Watch One Piece Film Red’s Uta Perform at Japan’s New Year’s Yearly Music Competition
To ring in the New Year, NHK holds a yearly music competition with some of the top acts from the past 12 months as well as some crowd favorites. For the first time ever, an anime character performed live on stage next to the likes of Hinatazaka46 and JO1 with Uta belting out her famous tune “New Genesis” from One Piece Film Red.
???? 新時代
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???? ウタ⚡NHKプラスではフルで配信中https://t.co/Ld8d1t2LA4#ウタ#BEFIRST #JO1 #LE_SSERAFIM #乃木坂46 #NHK紅白 #みんなでシェア pic.twitter.com/FvochGywDD
— NHK紅白歌合戦 (@nhk_kouhaku) December 31, 2022
Alongside the performance, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda released a special illustration that was shown during the 73rd Kohaku Uta Gassen of all the Straw Hats in red and white.
The red and white symbolize the two teams that compete during Kohaku, with the red being the majority female team and the white being the majority male team. Uta competed in the red team alongside the likes of Aimer, who sang the opening from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc, and SEKAI NO OWARI, which didn’t win this year.
The crown was taken by the white team, who had Official HIGE DANdism, JO1, Vaundy, Gen Hoshino, who sang the SPY x FAMILY ending theme, as well as many other acts that were popular over 2022.
RELATED: One Piece Film Red Sails Through Japan Box Office Top 10 for 20 Consecutive Weeks
Uta made history at the competition, being not only the first anime character to perform 100% live but the first fully virtual character to perform on stage interacting with hosts and other acts. This just caps off an amazing year for One Piece Film Red and Uta as a character.
Source: NHK Kohaku on Twitter (1, 2)
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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.
