Director Hosoda Mamoru Criticizes the Recent Trend of TV Series-Derived Anime Movies

by dtshyk
Jul 16, 2009 9:56 PM | 42 Comments

Web magazine Cyzo interviewed anime director Hosoda Mamoru. At the end of the interview, Hosoda expressed his objection to the recent trend of releasing anime movies derived from TV series.

Hosoda said:

I think producing a movie by means of animation has a broad potential. However, Studio Ghibli, or rather, Miyazaki Hayao has been the only successful anime movie producer who exerts himself (for creating the original works). It's sad to see the rest of the producers missing the chance to create a wide variety of anime movies. ...

Recently some robot anime movies are produced based on TV series. But they are merely running character business through the movie media. I don't criticize robot anime itself, but at least they should have produced original movies. TV-derived anime movies don't expand the creativity of the industry nor fulfill the social task of animation movies.

Source: Cyzo

20 of 42 Comments Recent Comments

To all the people who say Makoto Shinkai and Satoshi Kon are on par with or even better than miyazaki, I say bah! I like both of them, especially Satoshi, but Miyazaki is really head and shoulders above them. Remember, Miyazaki created most of his movies without the help of a single computer. There's a reason he's known as god of animation!

Aug 7, 2010 10:44 PM by Seabury

seishi-sama said:

BigSimo said:
hasn't Kon Satoshi been successful at all? You'd hope so.

Shaoran said:
And there is also Makoto Shinkai!

The problem is that these two are working at their own pace...and Ghibli is working on a steady pace with at least one movie coming out every two years or so (not all of them are directed by Miyazaki himself though).
And, success-wise, both Satoshi Kon and Makoto Shinkai are ten times less successful than Miyazaki (even if both are actually much better directors imo).

I agree with that. MAkoto Shinkai and Satoshi Kon deserve ten thousand times more appreciation than they actually.

I think they're all on par with Miyazaki though.

The reason why people make lots of stupid TV-series based anime movies is because TV series are already super popular which promises a huge profit form the movie.

I have yet to see a GOOD movie based on the TV series. Naruto, Bleach, and other series-beased movies are TOTAL crap with an extremely weak plot, ridiculous lines and a more ridiculous way of presenting the whole thing. They totally forget that the movie has to convey an idea, has to excel in quality and leave a good trace in the people's memories.

Those who watch stuff like TV-derived anime movies have a poor taste, IMO. Though it's not "IMO", it's obvious...

Jul 11, 2010 3:36 AM by LeeNoriega

UrbanScythe said:
But i think sometimes recap movies are good i mean when they make lots of money on them then there is chance for another seasson.
At least thats what i think.

You make another season if, y'know, the actual series makes money. I'm not aware of a second season of anime being produced after the prior season slumped but the recap movie succeeded (has there ever been a property that's even produced a recap after a failed season, anyway?).

Hosoda seems neglectful of Kon -- and by extension, both he and Kon have become associated with Madhouse -- but his points are valid. Anime movies are largely extensions of property... and in a similar way, so are many anime adaptions, where you already have an established base (like, say, with light novels or visual novels).

May 11, 2010 1:01 PM by Bonham

But i think sometimes recap movies are good i mean when they make lots of money on them then there is chance for another seasson.
At least thats what i think.

May 9, 2010 7:47 AM by UrbanScythe

I don't think Shinkai has been cited because its still fairly early in his career where Miyazaki is a seasoned veteran with several under his belt. Shinkai has maybe three feature films (including the one in the making) and I don't know how successful his films have been. Depending on if Hosoda is talking Box Office Gross or Critical Acclaim

Apr 19, 2010 3:25 PM by ShadowBlazer3000

Yeah, I would love to see more anime movies really push the envelope. Summer Wars and Sword of the Stranger are a start, but we need more. I think though, that in addition to those, we need more creativity in the licensed stuff so that it can be as good as an original production. His One Piece movie(and from what I hear, his work on Digimon) really stands out and uses the property for something more than just a 45 minute fight scene or a recap.

Apr 19, 2010 2:50 PM by PequeninoMikhail

i wouldn't agree with him, the point is that how good the storyline adaption is and the quality of the animation itself. It doesn't matter if it's an original work or an adaption from a TV series or a movie.

