Amid the growth of anime on Netflix, Kim Minyoung, Vice President of Content for Asia (ex-India), and Yuuji Yamano, Director of Content for Netflix Japan, were interviewed about Netflix’s growth, current position, and future aims for the medium.
On Netflix’s “turning points” in anime, Yamano says it was the adaptation of Baki, whose Most Evil Death Row Convicts Saga and subsequent arcs streamed exclusively on the platform from 2018. Yamano says that “as the series progressed, the fandom has grown worldwide.”
He also highlighted My Happy Marriage as a turning point, saying, “Also, something that my partner specifically mentioned was My Happy Marriage. The original work is a light novel by KADOKAWA, but it’s not a shonen manga or of an edgy style, so to speak. It’s of a shoujo manga-type that’s been widely watched globally, and what’s more, after it was released, I’m told that sales of the manga version clearly increased significantly overseas.“
He added, “For KADOKAWA, this was a successful experience that showed them a work can also be spread globally in this way, and we were able to learn from each other. That too proved to be a starting point for us.” KADOKAWA representatives have previously said that having dubs available from the My Happy Marriage’s inception proved a major part of its success on Netflix, which may explain the delayed simuldub release of Kodansha’s The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity anime starting this September.
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Kim later adds that she “wants to make Netflix the largest streaming service in the world for anime.” The platform has experimented with multiple distribution methods, including, sometimes controversially, batch releases and delayed international releases. Kim added that they wanted to demonstrate many more examples of their diversity in distributing programs, in the vein of titles like Baki, suggesting that Netflix’s various release strategies are here to stay. Kim adds that they also want to explore “Netflix series and Netflix movies,” and expand through a wider variety of anime.
For the “next phase” of Netflix, Kim pledges increased investment and more varied new stories on Netflix, hoping to reveal more soon. Other topics included Netflix’s strongest markets, its strengths in anime planning, and its unique value proposition to prospective anime partners.
Source: Nikkei XTrend
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