Paramount, Sony Executives Reveal What Hollywood Must Do To Fix Anime Curse

When it comes to Hollywood, the industry has yet to figure out the best way to adapt anime. With the Japanese medium growing by the day, fans and execs alike are eager to bring anime onto the big screen, but previous flops like Dragonball Evolution have held the genre back. But if one group of insiders have anything to say, it is that the adaptation curse will end soon.

Why? Well, Maya Kambe of Paramount Pictures thinks the key will come to doing different adaptation formats. Rather than film, it may be television who holds the key to live-action anime.

Recently, Kambe appeared at Project Anime alongside other Hollywood executives working with anime. It was there she used Game of Thrones to illustrate how anime could use live-action television series to end Hollywood’s curse.

“Look at Game of Thrones. People are willing to go deep into world building over a period of time. Series adaptations is a great way to go (for longer manga series),” Kambe said (via Deb Aoki).

“There’s a lot of movie adaptations of manga in the works, but there’s not many live action TV series adaptations. When you condense a manga series into 2 hours, you do a disservice to the world-building that the fans love so much.”

The executive from Paramount Pictures was joined on the panel by Tony Ishizuka, the vice president of international productions at Sony Pictures. He seconded the thoughts and stressed upcoming adaptations need to focus on character and story above surface-level aesthetics.

“It comes down to story & character. I’ve seen an increase in stories that have more universal appeal — that work locally and can be enjoyed globally. Eventually, we’ll see more content that will check all the boxes for global audiences,” Ishizuka said.

Right now, there are plenty of live-action adaptations of anime series in the works, but several of them are eyeing film rather than television. Recently, Netflix did as much with Death Note, but the film’s mixed reviews seems to have taught the company a lesson. Currently, the streaming service is working on a live-action version of Cowboy Bebop, but the project will be done as a television series rather than film. So, here’s to hoping this novel idea works in favor of Spike and the gang!

So, do you think Hollywood is going to get anime right before long? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!