Times Square taken over by Straw Hat Pirates ahead of One Piece release 【Pics & Videos】

New Yorkers are seeing Red.

There appears to be no stopping the roll that the film One Piece Film: Red is on. Now into its third month of being the number one film in Japan and raking in 16.2 billion yen (US$111 million) to date, it’s well on track to being among the most successful Japanese movies of all time.

So in anticipation of Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates making landfall in North America, Toei Animation and Crunchyroll went all out by draping New York’s famous Times Square all in One Piece for a solid hour.

Fans filled the street as the start time of 7 p.m. drew near. Then, a lot of the massive screens appeared to go blank as a countdown timer appeared on all the massive screens. After that, the One Piece logo flashed on all the participating screens each one began to run a montage of different story arcs from the very long-running series.

Next, one by one each character made their stories-tall appearance, starting with Luffy, who could be seen punching his way through several city blocks.

He was followed by the rest of the major players in One Piece Film: Red.

▼ Zoro

▼ Nami

▼ Usopp

▼ Sanji

▼ Chopper

▼ Nico Robin

▼ Franky

▼ Brook

▼ Jinbe

And it finished with the two central characters of the movie, Shanks and Uta.

The entire scene ran for about two minutes but continued on a loop for an hour so people could walk around and take it all in from different angles.

The takeover took place two days after the North American premier of One Piece Film: Red at New York Comic Con on 6 October.

The movie played to a packed room of 450 enthusiastic fans and a panel was held featuring the producers and English voice actors.

As for everyone else in North America, the first chance to check out One Piece Film: Red won’t be until… Um, I forgot…

Oh yeah! Thanks, giant Times Square screens!

Images: © Eiichiro Oda/2022 “One Piece” production committee
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