When Mayumi Tanaka heard that Shanks would be playing a pivotal role in the upcoming One Piece Film Red movie, she was without a doubt surprised.

Though Shanks was a major player in the One Piece universe, his appearances in the story were far too few. The captain of the Red Hair Pirates was a mysterious and untouchable presence.

And like Luffy, who admires Shanks a lot, Tanaka too looks up to the captain of the Red Hair Pirates. Not just that, the veteran voice actress also has a huge respect for Shanks’ voice actor Shuichi Ikeda.

Since the two hadn’t worked together in a long time, Tanaka was looking forward to hearing Ikeda’s voice once again and working with him on the movie.

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However, when she came to know that One Piece Film Red will also feature Shanks’ daughter, the first thought that crossed her mind was whether the movie had been green lit by Oda. Tanaka would later realize that Oda himself was penning the backstory of Uta, which according to her was amazing.

Now, with the release date of One Piece Film Red on the horizon, the veteran voice actress sat down in a recent interview with Mantan Web to discuss more on Shanks, working with Shuichi Ikeda once again and also about her thoughts on One Piece manga coming to an end.

According to Tanaka, though Shanks was cool and kind, he was the kind of character who would make for a very dangerous adversary. She also couldn’t believe that Ikeda’s voice made Shanks feel like an enemy.

“Shanks is really cool. And he is kind. He is absolutely the best for Luffy, isn’t he?” Tanaka said. “But it would be very difficult if Shanks turned into an enemy. I can’t believe that Ikeda-san’s voice would make him an enemy. …… I’m scared.”

Despite that, Tanaka said she loved Ikeda’s voice and enjoyed working with the voice actor very much over the course of the movie.

“I was really happy. With the corona disaster, it was not easy to record together. It is difficult because you have to act without hearing the other’s voice at all, and it is really hard for the director. So I was happy that we were able to work together this time. Ikeda-san’s voice is special and I really love it,” Tanaka revealed.

She was also happy to get back together with the Straw Hat Crew, whose teamwork was an integral part of One Piece anime according to her. She added that she missed them (fellow voice actors of Straw Hat Pirates) for the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Before the Corona disaster, we used to meet often. After the Corona disaster, there was a time when we had online drinking parties. We talked not only about recording, but also about our personal lives,” the actress revealed, recounting how things had changed in the pandemic.

Finally, she touched upon the topic of One Piece manga coming to an end. Having voiced the character of Luffy for the past 23 years, and having been a fan of the manga, Tanaka had some interesting things to say about the manga’s final arc and its imminent ending.

“I have two feelings about One Piece,” she said. “One is that it has become something we take for granted, so I would be sad if it were to disappear. On the other hand, I hope it will end while I am still alive!”

According to Tanaka, she never thought that One Piece would go one for so long. As she wasn’t growing any younger with each passing season, the voice actress said she had consider candidates who could replace her incase something happened.

“When the TV series started, I was already over 40 years old. I didn’t want to change my voice in the middle of the series, but something might happen, and I thought that if I decided to replace me, my fans would be …… compelled to do so,” she said. “

When I asked my son, he said, ‘There is no one but Masako Nozawa!’ He said, ‘No one but Masako Nozawa! She’s older than me! But when I told Mako-san (Nozawa-san), she said, “I’ll do it! So Mako-san is one of the candidates.”

This was something the voice actress had revealed earlier this year, adding that One Piece might go on for another 7-8 years.

One Piece Film Red releases in Japan on Aug 6, 2022.

Crunchyroll and TOEI Animation will release One Piece: Red movie in selected theatres in US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in Fall this year. The movie will be released in both subbed and dubbed versions.

Goro Taniguchi returns to the franchise for the first time since 1998 to direct One Piece Film: Red. Tsutomu Kuroiwa will be in charge of the screenplay. TOEI Animation is animating the film with original author Eiichiro Oda serving as executive producer.

The other staff that have been announced for the movie include:

• Character Design & Animation Director: Masayuki Sato
• CGI Director: Kentaro Kawasaki
• Art Director: Hiroshi Kato
• Music: Yasutaka Nakata
• Director of Photography: Tsunetaka Ema
• Color Design: Sayako Yokoyama

The movie features and centers on the mysterious character Uta, who is teased to be Shanks daughter in the teaser.

Source: Mantan Web