But on the other hand, live-action films and documentaries are also eligible for the Best International Film category, and it’s likely that works in those formats will be seen as more authentic, socially relevant, and respective of their country-of-origin cultures, giving Weathering with You a different but equally difficult set of challenges in the Best International Film category.
The new Shinkai anime has been designated as Japan’s submission for the Best International Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards, which will be handed out in February 2020.
Secondly, Weathering with You is only the second anime movie ever to be submitted for the Best International Film/Best Foreign Language Film category, and the first in over 20 years, with the only other member of that group being Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki’s original intended-retirement film, Princess Mononoke, for the 1998 Academy Awards (Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, the only anime so far to win an Oscar, did so in the Best Animated Feature category in 2003, submitted in its English-dubbed version).
On one hand, consideration in the Best International Film category means that Weathering with You won’t be in competition with films from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, or other U.S. studios whose works fall much more in line with what Oscar voters expect from animated content.