As you might know, One Piece has become a worldwide phenomenon among anime enthusiasts over the last two decades. The anime has already established itself as one of the greatest. And because of its monumental success, many One Piece movies have been released to expand on existing plotlines or set the stage for new adventures for the Straw Hat Pirates. While almost all One Piece movies are non-canon, they have manga-canon moments from time to time.
With over 1,000 episodes and 15 movies under its belt, it can be confusing for new One Piece fans to follow the right order. Well, there’s no need to worry, as we have you covered. In this guide, we have answered one of the most frequently asked questions: In what order should we watch the One Piece movies? Where do the One Piece movies fit in order among the 1000+ episodes? Keep reading as we answer these questions, listing the movies in release date as well as ranked order.
If you plan to watch all the One Piece movies, we have also included the watch order below. So, let’s get started:
Note: While many anime watchers tend to skip filler episodes, you will need to watch certain One Piece filler arcs before certain movies. For example, before watching One Piece Film: Red, you will need to watch Uta’s Past arc (filler arc). For detailed information on this, visit our One Piece arcs order list.
One Piece Movies: Order to Watch
Essentially, there are two ways to watch One Piece movies in the correct order. The first method is the easiest, where you can watch the movies in the order of the year they were released. The second method is the chronological order, where you can watch the One Piece movies along with the anime episodes.
That latter makes more sense for diehard One Piece fans. You can choose either way to watch these films based on your demands and liking. That said, let’s look at the ways to watch One Piece films:
Release Date Order
If you are planning to watch all of the One Piece movies based on the release order, it’s easy. We have listed the One Piece movies based on their release order here:
- One Piece: The Movie (2000)
- One Piece: Clockwork Island Adventure (2001)
- One Piece: Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals (2002)
- One Piece: Dead End Adventure (2003)
- The Cursed Holy Sword (2004)
- One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (2005)
- One Piece: The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle (2006)
- One Piece – Episode of Arabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates (2007)
- One Piece – Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura (2008)
- One Piece Film: Strong World (2009)
- One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase (2011)
- One Piece Film: Z (2012)
- One Piece Film: Gold (2016)
- One Piece: Stampede (2019)
- One Piece Film: Red (2022)
Chronological Order
If you are going to watch all the movies while binge-watching the anime, follow the below order and watch them alongside the corresponding episodes. The chronological order for One Piece movies is:
- One Piece: The Movie (watch after episode 18)
- One Piece: Clockwork Island Adventure (watch after episode 53)
- One Piece: Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals (watch after episode 102)
- One Piece: Dead End Adventure (watch after episode 138)
- The Cursed Holy Sword (watch after episode 143)
- One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (watch after episode 224)
- One Piece: The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle (watch after episode 228)
- One Piece – Episode of Arabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates (watch after episode 312)
- One Piece – Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura (watch after episode 325)
- One Piece Film: Strong World (watch after episode 429)
- One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase (watch after episode 381)
- One Piece Film: Z (watch after episode 578)
- One Piece Film: Gold (watch after episode 750)
- One Piece: Stampede (watch after episode 889)
- One Piece Film: Red (watch after episode 1030)
Best One Piece Movies: Ranked List
To help you decide whether to watch a One Piece movie or skip it, we have ranked the films in this list from the most enjoyable to the ones you can skip without a second thought.
15. One Piece: Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals (2002)
- Title: One Piece: Chinjou Shima no chopper koku
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 56 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.3/6.9
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Skip
Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals is the third movie under the One Piece banner. Unfortunately, even the kawaii side of Chopper couldn’t save this movie. When the Straw Hats visit Crown Island, they surprisingly find talking animals, who make Chopper their king.
Further, as expected from One Piece, these animals are being hunted by some human hunters and Luffy’s crew must save them. This movie is regarded as a complete disaster among fans and the only reason you should watch it is Sanji and Zoro’s fight scenes. You can pretty much watch those fight scenes and skip this entire film, saving you some precious time.
