It’s shonen time: Illustrators and manga fans speak about the much-awaited 'One Piece Film: Red'

In 1997 when Windows rsquo95 was still the biggest thing on the scene Eiichiro Oda began the first weekly run of a shonen for young boys comic series in Japan Twentyfive years and 103 volumes later One Piece is now into its final arcFor Indian fans the release of the latest One Piece Film Red in theatres across major metropolises in India on October 7 has raised the profile of a splintered anime community Anime and manga fans and illustrators speak to us about the series the film and the magic of the genreRise of mangaNikhil Ravikumar 28 CEO Pop CircuitThe film was a celebration for Chennaiite Ravikumar who organised a meetup below for over 600 fans to watch a screening on October 9 ldquoIn India the anime community is splintered into separate citybased groups We realised how much of a unifying force the series can berdquo he tells us The film is also a marker of the commercial viability of anime in India ldquoIn August we also had Jujutsu Kaisen Zero release in theatres which made theatre owners and distributors sit up and take noterdquo he says Talking about the film Ravikumar says that it is a ldquogatewayrdquo for new readers ldquoThere are no actual spoilers in the film about the plot to come in the futurerdquo he assures us adding ldquoOne Piece is specifically known for its world building Its world is rich and everything exists in this universe mdash technology magic politics baseball and samuraisrdquo he sums upChanging demographicSanidhya Chowdhury 25 illustrator and graphic designerChowdhury believes One Piece stands out for its continuity over two decades ldquoI donrsquot think the makers plan to end it either Fans also want to keep it goingrdquo he says As a fan he thinks that it is interesting that the film focuses on the character of Shanks rather than its hero mdash Luffy ldquoThe exciting thing is the animation and the lighting as well as the presence of Toei Animation studiordquo he says As an illustrator he remarks ldquoOdarsquos characters have an oldschool style of big eyes goofy natures and weird character shapes The animation has improved But the style and character design has remained consistent That appeals to merdquoThe art evolutionVishnu M Nair 29 illustrator and designerFor Nair it is Odarsquos slow evolution as a manga artist that fascinates him ldquoManga art is generally heavily rendered to get the depth of richness through texturesrdquo he says There is a certain boldness and comfort in each stroke that captures the motion lines and elasticity of the seriesrsquo panels he adds Aside from the technical details the worldbuilding and complexity of Luffyrsquos world in the story is an added bonus ldquoThe decision to build the filmrsquos story around Shanks is probably because he will play a bigger role in the final arc He has been an aloof character throughout the storiesrdquo he notesImproved accessibilityMalav Shah 24 studentFor Shah the fascination with Odarsquos series started in school Since then the MBA student has gone on to collect 100 volumes right of the series ldquoIt has a nostalgia that makes it specialrdquo Shah explains He attributes the growing popularity of the genre to the rise of OTT and Internet accessibility Shah points out that the price of Shonen Jump online has also come down considerably ldquoIt is easier to access their entire library onlinerdquo he notes As for the film the 24year old points out ldquoTraditionally anime movies do not move in the same direction as the comic seriesrdquo but adds that they are still part of the canon since this time Oda has created the characters himselfAn anime futureKamal Gianchandani CEO PVR Pictures and chief of strategy PVR LtdAnime is no longer a niche product but a growing genre in India evident by the sprawling consumption of anime films as well as series on all digital platforms We had a fairly concrete idea that this film is going to be embraced by veteran and newbie anime fans across the country