More than half of Netflix's global users used the streaming service to watch anime in 2021, and the future of Japanese animation premiering on Netflix appears promising.
"Anime is one of the cornerstones of our investment in Japan, watched by nearly 90% of our members here last year," Kohei Obara, Netflix's Anime Creative Director, told Variety. "At the same time, interest in anime has grown worldwide, and more than half of our members globally tuned into it last year. From diversifying our slate to bringing back fan favorites, we want to continue growing our members' discovery and love for anime, both in Japan and around the world with this next chapter of anime on Netflix."
Netflix plans to continue investing in anime and will debut 40 series on the service in 2022. Returning series include episodes 13-24 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, the latest season of the long-running fan-favorite show featuring Jolyne Cujoh, her father Jotaru Kujo and their powerful Stands. Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 Season 2, continuing the adventures of Major Motoko Kusanagi following Season 1's debut in 2020, will also arrive on Netflix in May. Season 1 of Spriggan -- the long-awaited anime reboot of Hiroshi Takashige's manga series, which was first adapted into an animated film in 1998 -- is another major series to debut on the streaming service in June.
New shows on Netflix include Thermae Romae Novae, a series about a Roman architect who time travels to a modern Japanese public bath, Kotaro Lives Alone, the tale of a 4-year-old boy who moves into an apartment next to a manga artist, and The Seven Deadly Sins: Grudge of Edinburgh, a two-part film spinning off of The Seven Deadly Sins, a shonen series focusing on a group of knights in a fantasy version of Britannia.
In 2022, Netflix will also serve as the home of several animated series based on other media franchises, some of which will be animated by Japanese studios. Chief among these is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, a series based in the world of CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 video game. Animated by Studio Trigger, which was founded by ex-Gainax employees and responsible for Kill la Kill, the 10-episode series tells the story of a street kid trying to survive in deadly Night City and was first revealed in 2020.
Other upcoming series based on major licenses include Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix -- which takes place in the same neon-soaked, '80s aesthetic world of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon -- producer Adi Shankar's long-awaited adaptation of Devil May Cry, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, based on the long-running Ubisoft franchise.
Source: Variety
