The Unexpected Gritty Anime That Inspired Disney’s Next Big Animated Movie

A Surprising Influence on Disney’s New Animated Film

Disney Animation and Chainsaw Man are not exactly two titles I expected to link together. Let’s face it, a violent anime about devils, body horror, and a guy whose head turns into a chainsaw does not usually come to mind when thinking about the House of Mouse’s 2026 movie schedule. But, apparently, Disney’s new animated film, Hexed, pulled a tiny bit of inspiration from that very place. So yes, my brain did a full cartoon double take.

The directors of Hexed, Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand, talked to Cartoon Brew about trying to make Disney magic feel fresh again. The movie follows Billie, a prickly teenager who discovers she has magical powers and gets pulled into a strange new world alongside her mother. While discussing the film’s visual language, Hand revealed the very unexpected influence hiding in the details:

“I have a 15-year-old son, and we were watching Chainsaw Man. They do all kinds of crazy things with the eyes that I felt like we could totally do, but in a much subtler way.”

That is where Billie’s crescent moon eye highlights come in. According to the filmmakers, the detail is part of the movie’s larger moon imagery, which ties into ideas of change, growth, and cycles. It is also a way to hint at Billie’s witchy potential without stapling a giant sign to her forehead. Veerasunthorn added the idea behind the inspiration:

“Because this is an original film, we took it as an opportunity to think differently and get cartoonier.”

For anyone unfamiliar, Chainsaw Man is a wildly popular anime, often cited as a great series to start with if you’re a newbie to the medium. It follows a broke teenager who merges with a devil and gains the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws. It’s a violent, strange, and monster-ridden show, but it is also visually expressive in a way that makes Hand’s comment click. The eyes in particular often carry huge emotional weight, giving characters a glossy, heightened intensity that makes their feelings pop.

That kind of stylized eye detail makes a lot of sense for a movie like Hexed. Obviously, the film is not borrowing the gore or intense onscreen body horror of Chainsaw Man, which is not exactly the kind of thing you expect to stream with a Disney+ subscription. Instead, it is taking a visual idea and softening it into something that fits Billie and her magical world.

Honestly, I love that level of inspiration. It is a tiny animation detail, but it says a lot about where Hexed might be aiming visually. The movie still looks like a Disney Animation release, but the directors seem interested in pushing the edges a little. Veerasunthorn described the film as “a little sharper and a little weirder,” which is exactly the kind of energy I want from an original Disney movie about a teenage witch. It’s nice to see the studio leaning into a more distinctive animated style again.

Over the last few decades of computer-generated animation, many studio films have either chased realism or settled into similar soft, rounded character designs. There was a time when each new Disney movie felt like it had an animation identity all its own, but some of that individuality seemed to fade as the studio moved deeper into CG.

After seeing projects like The Peanuts Movie, the Spider-Verse trilogy of films, and TMNT: Mutant Mayhem push the animated style in bold new directions, I am glad to see Disney trying to stretch a little, too. The fact that one of those sparks may have come from a gruesomely intense horror anime only makes the whole thing more interesting.

Hexed is probably not going full Chainsaw Man, but the fact that its directors are looking outside the expected Disney spellbook is interesting. If the movie can blend classic Disney magic with stranger visuals, a pricklier heroine, and a few anime-adjacent details, Hexed could be one of the studio’s more intriguing original swings.

I, for one, have moved it up my most anticipated animated films of the year and plan to be in line for popcorn when the movie is officially hits theaters on November 25.