Emirati animation is a growing UAE creative industry blending local heritage, regional dialects and Japanese anime influences, while AI raises questions about originality, creativity and artistic ownership
For an entire generation of Emiratis, Japanese anime dubbed in Arabic provided a major source of entertainment. These childhood favourites later inspired Emirati artists to create their own anime-influenced cartoons. They did this by blending Japanese animation styles with local culture and identity.
The word “anime” refers to a distinctive style of animation originating from Japan. It has gained worldwide popularity for its stylised artwork and emotionally engaging storytelling.
Anime culture began taking root in the Middle East, particularly the UAE, during the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, Arab television channels introduced Japanese animated shows to regional audiences.
Arabic-dubbed anime soon became household favourites. Shows like Captain Majid (originally Captain Tsubasa) and Adnan wa Lina (originally Future Boy Conan) captivated young audiences. They became some of the most popular children’s shows at the time.
Over time, anime went from being a niche medium to a pop culture phenomenon with one of the biggest fanbases in the UAE. Events like Comic Con attract many attendees every year.
But it was during the 2010s that this gained a much more commercial dimension. During this time, the rise of streaming platforms brought in a new generation of fans. 2012 saw the first Comic Con event that took place in Dubai.
Additionally, this was also when Emirati illustrators and animators began taking inspiration from Japanese anime and manga. This was visible in cartoons like Emara and Torkaizer.
These cartoons were the first to demonstrate how a generation of Emiratis who grew up watching and loving anime eventually adopted anime-style art in their own creations. Their works relied on local storytelling.
In the year 2021, the Middle East was able to solidify its position as part of the anime world with the release of The Journey, the first Saudi-Japanese feature-length anime film. Saudi Arabia’s Manga Productions, a subsidiary of the MiSK Foundation, collaborated with Japan’s renowned Toei Animation to produce the film.
The film follows the story of a young man named Aws, a young man who joins the people of Mecca in defending their city against an invading army.
Unlike earlier, local projects, this film represented a large-scale collaboration between Arab and Japanese teams.
It also highlighted the ambition and the potential of the Middle East’s animation industry. The industry went from being a largely niche market to collaborating with big Japanese animation studios.
When Emirati Animators adopted Anime-Inspired Artstyles
Torkaizer, created by Alter Ego Productions, an Abu Dhabi-based studio, came first. It was unveiled at the Middle East Film & Comic Con in Dubai, in April 2013.
The story follows a boy named Ahmed, a young Emirati man who travels to Tokyo and witnesses an alien invasion that brings space monsters into the streets of Tokyo. He then stumbles upon a giant mecha suit (Torkaizer), which he learns to operate to defend earth from the alien monsters.
Torkaizer blends local and Japanese elements by putting an Emirati protagonist in a familiar anime setting ie. the streets of Tokyo.
On the other hand, Emara does it a little differently. Instead of making the setting more familiar to anime, it is instead catered to a more local audience. The creator Fatma Almheiri, says in an exclusive interview with Rise Up Daily that the setting of the story was inspired by where she grew up ie. the UAE.
The story follows a young girl named Moza who adorns her superhero attire during the night and turns into Emara – clad in a navy blue hijab and a costume decked in the UAE flag colours as well as golden specs, inspired by the burqa (a traditional, metal-like cloth worn around the eyes by Emirati women).
The primary difference between both the cartoons is the audience that it catered to. Torkaizer was screened at MEFCC, which was attended by many children, teenagers and young adults who were fans of anime. Meanwhile, Emara was for a younger audience.
Yet the influence of Japanese anime styles are undeniable in the two. Both cartoons managed to give a generation of Emirati youngsters superheroes that felt more representative of their local identity.
The Entry of AI into the Emirati Animation Scene
More recently, with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the animation scene has changed quite a bit. Whether these changes are for better or worse, has widely been a subject of debate.
The Arab Media Summit’s 2026 report on AI highlighted Dubai-based AEON Movies as an example of generative AI’s growing role in film and animation production.
The Creative Media Authority (CMA) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Animotion MENA, international animation power house, to strengthen Abu Dhabi’s position as a hub for next-generation storytelling and AI-driven content.
For the UAE’s young animation industry, the involvement of generative AI creates an unusual paradox.
One can clearly point out the source of inspiration and the process of cultural transmission with cartoons like Emara and Torkaizer. But with generative AI in the picture, there’s a drastic change.
AI does not simply “take inspiration” from already existing artists and their artworks. Instead, it tries to replicate what it’s given, often without the consent of the artist.
This nature of Generative AI models has already invited a lot of international criticism around AI animation.
Yet, at the same time, there are conversations around how AI isn’t inherently bad. If used carefully and in a more controlled manner, the results could be transformative.
For instance, it could speed the process effectively if artists used AI for drafting storyboards. It could also take on repetitive tasks such as predicting or generating initial passes of character ink lines, so that it could save an animator’s time.
Fortunately, regulatory standards are increasingly being recognised and caught up with the technology.
UAE media standards require content to respect the country’s culture, national identity, social values, privacy and protections against misleading information.
In September 2026, UAE authorities reiterated warnings over AI-generated images or videos involving national symbols and public figures without appropriate approval.
What matters most for both creators and consumers of animated media, at the end of the day, is that it should be created by artists. Given the involvement of AI, it should simply be a means to an end rather than the primary engineer behind the creation.
The reason cartoons like Emara and Torkaizer came into existence is because the creators loved them enough to adopt such styles into their own work, not because it could be instantly replicated. They were born from a yearning for representation, an emotion that could never be understood by AI.
The technology, if further incorporated, should thus make it easier for a person to tell a story. It should not encourage them to ask a machine to tell one instead.
