Nowhere can this be more apparent than now, with the makers of anime turning to CGI as a means to broaden audience acceptance. In the coming months several projects will attempt to redefine the look and feel of anime. Production I.G.’s Oblivion Island: Haruku and the Magic Mirror (Hottarake no Shima – Haruka to Mahō no Kagami), Studio Imagi’s AstroBoy and Madhouse’s Yona Yona Penguin will take feature-length anime headlong into the world of computer animation carved out by Pixar (Toy Story, Finding Nemo), DreamWorks (Shrek) and Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age). Although CGI has been seen sparingly in various feature anime productions since the mid 1980’s in films like The Professional and Lensman, none – until now – have been fully produced as high-profile CGI features. The original animated feature Yona Yona Penguin is pure Rin Taro – reminiscent of his work in the omnibus film Mani Mani (aka Neo-Tokyo).

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Now here is the dilemma. Since the bulk of anime is produced for television and, to a lesser extend, home video, will the shift to CGI in anime feature projects affect the overall production criteria for the anime industry? My guess is that it will not have much of an affect until the production costs for CGI comes close to that of traditional animation. The experiments with CGI-based animation for television has been poorly received – with the exception of the recent Star Wars’ entry – CLONE WARS. Older viewers can look to CGI hentai productions to see what can be done on a shoestring budget to get a sense of what might be in store within the anime world once CGI production gets a stronger foothold.

However, a look at the Japanese animation industry’s economic future holds the key to the twists and turns of the evolution of anime. The domestic Japanese audience for anime is shifting – and some pundits, like Yasou Yamaguchi the Executive Director of the Association of Japanese Animators, even venture to say that it might be shrinking. The median age for viewership in Japan is moving up – creating a similar niche audience for domestic animation as that in the West. Most industry analysts see the Japanese animation industry in danger of implosion. The domestic Japanese anime industry is going through what economists call a “bubble crisis”. And although the worldwide fan-base is increasing for anime – the profits are not keeping pace. Traditional business models are changing rapidly. The shift to CGI in high-profile feature films might be seen as a “Hail Mary” pass to keep the economic bubble from bursting. But like it or not anime will continue to evolve – some might even say “mutate” – in an attempt to find a new and vital audience.