With quote from 2007, the director questioned today’s anime world

Already almost two decades ago, a legendary director shared his impressive thoughts about planned successes and unexpected hits in the anime world. Now, years later, his statement is gaining explosive again – and takes a critical look at one of the most popular franchises from the past 20 years.

Success is based on chance

Mamoru Oshii has been active as an anime director since the 1970s and was responsible for the production of the first anime adaptation of “Urusei Yatsura” and the early “Ghost in the Shell” films.

Already in 2007 and thus during the broadcast of “Code Geass” he expressed the following profound thoughts, which was now taken up again by fans on social networks and compared with today’s anime industry:

»Most of the works, which are called large hits, are the result of a chance. Works that nobody expected that they are successful are usually those that end up with big hits. There are no exceptions. ›Space Battleship Yamato‹, ›Mobile Suit Gundam‹, ›Neon Genesis Evangelion‹ and even ›Pokémon‹ fall into this category.

There are cases in which the success is planned from the start, and sometimes it works. But I believe that this kind of success disappears quickly. For example, ›Code GEAS‹ was produced with the intention that it should be the biggest hit in a long time. But I think that has evaporated in less than three years. Planned successes only last as long as the plan is effective, and not 10 or 20 years. «

Success continues

In the meantime, 18 years have passed and it can be seen without doubt that “code geass” has managed to maintain its popularity with new films, sequences and spin-offs despite the planned success.