By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

This is likely going to be a controversial opinion but I am not a big supporter of specials, movies, and OVAs being considered part of a story’s canon. This is largely stemming from my feelings regarding the death of the author critical approach to a text, but also because relying on additions to the main source materials means that you are separating a part of your audience, probably a large part of your audience, from the full story.

Not everyone sees the movie, or the OVA special that was only in select DVD releases, or specials that came out on an anniversary year ages ago. I would argue it is likely a minority who see it. So, that means that while it might contextualize some things better, it’s not going to have the same impact as the source materials.

Likewise, I fail to see cameos of a character in canon materials being the proof that makes those specials canon for the main story.

With that said, I have asked this question (is it canon?) many times and found that fans across various spaces frequently find themselves conflicted over whether the side-stories featured in such media is an integral component of the overarching storyline for the main work. Some have said that if the work holds no real impact on the main narrative, then it is not canon, which I would largely agree with. Some say that it is canon as long as it carries the same title/character(s). Others give it a case-by-case analysis or base their decision off of what the creators say.

I’m definitely not in “creator says” camp, if you can’t tell by my previous mentions of such things (and, again, my staunch belief in the death of the author critical approach), but since I’ve been reminded of this topic again during our editing overhaul, let’s explore the question: are anime specials, movies, and OVAs considered canon?

Firstly, let’s establish what “canon” means in the context of anime (applicable to manga, but I’m setting that aside). Canon refers to the official material recognized as part of the story’s continuity, contributing to the overall narrative and character development. It includes the main series episodes or chapters that form the central plotline.

With this in mind, some may consider comic tie-ins to be a part of the central canon. Such as with Hazbin Hotel or My Student Spirit, both titles of which I have discussed on this blog and both that have comics which tie into the main story. However, despite me using comic tie-ins in my reviews or recommendation, I would not say that they are part of the canon because, in all likelihood, many people are likely not going to read the Hazbin Hotel or My Student Spirit comics. Hazbin Hotel, when it was first released, was short and took some puzzle-solving skills to access on the website. Meanwhile My Student Spirit comics are a difficult-to-procure piece of media, with me having to repurchase one of the issues a few times from various sources as a result of people losing a copy or having sold out and not updating stock numbers online.

So, because part of the audience, probably a large part of the audience, won’t access these things, they can’t really be used as a central element in understanding the story. So, for example, the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics and Korra’s comics are not applicable to the main storyline of the animation. They are their own, separate canon to a comic canon universe even if these two series make cross references to each other. Unless it was important enough to include in the main series of those works, it isn’t canon to that work. The reasoning is similar to the reasons behind the death of the author critical approach and also because most of the audience likely won’t see, or look up, that media for themselves. They won’t look up that interview by the creator that gives out significant spoilers, which I don’t count as canon either because all that really matters is the work itself.

As such, anime specials, which are standalone episodes typically released outside the regular series schedule and which vary heavily in their canonical status exist (to me) purely for entertainment, and I ignore them unless their inclusion impacts the main plot with enough significance to warrant consideration.

Anime movies for a series are left out as well, since they more often exist as alternate timelines, or “what-if” scenarios, or act similarly as standalone adventures. Some OVAs make this critical approach difficult, however, as they can offer crucial character arcs or provide additional world-building, earning them a spot in the official continuity. However, my main point stands—these aren’t in the main storyline and a good amount of the audience is isolated by depending on these inclusions when looking at the work critically.

Perhaps, if the series really does impact the work greatly, I would consider the additions part of the canon. For example, How To Train Your Dragon had a several seasons-long show. Technically, it had two series between the second and third movie, each with different titles but whose stories were deeply interconnected by continuing plot lines. I would consider both shows canon to each other, and given how interconnected the characters are from the movies, I would consider those part of the canon as well—at least, canon to the TV shows. However, the movies are a standalone universe. Technically, so are the shows as they don’t really need the movies when the stories are fine within the context of themselves. The movies don’t need the show to be rounded, and though the third movie makes mention of the archipelago explored in the shows, the shows really can’t be considered canon to the movie series because (1) they have no impact on the movie’s story and (2) I would wager that most of the audience didn’t watch the series and didn’t suffer from missing that content.

With that logic, the same can be said for the TV shows, as the shows were also standalone. In fact, I showed it to several friends that never saw the first movies until after the TV show and, because the shows were their own standalone works, they too didn’t suffer from not knowing the original movies from which said shows stem. Meaning that as far as the TV audience is concerned, similarly to the movie audience, the canon could be disconnected and still work. They are their own canon. Certainly closely related, but separate enough to exist in their own universe and, thereby, have their own canon in a literary sense.

So, while I might consider them canon as a fan, from a critical standpoint, they’re not.

Which brings me to Uta from One Piece (oh yes, I’m going there fellow One Piece fans) because, is she canon?

The comments on my One Piece Film: RED post certainly argues so, but a cameo and Oda saying she is, are not enough to prove it to me. Luffy enjoying singing and wanting a bard could have just as much of a basis in his own childish wants for meat that we see in-show as they do Uta in-movie. What matters, really, is what the largest audience will know based solely on the work itself, not on what a movie or interview—which requires extra work and isolates the a significant portion of the audience that did not see such things—says.

Call that what you will, but it’s the same reason I don’t see what happens in a novel as spoilers for the comic or anime.

While I can certainly agree that some supplementary features seamlessly integrate into the main storyline, enriching the narrative experience, that doesn’t mean that they don’t still exist in their own way as a standalone piece of often experimental deviation to what is legitimate canon. While they may add an extra layer of depth to the appreciation of these beloved worlds and stories, or while I may use them to better understand a work for myself, I can’t say that it will be the same as the canonical storyline presented in the main text and I hope that makes sense to you reading.

So, agree or disagree? Tell me why, because I’d like to see someone prove me wrong and, if they can, then hopefully I can use that to prove that Billy (featured in the header image of this post) can be part of One Piece canon too!

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Copyedited by: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee