After attempts at Lord of the Rings and Star Wars anime, one producer is "pissed off" by Hollywood requesting everything be turned into an anime: "There are too many works to check out"

A villainous lightsaber wielder in the Star Wars Visions anime — (Image credit: Lucasfilm)

Not everyone is pleased by the rapid expansion of anime – not least because, according to some studio bosses, Hollywood sees it as a cheap way to create content.

Speaking at a recent Machi Asobi event (via Gigazine, translated by Anime Corner), CoMixWave Films founder Noritaka Kawaguchi (who helped produce several of Makoto Shinkai's films) and the studio's overseas business leader Mie Onishi sat down in conversation to discuss anime's far-reaching growth into the west.

After namechecking the likes of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Scott Pilgrim, Kawaguchi groused, "There are a little too many works to check out. I have to watch Japanese anime and I also have to read [Shonen] Jump.“

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Onishi replied, "That’s right… That’s why it’s not a good idea to animate everything. Anime is just one method, not a genre. In fact, what I hate these days is that when I talk to people in Hollywood, they ask me, ‘Can’t you make this as an anime?’ What lies behind this is something like, ‘It’s cheap if it’s an anime,’ which really pisses me off."

Onishi then went on to mock a request from a Hollywood executive, saying, "It would cost 20 billion yen to make a live-action movie, so can’t you make it an anime?'"

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.