Like Anderson’s 2007 film, The Darjeeling Limited, which set in India, Isle of Dogs has also been accused of cultural appropriation. Beyond the ‘white saviour’ trope of an American exchange student saving the day, one wonders if there’s more to Anderson’s decision of keeping Japanese uninterpreted. There is so much to be read in the film that Anderson’s claim of it originating simply as the story of dogs in a trash island seems like a distant, unimaginable past.