Netflix has confirmed it's moving forward with a pair of new anime series, including a show based on the live-action movie Kong: Skull Island. Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the 2017 MonsterVerse film took place against the backdrop of the 1970s and drew heavily from the iconography and anti-war themes of Apocalypse Now for its re-imagining of the King King mythos. It was also shaped by numerous anime features and series, which only makes the prospect of an anime spinoff all the more appropriate and unsurprising.
Vogt-Roberts has always been more than happy to discuss the anime influences in Kong: Skull Island, citing Hayao Miyazaki's work as a major inspiration. As the director explained during JoBlo's visit to the film's set, "If Kong is the God of this island, we wanted each of the creatures to feel like they're individual gods of their own domain," similar to the "spirit creatures" from Miyazaki's 1997 fantasy/war anime film Princess Mononoke. And much like Miyazaki is revered for his ability to capture the splendor of nature without losing sight of its harshness, Vogt-Roberts wanted Skull Island's creatures to feel "beautiful and horrifying at the same time."
Princess Mononoke's influence can also be felt in the look of Skull Island's inhabitants, with the island's water buffalo bearing a clear resemblance to the film's multi-antlered Forest Spirit. Amusingly, however, the design for Kong: Skull Island's Skullcrawlers was based on a very different anime character: Cubone from the Pokémon franchise. As Vogt-Roberts explained to Den of Geek, he wanted the Skullcrawlers to have "this weird, bone-white face" and inadvertently modeled them after Cubone. Ultimately, though, he embraced the similarities, "Because I love Cubone. Cubone has the saddest story of him wearing his dead mother's skull on his face."
In a separate interview with Fandango, Vogt-Roberts described the Skullcrawlers' general appearance as a fusion of not just Cubone, but also the spirit No-Face from Miyazaki's 2001 fantasy anime film Spirited Away and the giant, monster-like angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Aesthetically, Kong: Skull Island is a similar blending of bold colors, slow-motion and dramatic framing that would feel at home in the world of anime. Vogt-Roberts has additionally named South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's 2006 monster flick The Host as a key reference point, which feels equally in keeping with the movie's multicultural sensibilities.
Anime nods even found their way into Kong: Skull Island's human characters. Specifically, John C. Reilly's Hank Marlow, an American pilot who crash-landed on the island in World War II, wears a jacket reading "Good for your health... Bad for education," similar to Shotaro Kaneda from the 1988 cyberpunk anime film classic Akira. This also doubles as a shout-out to Reilly's Dr. Steve Bruce character from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and his catchphrase, "For your health." That said, Vogt-Roberts admitted to Moviefone the jacket was meant to be an Akira reference that, by happy coincidence, "lines up with this thing in John C. Reilly's life."
In light of the mixture of anime homages at Kong: Skull Island's core, it seems this corner of the MonsterVerse was destined to get its own anime adaptation one day. Details on the Skull Island anime series are scarce to be found for now, beyond a synopsis teasing "A shipwrecked crew, an island of monsters, and one king to rule them all." All the same, the original movie's world of god-like monsters and larger-than-life combat ought to readily lend itself to anime.
Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong: Skull Island stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, and John C. Reilly. It is currently streaming on HBO Max.