Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Directors Reveal Film’s Anime Influences

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was one of the best critically received Spider-Man films ever released, and much of that response was due to the film’s incredible visuals which inspired waves and waves of fan-art. Anime fans watching the film were particularly inspired as it seemed like the film was drawing inspiration from famous anime works as well as its superhero comic origins.

In a recent interview with IGN Japan, directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman revealed many of the anime inspirations they had when working on the film and the influences run the gamut from Akira, Hayao Miyazaki’s works to Sailor Moon.

Perischetti noted how the works of Hayao Miyazaki were particularly influential in how the film came together and helped shaped the overall tone and color of the film. Perischetti also interestingly noted how Miyazaki’s work is so pervasive in American culture, there’s at least a bit of the DNA of his works in any animated film in the West.

As for direct visual references, Peter Ramsey noted how the explosions and innovations in Akira helped the team strive forward. Spider-Verse was doing its best to innovate and push animation techniques of its own, but Perischetti noted how the film’s animation seemed to be playing “catchup” to Japan — which had been innovating animation in its own way for the last few years.

But the most surprising inspiration came from Sailor Moon, as the series served as a particular point of interest when developing the anime influenced Peni Parker. Though the manga and anime served as a base for her character, Peni was more of an amalgam of various characters to form their own unique take, “In a sense, we created Penny out of a bunch of different characters and doing them in our style.”

With as slick as the film eventually looked, it’s no surprise that it’s been a big point of interest to anime fans and the anime community at large as prominent creators such as the creator of Gundam commented on the film. Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman with a screenplay by Phil Lord, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has netted multiple awards nominations and even took home an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

The film stars Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Jake Johnson as Peter Parker, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, Mahershala Ali as Uncle Aaron, Liev Schreiber as Wilson Fisk, Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir, John Mulaney as Spider-Ham, Kimiko Glenn as Peni Parker, Lily Tomlin as Aunt May, Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Davis, and Luna Lauren Velez as Rio Morales. Here’s an excerpt from ComicBook.com’s review, and you can find the full review here:

“Overall, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse isn’t just a fun movie; it’s one of the best Spider-Man movies you’re likely to ever see. Spider-Man 2 from the Sam Raimi days has long been my favorite Spider-Man movie, but I think it’s finally been been moved to second place — though I’m going to have to watch Spider-Verse at least four or five more times to be sure.”

via IGN Japan