The Anime universe is immense and for certain stories to become a recognized franchise they must include one or more films that sometimes are not entirely canonical, although they retain several original elements of the manga or light novel on which it is based, it is specifically in the events that develop these feature films that do not end up convincing at all. If this brings to your mind certain names, here we will delve deeper into the subject.
Anime movies are not always canon, here are the reasons why.
Not all series receive a feature film and in the case of receiving them they are usually worldwide popular franchises such as Naruto, One Piece or Dragon Ball, but sometimes they lack narrative sense, that is to say, the plot that is developed does not always correspond to the main story and also these do not arise from the original story, for example from the manga. So it could be considered as a long “filler” episode and watching or skipping it would not affect the understanding of the story because it does not really influence the main course of the anime.
This also depends on the timing of when these movies are produced, as many of these have even come out when the anime is still airing, which sometimes this means that the story is totally original, so it doesn’t always “fit”. Although this is not a disadvantage either, being an “independent” project has the possibility that its production has a higher quality in several ways such as animation, soundtrack, design, and content considering that they have a longer delivery time, which allows to improve the work.
Therefore, this creative freedom can allow the expansion of the plot, for example, by introducing new characters or one or more characters to have a more important role, adding new elements and finally the plot can be like an alternate version of what has been shown, which can add value to the anime and be equally appreciated by the fans.
The concepts that are added or removed may be liked or disliked by the fans, which may or may not lead them to think that some events should be canonical, something that influences the author of the anime, because if he considers that it is something that should be included officially, he will do it if the story continues to be broadcast, for example, in the movie One Piece Film Red, two villains were added in the manga. Otherwise, if the author does not think it is important for the development, despite the good reception of the fans, this could only remain as original material.
In recent years, it has been seen that the trend of producing canonical feature films has increased, because in some way these do “force” the fans to watch them if they want to give continuity to the anime. But this does not mean that the non-canonical films will stop being produced, because if at some point you want to add another format to the franchise and you do not have enough material, you can always resort to a new creation or in any case a compilation.
Finally, non-canonical anime movies will have a place in the industry for several reasons: they provide new material and give more visibility to anime, the studio can gain recognition thanks to the quality of animation, and most importantly, they generate another source of income for both the anime franchises and the media involved. Tell us, as an anime fan, what do you think about it?
