For those members who have watched the 78th Academy Awards from the very beginning, you will have noticed that Howl's Moving Castle was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category. It did not win (the Oscar went to Wallace and Gromit), but I think the nomination in itself may herald a new trend for anime films.
Howl's Moving Castle has actually received quite a few good reviews in the States. It has also topped the box office for weeks in Japan. If my memory serves, this is the first time that a Japanese anime is nominated for an Oscar. (Please correct me on any factual errors.)
My question to you all is thus:
Do you think the nomination of Howl's Moving Castle may be a signal that certain anime films may be gaining a bigger foothold amongst "mainstream" American cinema?
Since the Oscar has traditionally been associated with big name American films, and Best Animated Feature has always gone to works of Disney, Pixar, or the like, I think the nomination of a Japanese-produced anime film is quite important. Personal views on whether the film is good or not aside, I think that to have an anime film crack the very exclusive club of nominees is indeed a sign that anime is slowly gaining more attention amongst the cinema establishment in the US. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has always selected films that are a part of the maintream cinematography movements (note: this "mainstream" is different from "popular films." None of the nominations this year really got big box office marks.)
Hopefully, we can see more anime featured as Oscar nominees, and perhaps have an anime film win one of these little golden statues, ne?