Only two days in, and it's become clear that the decision to release Makoto Shinkai's latest film Weathering With You (Tenki no ko) in India was a resounding success, with shows being completely sold-out. It goes without saying that anime is extremely popular in India, with an entire generation having grown up on a diet of Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, and the like. Many of us would later go on to watch more mature shows on the now-defunct TV channel Animax. Even people who don't watch anime TV series watch and appreciate movies by such giants as Hayao Miyazaki, Makoto Shinkai, Mamoru Hosoda, and the late Satoshi Kon and Isao Takahata (rest in peace, both of you). 

With the Weathering With You experiment having worked out, I think it's time to consider releasing more anime films in Indian theatres. And what better film for this job than Promare: a wild, outrageous, colorful, crazy fun ride that is completely opposite in tone to Weathering With You. Studio Trigger is well known here for their work on Kill la Kill (and its spiritual predecessor by the same team when they were at Gainax, Gurren Lagann). Promare is exactly the sort of insane action film that has a chance of attracting audiences outside of the Indian otaku community. Trigger is one of the most creative animation studios out there, and it would make for a great first course in anime for new viewers.

While animated films do screen regularly in India, we have since resigned ourselves to the fact that all Western animation is now 3DCG. While this isn't inherently a bad thing, there is a certain charm and magic to traditional hand-drawn animation (such as older Disney films) that CGI doesn't have. We miss that style, and anime is something that can fill that void. Moreover, home-grown Indian animation has not progressed beyond poorly-animated derivative works like Chhota Bheem, something we all lament. Perhaps a film as out-there and different as Promare might just be the source of inspiration that the future generation of Indian animators needs. And it will hopefully show more and more people that animation isn't simply for kids.

To summarise, we would like Toho distribution, and Indian licensors and distributors like PVR and BookMyShow to collaborate once again to bring Promare to Indian theatres. We would love to legally support anime and those who make it however we can, and this would allow us to pay back a much-loved studio for everything they have given us.