Producer Yoshi Ikezawa, head of co-production at Toei, told #Variety magazine in Cannes that a finished Toei co-production may not always wear its Japanese origins visibly — but the underlying grammar remains distinctly anime. “We believe that the anime aesthetic and the storytelling language of anime are already inherently Japanese.”
When the mighty Toei Animation, the globally renowned studio that restarted the engine of anime production from the ashes of the Pacific War, talks with confidence about openness to collaboration, to new approaches to anime from other cultures, there are a wide range of possible reactions but they tend to break down into two broad types.
#JeromeMazadarani exemplifies one in his recent Linked-In post on this article – a curious and delighted welcome, an eagerness to see what will happen as a result of this willingness to collaborate.
But the other reaction, one I’ve heard before and since this article appeared, is essentially “hands off our anime.” Which is crazy.
Anime has always been a globally influenced and influencing medium. This is not my opinion – it’s a documented historical fact. And that sharing of ideas and influences has enabled anime to develop its own strong, confident visual aesthetic and storytelling language. So if anime is now supporting other cultures in using that language to tell their own stories, this strikes me as a virtuous circle of karma. Japanese animators take what has inspired them, share the work it inspires with others, and inspire others through that work.
It’s my absolute favourite outcome: win-win.
https://variety.com/2026/film/asia/toei-animation-monkey-quest-global-strategy-cannes-2026-1236735413/