Mainstreaming anime.

It doesn't seem that any particular anime film or series, no matter how lauded, will be solely responsible for the mainstreaming of anime in the west. Despite its Oscar and festival awards, its rave reviews and family-friendly appeal, Spirited Away has still grossed just under $10 million in the US (though it's earned over $250 million outside the US). But a piece in Sunday's Los Angeles Times suggests that, just as Tarantino stirred up interest in Hong Kong action flicks in the 90s, it could be a series of Hollywood live-action films that finally tips the scales in anime's favor in the 00s.

That series would be the Matrix films, of course. "Inspired by the film they inspired" is a close look at the Animatrix collection, a broader skim-over of the cross-cultural exchange that's been going on between Japanese animation and Hollywood fare over the past several years and a brief intro to the work of the masters.

If you're past that point, go straight to the news pouring out of the conventions via Anime News Network and the typically humongous Anime Report from AICN. At the same time, though, as it seeps into other media, such as the Gameboy, and claims more hours on US television, you can't help wondering if going mainstream is necessary a good thing for anime. As the "computer animation consultant" Michael Arias is quoted as saying in the LAT piece, "The American film industry tends to absorb things, chew them up and spit them out in a processed, diluted form. My biggest fear is that Japanese animation will eventually become McAnime."

Online viewing tip. URDA, the fifth and final episode; via Natsume Maya, who'll tell you which version (high or low quality) is available when and for how long.



Posted by dwhudson at June 2, 2003 5:44 AM