When the 10th Crunchyroll Anime Awards took place in Tokyo last month, the guest list offered a useful measure of how far anime has travelled. The ceremony featured presenters ranging from actors Rashmika Mandanna and Winston Duke to K-pop stars BamBam and Ten, to even The Weeknd. Among them was Robert Diggs, better known as RZA — the founding architect of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan — whose relationship with Japanese animation predates anime’s arrival in the cultural mainstream by decades .
Long before streaming made anime cool, RZA was carrying VHS tapes around New York. “I think it’s beautiful. It’s great when something that you like, something you love, becomes something that the whole world loves,” he tells The Hindu .
The ‘Nerd’ Who Was Secretly Right
RZA belongs to a generation that encountered anime through scarcity. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, imported Japanese animation circulated through specialty stores and fan trading networks. Access required effort.
Asked whether he feels vindicated by anime’s rise, he says, “For a moment you think it’s your own private secret. But the secret is out of the bag now… It also lets me know that I wasn’t a total nerd” .
That underground culture collided with another movement developing across the United States. RZA recalls that certain forms of identification carried consequences beyond simply enjoying the music. “You couldn’t wear an N.W.A. shirt. You could listen to their music, but you couldn’t wear that T-shirt” .
At a time when many artists treated childhood interests as things to outgrow, Wu-Tang turned them into the heart and soul of their music. “Popa Wu always said, ‘the child you are will make you the man that you become, never forget that’,” RZA says .
‘Two Circles That Become a Number Eight’
RZA sees the relationship between anime and hip-hop as something deeper than coincidence. “I think you should look at it as two circles that become a number eight. There is a cross section and now that cross is infinite” .
That intersection became tangible in 2007 through Afro Samurai, the English-language anime miniseries based on Takashi Okazaki’s manga. Voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and scored by RZA, the five-episode series became one of the earliest anime projects deliberately engineered to connect Japanese animation with Black American cultural influences. The sequel later won an Emmy .
RZA travelled to Japan to meet Okazaki. His excitement stemmed partly from the creative personnel involved — Gonzo employed artists whose work connected back to Ninja Scroll. “Ninja Scroll was like the best anime,” he recalls. “I showed it to Leonardo DiCaprio and he went crazy” .
The series also demonstrated that Black protagonists could occupy the centre of anime narratives without being reduced to novelty. “Afro Samurai is an example of it being big on the front stage,” RZA says. “It takes creative artists to have that bravery… Somebody has to step forward and show the world that audiences are ready for it” .
Nujabes, Samurai Champloo, and the ‘Butter on Toast’
The same logic surfaces when RZA discusses Samurai Champloo, Shinichirō Watanabe’s 2004 series whose fusion of Edo-period Japan, hip-hop aesthetics, and the music of the late Japanese producer Nujabes became enormously influential.
Asked why Nujabes’ work still inspires such affection, RZA argues the breakthrough had as much to do with timing as creativity. “Who’s the first guy to put butter on toast? Who was the first guy to put a piece of cheese in a hamburger to make it a cheeseburger?” RZA says with a laugh .
He suggests that the ingredients had been sitting in plain sight, and the shift came when somebody recognised the combination. “I think he did that. And not to be egotistical, but I think I’ve done that as well for Afro Samurai” .
The Pinnacle: Akira
When asked which title convinced him that animation could accomplish things unavailable elsewhere, RZA immediately returns to Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo’s landmark 1988 cyberpunk film. “We probably watched it like three times a week. It was like a beautiful song in a way,” he recalls. “The artwork was incredible… one of the pinnacles that made me really know that anime was ‘special’ special” .
Today, RZA’s affection for anime soundtracks also reveals another dimension of that engagement. Although he declines to crown a definitive greatest score, he quickly identifies Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle as a personal favourite, praising its piano compositions .
The 2026 Anime Awards and a Lasting Legacy
RZA’s appearance at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in Tokyo was a full-circle moment for an artist who helped bridge two seemingly distant worlds. When asked about anime’s billion-dollar global rise, his answer is simple: “I think it’s wonderful that so many people appreciate anime” .
For fans who discovered anime through social media edits, Comic Con culture, and streaming services, RZA occupies a curious position — the secret-keeper who helped let the secret out.
