doesn’t really merit hunting down.
Dead End Adventure
Is It Worth Watching? – Yes, a pretty good early One Piece movie
The most recent One Piece movies are considered the best One Piece movies due to Oda’s increasing involvement in their production and therefore an assurance of quality. However, not all old One Piece movies are worth a skip, and Dead End Adventure is an example of that.
The movie tells the filler story of the Straw Hats entering a secret ship race between pirates to earn some cash. As such, the movie turns into a full-on battle royale between the Straw Hats, other pirates, and bounty hunters hunting pirates. It’s filler that can easily slip in between the earlier arcs and provides a lot of fun action.
The Cursed Holy Sword
Is It Worth Watching? – No, unless you like Zoro – a lot.
Similar to how some may watch Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals if they like Chopper, The Cursed Holy Sword is a Zoro movie and will mostly only have much appeal to Zoro fans.
Like most other Straw Hat members when it is time for “their arc,” in the Cursed Holy Sword, Zoro mysteriously leaves the Straw Hats crew while on ship guard duty to go investigate the world’s most beautiful – and cursed – sword.
As one could expect, The Cursed Holy Sword has a bunch of great sword fights, but not much else. In fact, it might have worked better as a TV special rather than a full-length movie. If nothing else, you learn why Zoro probably doesn’t get his own big arc in the main story. He isn’t the most compelling of protagonists to follow even if he is super cool.
Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island
Is It Worth Watching? – Yes, uncharacteristically dark, almost horror genre One Piece is perhaps best One Piece
For Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, Toei let someone who really knew what they were doing with anime movies take the helm. With this movie, it was Mamoru Hosoda of Wolf Children and Summer Wars fame, and just like he did with the Digimon movies that he also worked on, he made himself a great One Piece movie.
The charm of the Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island movie is not that it is “quintessentially One Piece” as is the case with some other great One Piece movies, but its charm is how different it is from the normal One Piece adventure.
Instead, you get more stylized animation and the story starts off about going to have some fun on an island, but quickly gets more serious than expected. It starts off with all that One Piece flavor, but the higher than normal stakes and uncharacteristic darkness elevates this particular, unassuming movie above many of its more light-hearted, but bland peers. Having a horror movie for One Piece was an unexpected treat.
The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle
Is It Worth Watching? – No, it’s random and just not especially fun
Karakuri Castle sits as the meh, mid, midpoint of the One Piece movies before they “got good,” as many fans might say.
The problem with Karakuri Castle is it often feels pretty random and directionless. While many of the other subjectively good One Piece movies prior to it felt like nice, self-contained exciting adventures, Karakuri Castle feels like a random mess in the middle of an arc.
The story follows the crew plucking a treasure chest from a sunken ship, finding a lady inside it, and having to return her home. From there, it is less “action and adventure” and more “puzzles and treasure,” which is fine, if not somewhat less exciting than one is used to from the series.
Episode of Arabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates
Is It Worth Watching? – No, you’ve seen this arc before
Personally, I always dislike theatrical releases of anime stories that have already aired on TV, and the Arabasta movie is just a retelling of the Arabasta Arc you have already seen in the anime or read in the manga.
It added a little extra flash to the iconic Luffy V Crocodile fight, but condensed the rest of the arc into a shell of its former self, so it is not really worth the time.
Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura
Is It Worth Watching? – No, it’s the Drum Island Arc, but a bit worse
This movie is a re-imagining of the Drum Island arc, and just as unnecessary as the Arabasta movie was.
The movie makes a number of small changes to the arc, some good – like slipping in Robin and Franky – and some bad – like a new villain they didn’t really explain. The movie is fine, but if you have watched or read the Drum Island arc, it is wholly unnecessary.
One Piece: Strong World
Is It Worth Watching? – Yes, an enjoyably hype movie that works into the world well
There is an old joke that all the movies prior to Strong World were so unenjoyable and hit-or-miss One Piece that Oda had to get himself involved. Whether true or not, Strong World represents the beginning of Oda’s increasing involvement in the production of One Piece movies, and his first foray is certainly a great one.
