Only 1 Anime Director Has the Kind of Impact On U.S. Films As Hayao Miyazaki, But He's Far Less Known

Director Satoshi Kon was never a household name in the West, even among anime fans. Yet his influence lingers in places you might not expect, notably in acclaimed live-action films made by Western directors. Darren Aronofsky drew visual inspiration from Perfect Blue for Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan, while Christopher Nolan’s Inception shares striking similarities with Kon’s Paprika. Yet, unlike Hayao Miyazaki, whose name became synonymous with cinematic animation, Kon remains a cult figure in Japan and abroad, celebrated by cinephiles but too often overlooked in the mainstream.