14. One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase (2011)
- Title: One Piece 3D: Mugiwara cheisu
- Genre: Animation, Action, Short
- Runtime: 30 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.6/7.0
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Skip
One Piece 3D: Straw Hat Chase is the eleventh movie in the One Piece movies list. It was released along with a 3D Toriko movie as a double feature. This movie is not celebrated by the fandom as it looks like a cut scene from a One Piece video game, and the 3D aspect did not gather much praise.
Here’s the plot of the One Piece 3D movie – One day Luffy wakes up to find his beloved Straw Hat crew members missing, so he embarks on a pursuit to find them. Although this movie is only 30 minutes long, you should skip it.
13. One Piece: The Cursed Holy Sword (2004)
- Title: One piece: Norowareta seiken
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.6/7.1
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Skip
One Piece: The Cursed Holy Sword is the fifth One Piece movie released back in 2004. As the name suggests, this movie primarily focuses on Straw Hats’ swordsman Zoro. The Straw Hats learns about a mighty sword Shichiseiken, which is on Asuka Island. This sword is said to be the costliest sword of all time and they want to get their hands on it for Zoro.
But soon after, Zoro disappears and the marines come knocking at their door. Now, the Straw Hats must escape this trap and get their swordsman back. Though the story sounds interesting, the movie is the complete opposite. You can watch the movie if you love Zoro, but we wouldn’t suggest you do.
12. One Piece: The Movie (2000)
- Title: Kaisokuou ni ore wa naru
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 51 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.6/7.1
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Skip
One Piece: The Movie (2000) is the very first movie released as part of this popular anime series. It was released almost two decades back and sure has a nostalgic animation style that looks purely aesthetic. But sadly, the movie doesn’t have any gripping story to keep you glued to the screen.
This movie takes place before Sanji joined the crew, so Sanji fans you can skip it already. Further, it was released before One Piece became a huge phenomenon too. So this movie has a simple plot that involves the Straw Hats going on a treasure hunt adventure. It certainly gives you the ‘meh’ feeling upon completion, so don’t waste your time watching this one. It is a definite watch if you wish to relive the beginning days of the Straw Hats.
11. One Piece – Episode of Arabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates (2009)
- Title: One Piece: Episode of Alabaster – Sabaku no Ojou to Kaizoku Tachi
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.8/7.32
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Watch
We all know already that the Arabasta arc is one of the best arcs in One Piece. This movie is a recap of the events in Arabasta, but the best part is that it has all been reanimated in top quality. The story of Arabasta’s arc was condensed well in this movie, but it felt rushed. It was because the Arabasta arc is best seen as an arc, with several minute details, and not as a movie.
Thus, someone who has watched the anime arc should watch this movie only to see the action scenes in top-notch quality. Otherwise, it is easily skippable as it doesn’t offer us anything other than what we already know.
10. One Piece: The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle (2006)
- Title: One Piece: Karakuri Shiro no Mecha Kyohei
- Genre: Animation, Action, Comedy
- Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.5/7.2
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Watch
When the Straw Hats find a treasure box and open it, they only find an Old Lady inside it. She asks the help of the Straw Hats to return to her homeland. In return, she promises the treasure of a golden crown on her Mecha Island. When they reach the island, the crew finds themselves under attack by the island’s Lord. However, he changes his mind later on and asks for them to help find the treasure.
As funny as the plot sounds, that’s how this One Piece movie goes. It has some outstanding action scenes and that makes it worth a watch for most fans.
9. One Piece – Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura (2008)
- Title: One Piece: Episôdo obu Choppâ + Fuyu ni saku, kiseki no sakura
- Genre: Animation, Action, Comedy
- Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 7.0/7.5
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Watch
While the Episode of the Arabasta movie retold the same story as the anime, this movie is different. You must be wondering why. The answer is pretty simple. This arc is more of a recap of the Drum Island arc but with many of the events changed. For example – Robin and Franky who were not a part of the Straw Hats crew back then are here, and the villain Wapol has a brother in the movie.
So the creators tried to change up the events of this arc, as if they were taking place in a parallel or alternative world. So this parallel world factor makes the things we see very interesting here and that makes this movie a watchable ride. I mean it’s all the same, Luffy trying to save Nami but in a different setting.