Strong World features the non-canon story of the Straw Hats fighting to save a kidnapped Nami and save East Blue from Golden Lion Shiki, a former member of the Pirate King’s Crew and the first ever escapee from Impel Down.
While not a canon character, Shiki sure does feel like one, and that is likely Oda’s input at work. He serves as a great and powerful antagonist that all builds up to a fight that allows each of the Straw Hat’s abilities to shine in a pretty unforgettable climax.
One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase
Is It Worth Watching? – No, it’s like watching a PlayStation 2 Let’s Play of a One Piece game
Every studio has that desire to cut costs with 3D, and sometimes their experiments with the medium reach the light of day. Sometimes you get passable visuals carried by a strong story, like most things Polygon Pictures puts out, but then sometimes you see an experiment slip out in a theatrical release like Straw Hat Chase.
Ugly. That is the biggest problem with Straw Hat Chase, but as I said before, ugliness can be looked past with a strong enough story. That is not the case here. Straw Hat Chase tells the fun, if rather uninspired story of chasing a bird that stole Luffy’s hat through a sea of Marines and Sea Kings. So, it’s fan service, but visually unpleasant fan service.
One Piece: Z
Is It Worth Watching? – Yes, not fully canon, but Oda world-building and a fun adventure
Z marks the first One Piece film to actually build out the world, and as the second Oda-supervised film, it was considered canon on release although the manga has negated some of that since.
The series follows the ex-Admiral Z who stole the powerful Dyna Stones from the Marines and ends up right in the path of the Straw Hats.
It sets up for a massive, post-time skip battle where you get to see all the Straw Hats flex their powers against one of their strongest foes yet in all its well-animated splendor.
One caveat, though. You may wish to watch this movie after the Z’s Ambition filler arc (Episodes 575-578), which serves as a prologue for it.
One Piece: Gold
Is It Worth Watching? – Yes, a golden original mix of everything One Piece
All that glitters is gold, and Gold definitely glitters. This movie features the Straw Hat adventures in Gran Tesoro, which kind of seems like the Las Vegas of the One Piece world. As the city exists outside of the World Government, it allows the perfect set up for past friends and foes to make cameos and mix together like never before.
Gold is One Piece fan service at its finest with its cameos, and all carried out with some fantastic animation. However, admittedly, the story of the crew facing off with the the ruler of the city after being swindled by them is rather unimpressive. Although it combines the One Piece world with the world of gambling in a pretty fun and uniquely One Piece way.
One Piece: Stampede
Is It Worth Watching? – Yes, One Piece fan service at its finest
Stampede was a movie released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of One Piece, and it really does feel like a true celebration of the series.
Stampede has a simple and effective premise. It takes place during a Pirates Festival, which is a great contrived reason to gather infamous pirates from far and wide to one area in order to compete in a treasure hunt.
Why this premise is so effective is that it allows the movie to cram in fun cameos of villains from the past and filler characters that you forgot existed. It is well-animated, Oda-supervised, and exciting. It is a prefect way to celebrate this long-running anime dynamo.
One Piece: Red
Is It Worth Watching? – Yes, unless you dislike anything relating to idols
Like isekai, which I’m sure will come for One Piece eventually, idol anime comes for all things. It is so popular and so well-loved by Japanese audiences that it doesn’t take more than two brain cells in a writer’s room to make this spark of an idea – what if we have an adventure about an idol that is also a fan-favorite daughter, maybe?
So that’s One Piece Red, a movie about the world’s most beloved idol putting on her first live concert, attracting tons of people throughout the world to her island, and then revealing to the audience that she is the daughter of Shanks.
The movie captures quintessential idol tropes and One Piece adventure. So while not an especially deep story, it does what any anime movie needs to do – it was fun to watch.
I am one hundred percent certain that there will be some diverse opinions on whether these One Piece movies were – or were not – worth watching. So let still-undecided fans know your opinions on the matter in the comments section below.
