Parasite director announces upcoming anime movie

After making waves in Hollywood, Parasite director Bong Joon-ho has his sights on the world of anime, as he announced during this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

It’s hard to believe it’s been four years since Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Having made Snowpiercer, The Host, and Okja beforehand, Bong was already firmly established as a mastermind of genre filmmaking.

However, Parasite’s success firmly shoved him into the mainstream, the South Korean satire opening many audiences to a vibrant new world of movies.

That’s a tough act to follow, and Bong has been developing a number of projects since. We have his next live-action new movie, Mickey 17 with Robert Pattinson, due out in the near future. He’s confirmed a step into animation before, and has now announced another project, an anime movie happening in Japan.

Bong Joon-Ho is working on an anime movie

During the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Bong Joon-ho revealed that he’s actively developing an animated movie in Japan. He dropped the news as a preamble to presenting the award for Anime of the Year, and stated that just the day before, he was working on the project.

Nothing else was said, but the news is exciting enough. Though he hasn’t worked strictly within animation before, Bong has done several effects-heavy pictures, such as Snowpiercer and Okja. A different realm, certainly, there’s crossover in terms of respecting the craft and process of artists across multiple disciplines.

Bong Joon-ho stepping into anime could truly equal something spellbinding, especially if he collaborates with an outfit like MAPPA or Studio Bones. It’s worth noting he already has another anime film in the works in South Korea. As yet, we don’t know if these projects are linked, or if he’s casting a wide net while developing ideas.

In any case, something to celebrate! More than we can say for Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 winning Anime of the Year, as many fans made clear.