Film Franchises That Need Anime Tie-Ins, Part 1
by Tito W. James
Batman: Gotham Knight and The Animatrix are direct-to-disc anime anthologies that fit in loose continuity with their live action counterparts. Batman: Gotham Knight takes place between the events of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight–the second DC animated film to be rated PG-13. The Animatrix tells nine unique stories exploring the world of The Matrix Trilogy from different perspectives.
Both of these anime anthologies are worth revisiting and I would like to see more anime anthologies that tie in to movie franchises. So, I made a list.
Kingsmen
Kingsmen: Secret Service brought the style back to spy movies while also deconstructing the genre. According to Dateline, there are plans for a TV mini-series starring the Statesmen and a Kingsmen prequel titled the Kingsmen: The Great Game. The Great Game is supposed to be set in the 1900s and if the title is any indicator, we could see Sherlock Holmes as a Kingsmen Agent. The idea of Sherlock Holmes as a Steampunk super-spy makes me salivate in anticipation. Why stop there? The Kingsmen organization has been around for hundreds of years and it would be cool to see adventures in different time periods and different countries.
Tarantino Universe
Quentin Tarantino created a shared universe long before Marvel, therefore his films are perfect for an anthology format. Kill Bill is an obvious choice seeing as it already has an anime sequence within the live action film. Anime shorts could cover some of the assassins’ early missions before they turned on each other. Or, we could finally have a resolution to The Bride killing Vernita Green in front of her daughter. Revenge is never a straight line and while The Bride sated her bloodlust and killed Bill, Green’s daughter could be looking for some long overdue payback.
Another Tarantino film I would like to see explored further in Anime is Django Unchained which was supposed to have a cross-over with The Man With The Iron Fists. Having enjoyed both films, I’d be down for a crossover. Also The Man With The Iron Fists’ over the top stylization might fit better into animation rather than Django’s relatively grounded live action world.
This is the first part of my article about anime tie-ins to film franchises. Stay tuned for part 2!