Feb 28, 2010 2:56 PM by ShojoSamurai

He may also be referring to the numerous spin offs of main stream shonen series. If you look at the Anime movies produced every year 3/4 of them have Bleach/Naruto/Pokemon/Detective Conan in their name.

As for Makoto Shinkai, Satoshi Kon and Kara no Kyoukai, these would all be considered quite niche in Japan. I doubt they'll ever break box office records, in the way Ghibli does regularly, and Hosoda Mamoru is getting close to doing.

Feb 15, 2010 6:03 PM by donquigleone

dtshyk said:

Rweck said:
LOL! Is this some kind of secret code to bash NGE? I'm sensing Mamoru is targeting NGE w/ those words. Making both Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo + Summer Wars, I hope you're not looking for a fight =3

He provoked a fight with:
Evangelion
Gurren Lagan
Gundam 00
Eureka Seven
Macross Frontier

As much as I understand his point for Gurren Lagann, Eureka Seven and Macross Frontier (and most probably Gundam 00 even if the movie has not been released yet), which were bad recap movies or even worse than that for E7 (a new story on mostly used images and scenes...), I totally disagree with him on Eva 2.0, which is probably the only animated movie coming out this year that offers a serious competition to Summer Days and maybe beat it technically and artistically, so I don't feel he's right to generalize his comment to the masterpiece of Anno. It clearly doesn't deserve it.

Dec 20, 2009 8:59 AM by Jacut

Well known does not translate into good. I never understood the hype about Miyazaki. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I find all of his symbolism and such to be another "GRRR, I HATE PEOPLE!" sort of thing.

Nov 27, 2009 11:27 PM by ArtRodriguez

He's so damn right.

He forgot Shinkai btw

Aug 15, 2009 3:56 AM by dPsychc

dtshyk said:

Evangelion
Gurren Lagan
Gundam 00
Eureka Seven
Macross Frontier

I got the idea that he was complaining about movies the remake movies who lack originality, so movies like Gundam 00 and Eureka 7 are probably ok because they have a brand new plot

Jul 19, 2009 6:27 AM by StriderMS

Aeiou said:
Says the guy who made Digimon movies.

Yeah, but he didn't make recaps :P

Also, Eureka Seven can't be called a recap movie. That was 100% its own thing.

Jul 18, 2009 10:58 PM by Splitter

dtshyk said:
However, Studio Ghibli, or rather, Miyazaki Hayao has been the only successful anime movie producer who exerts himself (for creating the original works).

Satoshi Kon???????????????????????

I'd say he's directing it more to movies like Gurren-hen. The recent Rebuild of Evangelion movie has created a huge gap between itself and the original series. It is pretty much an original movie, or at least half way there.

Jul 18, 2009 2:08 PM by Touka

At least he made the GOOD digimon stuff.

Jul 18, 2009 1:20 PM by BasakaNZ

wakka9ca said:

Aeiou said:
Says the guy who made Digimon movies.

ROTFL

Yeah, it's about time more original anime movies are produced,

The digimon movies were original content though xD
Errrr... at least the 2000 one was o.o
(Being the only one I ever saw back when I was a kid lol)

Jul 18, 2009 4:38 AM by Bluesnow

llxwarbirdxll said:
They should make a Boku no Pico movie.

haaaa XD

Jul 17, 2009 12:51 PM by magentaanbu

He forgot also about Shinkai, frankly I find him more successful than Miyazaki. Other than I agree, movies as just another franchise sucks big time.

Jul 17, 2009 10:41 AM by Antanaru

@ntHai
The trailer says the first movie takes place half a year after Takizawa disappeared.
http://www.juiz.jp/special/#/trailer/

Jul 17, 2009 8:29 AM by dtshyk

seishi-sama said:

ntHai said:
He's right. Movie is a completely different medium. You just can't make a recap and compress it into 150 minutes (Gurren Lagann) or just make the end of a series into a movie (Eden of the East).

No one actually said that the movies of Eden of the East would be the "end of a series". Most likely, they would be recaps as well. And the first trailer more or less proves that.

I'm pretty sure it's going to be a sequel. It was announced somewhere. I can't find the topic, but it's here, somewhere in the News forum board.

Jul 17, 2009 8:08 AM by HaiAlwaysHungry

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