One Piece Film Red, the latest anime film from the One Piece series, announced on Wednesday that Uta will participate in NHK’s music program Kohaku Uta Gassen, which will be held on December 31, 2022. This is the first time that an anime character will appear in the program. Along with the announcement, the official Twitter page of the series posted a video message from Uta, and written messages from the manga’s author Eiichiro Oda and the character’s voice actor Kaori Nazuka and Ado, who is in charge of Uta’s singing voice. There will also be collaborative projects to come titled “ONE PIECE UTA LIVE RED X WHITE” to deliver Uta’s stage in the best possible way.
The official Twitter account posted a picture of Uta to announce her entry into NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen. A part of the caption reads it’s an honor.
Uta is known as a diva in the One Piece world. “Hello, everyone! This is Uta!” the character starts her comment with a greeting in a video and continues: “Now It’s decided that I will be able to enter in Kohaku Uta Gassen on the last day of the year for the first time as the Red team! Thinking of singing in front of you all really excites me! This year’s theme for Kohaku is Love and Peace, Share with Everyone. My song is filled with a lot of my feeling for peace, and love for you, so I’m already really looking forward to making you happy with my singing! On the last day of year, I’ll belt out the song at Kohaku! I’ll be posting a lot of information about my activity with videos and all until the event, so I’m glad if I can share this enthusiasm with you all! Look forward to them! That’s all from Uta!” As a “bonus” at the end of the video, she also says there will be announcements to come other than the Kohaku event and concludes the video: “I’m glad if I can make a lot of memories with you all around the end of this year! See you then!“
One Piece manga author Eiichiro Oda‘s comment:
In this age where the real and virtual spaces are getting mixed up, Uta was born as a person with common sense from the future. The thought came to mind around when we finished making the film. The red-and-white haired Uta is participating in Kohaku [which means colors, red and white, in Japanese], I can’t help but feel it’s destined all the more for the reason I didn’t intend it [the colors of her hair matches the event’s colors]. It’s amazing. I’ll be rooting for her while eating Soba noodles! [Japanese tradition to eat Soba noodles on the last day of the year]
Comment from Kaori Nazuka, Uta’s voice actress:
Congratulations on the entry into Kohaku Utagassen!! Thanks to you, I’ve experienced a lot of worlds I wasn’t able to see with my own power. Thank you for the happy time like a dream. I’m grateful whole-heartedly. And, nothing makes me happier than the fact that everyone keeps loving you even after you jumped out of the screen. I’d like to see you keep charming us by doing wonderful from now on, please! I’ll look forward to your activity in the future.
Comment from Ado:
Congratulations on the entry into Kohaku Utagassen. I’m whole-heartedly grateful that you, the shining diva, will be standing on the stage now. On the day, I’d like you to color the “present” time of us with your performance. And I’d appreciate it if you could let all people see dreams. I’ll root for you.
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One Piece Film Red grossed over ¥2.25 billion (~$15 million) with 1.57 million attendees in the opening weekend in Japan, which made the biggest opening-weekend numbers when it comes to both the audience and earnings among films of 2022. It’s also the best-performing film in One Piece‘s history. The film released a commemorative illustration by the manga’s author Eiichiro Oda for the ¥18 billion (~$122 million) milestone as of November 7. It’s screened worldwide and hit theaters in the US in early November. Box Office Mojo reported that the film grossed $9,475,251 in the opening weekend, November 4-6, in the country.
Source: Official Twitter, Official Twitter
© Eiichiro Oda/2022 “One Piece” production committee