Last Tuesday (October 27), Netflix streamed its Anime Festival live on YouTube, announcing SIXTEEN anime titles coming up on the platform next year: Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, Godzilla: Singular Point, Eden, Vampire in the Garden, Yasuke, Pacific Rim: The Black, TRESE, B: The Beginning Succession, Baki Hanma, Thermae Romae Novae, High Rise Invasion, Rilakkuma’s Theme Park Adventure, Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, The Way of the Househusband, and Spriggan.
I’ve been caught off-guard with this, so it surprised me that they announced something THIS big. I’ve kept in touch with Anime Pilipinas’ Live Twitter feed retweeting updates about the event, therefore I’ll get the data from most of the tweets posted there.
How’s Anime on Netflix so far?
Prior to all of this, Taiki Sakurai, Netflix’s Chief Anime Producer, shows what’s been going on at his turf, just in time for the 5th anniversary of Netflix’s step into the land of the rising sun:
- Over 100 million households globally watched at least one anime title on Netflix between October 2019 and September 2020, representing an increase of more than 50% in 2019 (as reported by Variety).
- Almost 1 in 2 Japanese households watch five hours of anime on Netflix every month.
- They have four more anime studio partnerships for 2020: ANIMA&COMPANY (NAZ), Science SARU, Studio Mir and MAPPA
4 titles I’m eagerly looking forward to
With these data in hand, they proceed to introducing the 16 upcoming titles mentioned above – and so, here’s the titles that will make me want to subscribe to the on-demand service, even if it’s a mere mobile-only plan:
High-Rise Invasion
Not gonna lie – I saw the manga being shared on Facebook, I read it, and I kept reading it.
This time, I know I got to finish understanding the story. I’m curious how things will conclude in this series.
Voice actors Haruka Shiraishi, Shiko Aoki, Akira Sekine, Junya Enoki and Yuuichiro Umehara lead this series which is set for release in 2021.
The Way of the Househusband
Another series that popped up in my Facebook feed sometime last year is this different take on the slice-of-life genre (I’m claiming it). I assume that there should be enough stories from this series which can be adapted into anime as soon as it enters Netflix next year.
This series casts Kenjiro Tsuda as the lead character, a retired yakuza member living as a househusband. He did the same role for the live-action promo video of the manga series.
TRESE
For someone who has been in the otaku/anime/cosplay community for more than a decade already, I’ve seen covers of TRESE in local conventions such as Komikon (and to some extent, the Philippine TOYCON).
There’s cosplays of her Kambal (Twins) posted on WorldCosplay.
There’s lots of fan art on DeviantArt as well.
I can safely say that Alexandra Trese is already overdue for anime entry – and with Netflix backing this up, I’m excited to explore what goes beyond the covers, cosplays and fan arts.
Thermae Romae Novae
When Deremoe was still active, colleague Al reviewed this series and gave it positive feedback. I failed to get any excerpt of his review, but I’m sure he love it despite the limited animation.
After two live-action movies, we get to see another adaptation. I hope the story won’t be dependent on its previous adaptations as I haven’t seen all of it.
These series, plus a choice set of titles that I’d like to watch but had no time for, will make me want to subscribe to Netflix – kahit sa mobile-only plan lamang nila – soon enough.
So, turning the table to you: Which if these SIXTEEN upcoming additions got your fancy?