Nearly a decade later, fans are still asking how Your Name—a $400 million global anime phenomenon—didn't even get a nomination at the 2017 Oscars.
And now, we finally have a more direct answer: according to producer Noritaka Kawaguchi, the problem wasn't the film. It was the distributor.
Speaking at the "How Far Can Anime Go?" industry panel, Kawaguchi bluntly said, "[Your Name] was not nominated because the distributor was Funimation. If we had entrusted the distribution rights to Sony Pictures, we might have been nominated."
Ouch.
At the time, Funimation was the biggest name in U.S. anime distribution. It handled English dubs for mega-franchises like Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Attack on Titan. But when it came to Oscar-level prestige? Apparently not quite up to the task.
Kawaguchi stopped short of detailing what exactly went wrong, but he hinted at "political issues" that may have soured Your Name's chances with the Academy. Instead, the 2017 Best Animated Feature went to Disney's Zootopia—a fine movie, but let's just say it didn't spark the same international heartbreak as two teenagers body-swapping across time to stop a comet.
The irony? Your Name wasn't just a hit—it crushed it. It pulled in over 25 billion yen (~$172 million) at the Japanese box office, and more than $405 million worldwide, making it the top-grossing Japanese film of 2016. But clearly, box office and critical acclaim weren't enough to sway the Oscars back then.
Now, things may finally be different. Advisor Mie Onishi explained that the Academy's voting process has undergone a massive overhaul since then:
"The number of voters… has increased tenfold in the past five years. Originally… fewer than 1,000 people were voting. The system was criticized, leading to a review, and now the number is around 10,000."
That expanded pool has already shown signs of change. In 2023, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio broke Disney's streak. In 2024, Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron beat Elemental to win Best Animated Feature. This year, a Latvian indie (Flow) even took home the top prize.
As Onishi put it:
"If you look at the award-winning works of the past 10 years, it has always been Disney Pixar that won, but… I thought, ‘Huh, things have changed a bit haven't they?... I feel that the tide is definitely changing.'"
Too late for Your Name, sure. But maybe the next time Makoto Shinkai drops a visually devastating, emotionally wrecking masterpiece, someone at the Oscars might actually notice—assuming the distributor doesn't blow it again.