Powerhouse Animation Studios editor David Howe recently spoke with Zelda Dungeon about his work on the final season of Netflix's Castlevania but he also shared his love for a certain Nintendo franchise starring a miniscule hylian warrior. Do you think Powerhouse and Netflix could ever strike a deal with Nintendo for a Legend of Zelda anime?
When asked to share his thoughts on whether Zelda would make for a good anime adaptation, Howe replied, “Well I think there’s precedent for it…I personally own a couple copies of the Ocarina of Time manga, so they’ve already adapted it into a serialized manga format…and I think if something works in a manga format then it would work in an anime. And then there’s also the world building.”
Howe went on to add that he thinks a TV show would do the video game franchise better justice than a movie. “I personally would much rather see a serialized format for Zelda as opposed to a movie; I mean I think a movie could work, but having time to really explore that, the breadth of the world, in a serialized format would work really well. It would also follow the structure of the games that are, you know, temple based or boss based–you could really lump those together in couple-episode arcs.”
Lastly, Howe added that while he thinks a Zelda anime adaptation should be aimed at adults, it shouldn't be in the same style as the hard-R, Castlevania adaptation. “If there was my dream of a Zelda anime adaptation, it would definitely be for adults–I mean it wouldn’t be a hard R-rating like Castlevania–I think that would be alienating for a lot of people. But I think just taking it seriously and giving the characters and the world the respect they deserve. I think that would be a lot easier to do these days than it was in the 80s.”
After decades of refusing to have their properties adapted for animation or live-action following the disastrous Super Mario Bros. film from 1993. Nintendo currently appears to be reversing their stance. A few years back, Nintendo announced a partnership with Illumination, the studio behind the Despicable Me and Minions cgi films to produce a Super Mario Bros. film.
More recently, Nintendo global president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that more animated films are on the way in an interview with Fast Company. "Animation, in general, is something that we are looking into, and not just this franchise," Furukawa remarked in regards to the animated Super Mario Bros. film. However, he cautioned that any adaptation , "must make sure that the results are true to the players’ experiences, and that they would never prevent Nintendo’s developers from making another unique game featuring the same characters."