One Piece Fan Letter is more canon than fans realize

Modified Oct 24, 2024 02:30 GMT

One Piece Fan Letter has a unique role in the series' canon (Image via Toei Animation)

The One Piece Fan Letter episode has generated more hype than people might have thought at first, although most fans assumed that it was mostly filler, especially when taking into account that the anime will be on hiatus until April of 2025, However, that doesn't make it any less canon.

The One Piece Fan Letter episode is adapting content from the officially licensed spin-off novel Straw Hat Stories, which is considered canon by author Eiichiro Oda. Therefore, this could be viewed as part of the franchise's official story, and it also presents an interesting debate regarding what is actual filler and whether that term has changed throughout the years.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

Explaining how One Piece Fan Letter could be viewed as canon in the series' official story

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As mentioned earlier, the One Piece Fan Letter special episode was a loose adaptation of the 2017 novel Straw Hat Stories, which mostly focused on the characters of the Straw Hat crew, such as Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and a few more.

Since this episode came out on October 20 during the anime's regular time slot, several viewers are wondering if these stories are canon or simple filler to cover said slot.

These stories are viewed as canon since author Eiichiro Oda approved of them, which means that they are events that did happen in the official portions of the series. However, this also proves to be an interesting discussion regarding what constitutes canon and what is filler, beyond the fact that the latter are mostly viewed as events that weren't part of the manga.

Canon is mostly viewed as everything that is part of the source material and supplementary stories that were penned by the author or approved by them. In that regard, One Piece Fan Letter does fit in this description of being canon. However, these stories involving Luffy, Robin, and Zoro don't affect the overarching narrative, which can lead to some debates about these being filler or "canon filler."

The premise of One Piece Fan Letter

The young girl as seen in One Piece Fan Letter (Image via Toei Animation)

The bulk of One Piece Fan Letter focuses on the Straw Hats reuniting at Sabaody after the two-year time skip, and the lives of the people living there. It focuses on several short stories, such as a young girl going on an adventure and citing Nami as her idol, and a couple of pirates debating who the strongest is between Roronoa Zoro and Dracule Mihawk.

There are also several instances when the episode gives a bit of focus to the members of the Straw Hat crew, such as Zoro dealing with a couple of people mocking his fighting style with three swords. There is also a moment where an older marine is inspired by Luffy's actions to save his brother, Ace, which becomes one of the highlights of the episode.

Final thoughts

The One Piece Fan Letter episode could be viewed as an intermission of sorts, with the actual progress scheduled for the upcoming installments. However, by all accounts, it should be considered canon if the author of the series considers it as such.

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Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay