{"id":50780,"date":"2025-08-07T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=50780"},"modified":"2025-08-06T17:47:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T08:47:30","slug":"western-audiences-growing-tired-of-formulaic-disney-titles-is-what-paved-the-way-for-japanese-anime-toei-animation-veterans-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/western-audiences-growing-tired-of-formulaic-disney-titles-is-what-paved-the-way-for-japanese-anime-toei-animation-veterans-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Western audiences growing tired of \u201cformulaic\u201d Disney titles is what paved the way for Japanese anime, Toei Animation veterans say\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the past decade, anime has rapidly transformed from a niche subculture to a global industry that accounts for a huge chunk of Japan\u2019s exports. Although a lot has already been said about why anime became so big outside of Japan, it\u2019s not every day you get to hear the perspectives of industry figures who were around to witness US movie theaters refusing to screen anime first-hand. Creators from Toei Animation, Japan\u2019s oldest anime studio, recently talked about \u201cThe reasons behind anime\u2019s popularity that Japanese people don\u2019t know about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to President Online<\/a>, Tatsuya Nagamine, a veteran anime director at Toei Animation (who directed Dragon Ball Super: Broly and much of the One Piece anime) says that the reason why Japanese anime has become so big on a worldwide level is because it offers \u201ceccentric\u201d works. \u201cRight now, only Japanese animation offers bizarre stories where you truly can\u2019t predict what will happen next.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dragon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nagamine compares the position of Japan in animation to that of France in haute couture. \u201cJapanese anime creators are like French designers. You could say the whole world is anxiously waiting to see what kind of strange creations they\u2019ll put out next.\u201d On a more practical note, he also mentions the importance of Japanese anime predominantly being produced for television. As airing shows rotate every three months, there is a constant turnover of new titles that satisfy a wide range of tastes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an antithesis to Japanese animated works, Nagamine cites the works of Disney and similar Western studios, which he considers to be formulaic. \u201cI think overseas fans of animation are already tired of predictable Disney-style works.\u201d\u00a0Ironically, Toei has at occasions been referred to as “The Disney of Asia” for how it pioneered animation production in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toei Animation\u2019s producer and adviser Shinji Shimizu doubles down on this perspective, commenting, \u201cJapanese anime comes from comics. There is great care put into the characters. Disney, on the other hand, has predetermined storylines, and there is always a happy ending. In Japanese anime, you may see a protagonist die halfway through, or a villain turn out to be a hero \u2013 it\u2019s made to be satisfying even for adults.\u201d Although anime is a large-scale commercial export, its roots lie in the niche realm of manga, which has been relatively free of restrictions. Shimizu suggests that this is what compelled \u201cUS audiences, who grew tired of Disney\u201d to turn to anime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Galaxy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But despite how global it has become, Toei\u2019s veterans consider that the appeal of anime lies precisely in its Japaneseness. Shimizu comments, \u201cWhat the world is paying attention to in anime is Japanese culture, but not things like kabuki or sumo. It\u2019s everyday life.\u201d Citing examples such as Western viewers\u2019 fascinations with the school and campus life of students in Japan, he concludes that Japanese anime has found success by visually presenting aspects of Japanese life that don\u2019t exist overseas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, an aspect of anime that has changed with the medium\u2019s expansion into the global market is undoubtedly the production scale and costs. Although competition between domestic studios is also a factor, Nagamine says that audience expectations are why anime has become so much more detailed with time. \u201cIf the quality isn\u2019t high, you can\u2019t win, and when you consider [the demands of] the overseas market, you have to keep raising the quality.\u201d Kadokawa, another big player in Japan\u2019s anime industry, has similarly shared plans to shift to higher budget production<\/a>, which it considers a necessary condition for achieving global commercial success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related articles: Overseas sales of Japanese content increased by over 1 trillion yen in 2023, carried primarily by console games and anime\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japanese political party wants video games and anime to be put under state authority to make sure they\u2019re \u201cwholesome,\u201d and people are angry\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creators at Toei Animation, Japan’s oldest anime studio, share perspectives on what has made Japanese anime so popular on a global level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":50783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-50780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nWestern audiences growing tired of \u201cformulaic\u201d Disney titles is what paved the way for Japanese anime, Toei Animation veterans say\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Creators at Toei Animation, Japan's oldest anime studio, share perspectives on what has made Japanese anime so popular on a global level.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/western-audiences-growing-tired-of-formulaic-disney-titles-is-what-paved-the-way-for-japanese-anime-toei-animation-veterans-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Western audiences growing tired of \u201cformulaic\u201d Disney titles is what paved the way for Japanese anime, Toei Animation veterans say\u00a0 - 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