Over the last many years, Nintendo has been pushing their IPs into realms that they haven’t in the past, and one of the results of that is the mobile games that have come out by Nintendo and its partners and the Mario animated movie that is set to arrive next year via the studio Illumination. However, the head of Nintendo has said that they’re interested in doing more animation projects beyond Mario, which has fans excited. As well as some in the animation field who would love to do those projects…like a Legend of Zelda anime…
This isn’t just a random thought, however, this comes from David Howe (as reported by ComicBook.com), an editor over at Powerhouse Animation. That company name may sound familiar because they are/were the team that does/did the Castlevania anime over on Netflix (which is dropping its last season very soon). Howe talked with Zelda Dungeon recently and noted that he feels a Legend of Zelda anime would totally work right now:
“I think there’s precedent for it,” he said. “I personally own a couple of copies of the Ocarina of Time manga, so they’ve already adapted it into a serialized manga format… and I think if something works in a manga format then it would work in an anime. And then there’s also the world-building.”
We’ve had teases of an anime-style Legend of Zelda in the past, specifically with certain cutscenes from the Switch version of Link’s Awakening, as well as the Palutena reveal trailer from Super Smash Bros on Wii U that featured Pit vs Link in a tense fight. But a full-on series of this style has never been done before (and no, the 1989 series definitely doesn’t count…Princess…). But Howe thinks it can work, and just as important, he feels it could be tailored to adults:
“If there was my dream of a Zelda anime adaptation, it would definitely be for adults – I mean it wouldn’t be a hard R-rating like Castlevania – I think that would be alienating for a lot of people. But I think just taking it seriously and giving the characters and the world the respect they deserve. I think that would be a lot easier to do these days than it was in the 80s.”
That’s an intriguing notion, and one that would fit with some of the stories of the Legend of Zelda universe. Not the least of which is Twilight Princess, and even Ocarina of Time. Or they could pull a Castlevania and do an original story. The potential is there, the question is…would Nintendo allow it to happen…?
