Ask John: Are There Any Anime & Live Action Hybrids?

Question:
I noticed this question online and thought it would be interesting to address:

Are there any anime-live action crossovers like Space Jam?

Answer:
America has quite a number of animated productions that combine animation with live action, not only just using both mediums in the same production, but depicting animated characters interacting with live actors. Well known examples include Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Space Jam, Cool World, Pete’s Dragon, and Song of the South. The occurrence isn’t nearly as frequent in Japanese animation. Several anime productions have included live action footage, but extensive narrative interaction between anime characters and live actors in the vein of Roger Rabbit or Space Jam is quite rare. Actual human celebrities have made guest appearances in anime, but I can’t recall any instances similar to Space Jam, in which characters played by human actors met recognizable anime characters who have “entered reality,” or in which identifiable real-life celebrities have entered the anime world without becoming animated themselves.

The simple use of live action footage within anime doesn’t seem to happen very often these days, but it used to be a bit more common. Anime including Kyojin no Hoshi (1968), Kick no Oni (1970), Karate Baka Ichidai (1973), Giant Gorg (1984), Isshoni Training (2009), and First Squad (2009) have all integrated incidental live action footage. The 1999 “Making of Detective Conan” special went a bit farther by having 2D characters Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko explore the real Tokyo animation and dubbing studios were the Detective Conan anime is created. While the 7 minute long special is edited to create the impression that living people and anime characters are interacting, there’s no actual on-screen interaction between humans and anime kids in the short.

The Gene Diver (1994) and Kyuumei Senshi Nanosaver (1997) television series were hybrid anime and live action. These series revolved around Japanese child actors who were depicted as anime characters when they traveled to other time periods or places. Both shows depicted the live action actors interacting with a CG rendered anime character, but that’s not quite the same as live actors interacting with 2D anime characters. Gene Diver depicted interaction between 2D and live actors, but within the story the 2D characters weren’t perceived as 2D characters. The 2009 Cooking Idol Ai! Mai! Main! television series similarly includes sequences of actress Haruka Fukuhara interacting with a CG rendered character but doesn’t include interaction between live action and 2D anime characters.

The 1981 Sanshiro Sugata Nissei Family Special included minor interaction between its live action narrator and Monkey Punch designed anime characters.

Last year’s Kuchu Buranko TV series featured actress/model Yumi Sugimoto playing the role of sexy nurse Mayumi. While Sugimoto was obviously a human actress in an otherwise animated series, her character was sometimes visually enhanced to make her blend in with her animated surroundings and co-characters. Sugimoto’s nurse Mayumi did regularly interact with other fully animated characters in the show.

The 1987 film Twilight of the Cockroaches represents the most extensive anime and live action hybrid. The anime film depicts traditionally hand animated cockroaches that live in a slovenly man’s apartment, which is frequently shot in live action. The picture depicts the roaches’ struggle to survive when the man’s new girlfriend moves in and begins to exterminate the bugs. The two human characters are played by conventional actors.

Toei Animation’s upcoming Kaidan Restaurant motion picture has been confirmed to be a combination of traditional anime and live action, but so far there’s been no detail on whether the anime and live action footage will be strictly segregated or integrated.