It seems as if Japanese anime is getting the attention of the Oscars. Makoto Shinkai, Sunao Katabuchi, Mamoru Hosoda, and Yoko Kanno have received invitations to join the Oscars Academy. They are part of a list of 928 names in which an invitation was extended to. Whether or not they will accept the invitations remain to be seen. If so, this could mark a turning point where Japanese anime could finally get the recognition it deserves at the biggest award ceremony for film and television in the United States. So far, only Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away has won an Oscar. Speaking of Hayao Miyazaki, he has received an invitation to join the academy in the past and has turned it down. The late Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies) also received an invitation in the past and turned it down as well.
Makoto Shinkai is the director of the 2016 worldwide hit Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) along with other movies such as The Garden of Words, 5 Centimeters per Second, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, Voices of a Distant Star, Dareka no Manazashi, and the television anime series She and Her Cat: Everything Flows.
Mamoru Hosoda is the director of hits such as Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast, and the upcoming anime film Mirai of the Future.
Sunao Katabuchi is the director of the critically acclaimed World War II anime movie In This Corner of the World.
Yoko Kanno is considered one of the best anime music composers in Japan (and arguably of all-time), lending her talents to shows such as Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, The Vision of Escaflowne, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Darker Than BLACK, Turn A Gundam, Wolf’s Rain, Zankyou no Terror and many others.