8. One Piece: Clockwork Island Adventure (2001)
- Title: One Piece: Nejimaki Shima no bôken
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 55 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.7/7.1
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Watch
While the first One Piece movie was kinda meh, the second one fixes all the mistakes of the previous one and delivers a great watch. Clockwork Island Adventure (2001) is the second One Piece movie to hit the theatres. The plot of the movie is: When Straw Hats are taking some time off and relaxing, their ship Going Merry gets stolen by a crew of bandits. On their way, they find out information regarding their ship from two thief brothers. Now upon reaching that island all of the crew’s important belongings like the Straw Hat, Zoro’s sword, etc., get stolen again. Now the crew must find a way to retrieve all of their items and the ship.
This movie has a straightforward story and a good old animation. The action scenes are great and showcase the talents of the Straw Hats against a fun group of villains. This was the first One Piece-esque movie and it captivated all the fans’ hearts. So easily this movie needs to be watched if you love One Piece.
7. One Piece: Dead End Adventure (2003)
- Title: One Piece: Dead End no bôken
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 7.2/7.5
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Watch
One Piece: Dead End Adventure (2003) is the first One Piece movie to have a run time of over 90 minutes making it a full-length featured movie. The story of the movie is the Straw Hats enroll themselves in a pirate death race named Dead End and are facing a mighty opponent. What makes this movie so good to watch is the villain here, Gasparde is an ex-marine who worked as a vice admiral and he has a powerful devil fruit too. He had a pretty cool sidekick, a bounty hunter named Shuraiya. The Straw Hats are challenged well and will they win the race? and for that, you need to watch the movie and see for yourself.
6. One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (2005)
- Title: One Piece: Omatsuri danshaku to himitsu no shima
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 7.2/7.7
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Must Watch
The Straw Hats receive an advertisement for the recreation island which has resorts and a lot more fun. So they decide to hit the brakes on their journey to Grand Line and relax on this island. Upon visiting, the island sure looked like a happy place and the island’s head Baron Omatsuri welcomed them.
However, they were given a contest that consisted of 7 challenges to be completed in order to achieve greater relaxation. The crew accepts it but there is an unresolved mystery about the place and its people. What awaits the Straw Hats covers the rest of the movie. This movie is said to have a darker tone and we don’t want to spoil anything. This is easily a must-watch One Piece movie and you’ll know why once you complete this one.
5. One Piece Film: Gold (2016)
- Title: One Piece Film: Gold
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 2 hours
- IMDB/MAL: 7.2/7.9
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Must Watch
Have you ever dreamed of seeing the Straw Hats go on a casino adventure? if so then the result is One Piece Film: Gold (2016). The Straw Hats visit the Gran Tesoro ship which has the greatest entertainment city in it filled with casinos and much more. The Straw Hats decide to gamble but get caught in a series of events which they need to pull back from and they are going to perform a “Heist”.
With that said, you can pretty much guess the plot of the movie but the game changer here is the coolest scenes of Straw Hats in the blistering animation. It is an incredible ride right from the start to the end and offers the great fan service we all wanted. Thus, this movie is another must-watch we have on our list.
4. One Piece Film: Red (2022)
- Title: One Piece Film: Red
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 6.5/8.0
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Must Watch
One Piece Film: Red (2022) is the latest addition to the list of One Piece and is rampaged over the box office. This movie is marked with the blockbuster tag already and there is one name behind it yes as the title suggests it’s our Shanks. This movie is primarily about Shanks and his daughter Uta. Uta is hosting a concert on an island and the Straw Hats visit the concert but things don’t go as we expected and it takes a huge turn. As we mentioned earlier, the show stealer of this movie is Shanks and of course Uta too.
While the songs can be a little annoying as there are quite a lot of them which occupy the first act of the movie. The final act is where things start blasting off the roof, we assure you that you will enjoy it a lot. There are easter eggs here and you can witness the true legendary powers of Shanks. So this easily belongs on the list of must-watch One Piece movies.
