A leading figure in Japanese animation reveals that by choosing to turn to this technique, major Hollywood franchises are distorting it.
The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are said to be harming Japanese animation
What do The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Spider-Man have in common? Beyond being the most lucrative franchises in cinema, they have all been adapted through the prism of Japanese animation. Last year, The War of the Rohirrim was adapted by the animation branch of Warner Bros. (in partnership with Weta Workshop and New Line Cinema). Since 2021, Star Wars has been relying on Japanese animation for its series of short films, Star Wars Visions. Sony, for its part, has partnered with Wit Studio (Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga) to develop two Spider-Man films to highlight the character of Miles Morales. These variations are therefore on the rise and are a big trend in Hollywood. But why? According to Mie Onishi, international advisor to the studio CoMix Wave Films and its president and co-founder Noritaka Kawaguchi, this upsurge in artistic proposals is not healthy. Worse, they completely distort the genre.
"Japanese animation is not a genre"
At the media outlet Animecorner, the two women, whose studio was behind the excellent animated films Your Name and Suzume, shared their fears. "When I talk to Hollywood producers lately, they ask me, 'Can't you do that in anime?' In fact, behind these questions lies: 'It's cheap if it's an anime. This is a vision that deeply annoys me. It's not a good idea to animate everything. Anime is a method, not a genre.
Understand behind this phrase, Japanese animation has its own codes, rules, and technique that don't work with any Western franchise. Furthermore, a good script is no guarantee of success. We saw this with War of the Rohirrim. The film, whose universe was inspired by Medieval Europe, had an oriental visual style, for a very confusing result, in addition to carrying a narrative rhythm very different from animated productions. Japanese.
Inflation, actors' salaries, and the explosion of production budgets have undoubtedly been a decisive factor in the choice of major studios to turn to Japanese animation. Without actors and actresses to pay, without traveling to the four corners of the world, and without grandiloquent film sets, the temptation remains great.
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