Nintendo's New Stance on Animation Opens the Doors to Some Great Anime

A Super Mario movie is set to debut in 2022 thanks to Nintendo partnering with the animation studio of Illumination, and in a recent interview, the president of the popular video game company had the opportunity to chat about the project and the possibility of brand new animation projects that might emerge as a result. Nintendo itself hasn't dived into the world of anime that often over the course of its decades of history, but it certainly has plenty of properties that fans would love to see get new animated projects outside of the realm of the Mushroom Kingdom.

This upcoming Nintendo animated project isn't the first time that we've seen the Mario Brothers hit the big screen, with a live-action movie hitting the silver screen in 1993 which starred Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi. Illumination hasn't revealed many details about this new take on the Mushroom Kingdon, though it definitely proves that Nintendo is back in the game when it comes to adapting some of their biggest properties into animation. With the likes of Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, and more perfect for the world of anime, we're crossing our fingers that we'll one day see these properties in a brand new light.

In an interview with Fast Company, President Shuntaro Furukawa briefly went into detail about how Nintendo is most likely going to venture into new animated projects, with the upcoming Super Mario animated film acting as an opening salvo apparently:

"Animation, in general, is something that we are looking into, and not just this franchise."

Also within the interview, Furukawa went into brief detail regarding how hands-on Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and so many other Nintendo properties, has been with Illumination when it comes to the anime adaptation of the Mushroom Kingdom that will land next year:

"It's not that we've asked Illumination to handle everything. Mr. Miyamoto is very, very hands-on with the production of this movie."

Mario and the other denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom have had several cartoons in the past that adapted Nintendo video games, so it should definitely be interesting to see how this new iteration decides to leave its mark on the franchise.

What Nintendo property do you want to see adapted into an anime of its own? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Nintendo.

Via Fast Company