3. One Piece: Stampede (2019)
- Title: One Piece: Stampede
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 7.5/8.2
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Must Watch
Out of all the 15 movies here, I think that One Piece: Stampede (2019) was purely made for just fan service for fans across the world. The plot of the movie is as follows: The Straw Hats participate in a pirate festival where numerous famous pirates take part too. They soon discover a contest in which all the pirates enter a free-for-all battle royale to find another one of Roger’s treasures he left behind. But there is another mystery about this strange competition and it all gets revealed when a certain character is introduced.
As the plot suggests, we get to see most of our favorite pirate crews and even marines all under one roof. Whilst the story may sound crazy, the Avengers endgame-esque lineup of favorite characters never failed to steal our hearts. The action scenes are wonderful and there are too many characters who showcased their powers. So, for all the One Piece anime fans out this is truly one of the best One Piece you shouldn’t miss at any cost.
2. One Piece Film: Strong World (2009)
- Title: Wan pisu firumu: sutorongu warudo
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 7.5/8.1
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Must Watch
The Straw Hats receive the devastating news that islands in East Blue are getting obliterated, so they decide to take this matter into their own hands. Soon they find out the man behind this disaster is Shiki the Golden Lion who was a legendary character and an ex-member of the Rocks Pirates. Shiki wants to destroy the marines so he steals our Nami to become their navigator. Straw Hats now must unite to fight against a legend and rescue Nami.
This movie showed us the devil fruit powers of Shiki. Once again the Straw Hats are facing a big challenge and it pushes them to the next level. Even though it’s not canon, it’s totally intriguing to see the Straw Hats against a former member of the Rocks Pirates. I think fact alone is more than enough for a One Piece fan to start watching this gem of a movie.
1. One Piece Film: Z (2012)
- Title: One Piece Film: Z
- Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
- Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes
- IMDB/MAL: 7.8/8.2
- Should You Watch or Skip it?: Must Watch
One Piece Film: Z (2012) is still considered to be the best One Piece movie released to this day. This movie is based on a former marine and has lots of our terrifying admirals show up to steal the show. During one of their adventures, the Straw Hat Pirates encounter a former marine admiral named Z. It is said that he has stolen a dangerous weapon “Dyna Stones,” which poses a serious threat to the new world and humanity. The Marines declare war against this former marine, and the Straw Hats also decide to go against him to put a full stop to his world-ending plans.
This movie has a heartfelt story involving the former marine and is a tear-jerker. And for the action, you have plenty of it – not just from our beloved Straw Hats but also from the admirals. The villain Z is impressive and is one of the main reasons that will keep you engrossed. This One Piece film earned the blockbuster tag and is a must-watch One Piece movie for all the fans out there.
So if you’re a fan of the One Piece anime, watching these movies is a great way to learn more about your favorite characters. However, do watch the movies in the correct order to avoid confusion and to fully appreciate the continuity of the series. That said, grab some popcorn and get ready to set sail on a thrilling adventure with Luffy and his crew! Also, let us know your favorite One Piece movies in the comments below.
Currently, there are 15 One Piece movies you can watch alongside the anime series. None of the movies is canon (except the recap episode movies like Arabasta and Drum Island Kingdom). However, there are canon characters like Shiki (Strong World), and Uta (Film: Red) who play a major part in filler movies.
There are two ways in which you can watch the One Piece movies. You can either watch the One Piece movies in the release order (based on their year of release) or in chronological order. We have mentioned both the orders to enjoy the adventures of Luffy and his Straw Hat crew in this guide.
No! The movie stories are not canon, however, some of the characters in the movie are canons such as Shiki (Strong World), and Uta (Film: Red). So, the movies are connected to the One Piece anime, but not to each other.
Yes! you can skip almost all of the One Piece movies. However, there are some amazing One Piece movies that deserve to be seen by the fans. We have also ranked all of the existing One Piece movies to give you an idea of what you can watch and skip.
You can watch them separately after finishing the series. But I would highly recommend you to watch it in chronological order along with binge-watching the anime.
Ajith Kumar
