Frieren Director Says Western Fans Reveal Specific Trends
Keiichiro Saito and producer Takafumi Nakame seek to challenge Western anime fan trends, aiming to broaden horizons in Japanese animation and collaborate more with foreign companies while preserving creativity and diversity.
Sophie Laurent 
Key Takeaways
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- Keiichiro Saito, director of Frieren: Beyond Journeys End, is advocating for a shift in the anime industry to move beyond current Western fan trends, as he believes that catering exclusively to these preferences limits creativity and encourages predictable patterns.
- Saito and Takafumi Nakame, the series producer, have identified a sense of stagnation within Japanese animation and believe this can be addressed by broadening horizons, engaging more with international companies, and identifying effective methods for global anime promotion.
- The team behind Frieren: Beyond Journeys End is aiming to break away from the limitations imposed by catering solely to Western audiences and instead explore new creative directions that may not be as popular but offer greater potential for originality.
- To achieve their goals, the team is focusing on strategies such as collaborating with international companies and researching successful methods for promoting anime on a global scale.
Frieren Director Advocates for Breaking Western Fan Trends in Anime Creation
Keiichiro Saito, director of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, expressed a desire to move beyond current Western fans’ tastes for anime. He believes that catering exclusively to these preferences limits creativity, as it compels creators toward predictable patterns. During the Global Anime Challenge, Saito, alongside Takafumi Nakame, the series’ producer, shared their view that Japanese animation is experiencing a feeling of stagnation. To address this, their strategy involves broadening horizons, engaging more with international companies, and identifying the most effective methods for global anime promotion.
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Jonathan Dubinski 
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