{"id":55607,"date":"2026-01-07T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=55607"},"modified":"2026-01-07T18:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T09:10:36","slug":"sword-art-online-director-believes-japanese-anime-has-the-potential-to-replace-hollywood-but-focusing-too-much-on-global-appeal-could-lead-to-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sword-art-online-director-believes-japanese-anime-has-the-potential-to-replace-hollywood-but-focusing-too-much-on-global-appeal-could-lead-to-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Sword Art Online director believes Japanese anime has the potential to replace Hollywood, but \u201cfocusing too much on global appeal could lead to failure\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Demon Slayer\u2019s Infinity Castle arc adaptation being crowned the highest-grossing Japanese film worldwide, to increasing government support for Western expansion of Japanese content<\/a>, the year 2025 has seen a great push in strengthening Japan\u2019s power in the global content market through its anime and pop culture. In a recent interview with Daily Shincho<\/a>, anime director Tomohiko Ito, best known for his work Sword Art Online<\/strong> and Erased<\/strong>, reflected on the state of the industry in the past year, and shared his opinions on the expansion of Japanese anime to the overseas market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking about the worldwide success of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba \u2013 The Movie: Infinity Castle <\/strong>and Chainsaw Man \u2013 The Movie: Reze Arc<\/strong>, Ito acknowledges that the Japanese anime industry has been explosively growing overseas in the past couple of years. \u201cI\u2019ve also recently heard the news that Toho had acquired a British anime distribution company, but I get the impression it was actually when Aniplex acquired Crunchyroll in 2020 that Japanese anime started exploding in popularity across the globe. Taking into consideration the WGA strike from a few years ago and the influence of Covid, it also seems like the influential power of Hollywood movies has been weakening, so I think [Japanese anime] have managed to become a good replacement for them,\u201d Ito said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

However, the Sword Art Online director also points out that, despite Japanese animated films being in the position to rise above the popularity of media giants like Hollywood, making anime with the global audience in mind could be a double-edged sword. \u201cThere have actually been many cases where focusing too much on \u201cglobal appeal\u201d has led to failure. I think Japanese people\u2019s idea of what could be well-received worldwide is probably something people overseas don\u2019t enjoy. However, the emphasis on political correctness is strong in America, so they might think, Japan is the only country that still produces works in which scantily clad girls battle, the kind of stuff that would be considered strange in North America<\/em>,\u201d Ito explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a related note, with \u201coverseas expansion\u201d becoming a hot topic in the past couple of years, many industry veterans have been discussing on how to exactly approach anime production knowing that there is huge demand for it beyond the domestic market. Similarly to Ito\u2019s remark, Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno, suggested that making anime for the global market is not the way to go<\/a>. \u201cI personally never made anything with the overseas audience in mind. I can only make domestic stuff. Production companies are quick to say\u00a0Think about the overseas market,\u00a0<\/em>but personally, that\u2019s not my goal [\u2026] My stance is simply \u2013 it first needs to be a work that will be well received and found interesting in Japan, but if by any chance people overseas also found it interesting, I\u2019d be grateful for that,\u201d Anno said in a recent interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related aritcles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neon Genesis Evangelion director Hideaki Anno doesn\u2019t believe creating for the global market is the way to go. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, but the audience will have to be the one to adapt\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dandadan\u2019s \u201ccopyright infringement\u201d controversy should be a wake-up call for the Japanese manga industry, says famous lawyer. \u201cManga should be made under global standards\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent interview, Sword Art Online director Tomohiko Ito talks about the expansion of Japan’s anime to the overseas market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":55609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[17,66],"class_list":["post-55607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-japan-related-news","tag-non-gaming-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nSword Art Online director believes Japanese anime has the potential to replace Hollywood, but \u201cfocusing too much on global appeal could lead to failure\u201d - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a recent interview, Sword Art Online director Tomohiko Ito talks about the expansion of Japan's anime to the overseas market.\" \/>\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\/sword-art-online-director-believes-japanese-anime-has-the-potential-to-replace-hollywood-but-focusing-too-much-on-global-appeal-could-lead-to-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sword Art Online director believes Japanese anime has the potential to replace Hollywood, but \u201cfocusing too much on global appeal could lead to failure\u201d - 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