Hirooki Iwanami, involved in the Gachiakuta anime’s promotion, revealed difficulties negotiating with overseas licensees. He recounted that while they sought to prioritize promotion before an anime’s premiere and tailor it to each territory, overseas licensees preferred a wait-and-see approach, only promoting it once the fan reaction was there. It required difficult negotiations to bridge the gap, Iwanami said:
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“In an anime’s communication plan, [the question of] ‘How to generate excitement at the very beginning (the premiere of Episode 1)?’ is crucial. That’s why, even when we took on overseas promotion, we were committed to a ‘vertical launch.’ After all, the key lies in how many people can see Episode 1 and how much buzz we can generate at that point.“
“However, during discussions with overseas licensees, we noticed a gap between the Japanese production committee/overseas promotion team and them. Unlike us, who prioritize vertical launch, overseas licensees typically wait until the anime airs and gauge fan reaction before gradually ramping up communication. This made negotiations difficult, requiring numerous meetings to bridge the gap.“
Yuria Amano (Kodansha, overseas licensing) added, “We really talked that point over extensively. It might have been a major turning point.“
Gachiakuta was licensed by Medialink (Asia) and Crunchyroll (worldwide, excluding a few countries). (It was also simulcast on Netflix in a few territories.) They collectively participated in the Gachiakuta World Takeover global campaign, where licensors and licensees came together to promote the anime with trailers, teasers, and experiences. Iwanami also thanks Crunchyroll and Medialink for their indispensable cooperation.
It’s worth noting that there are two official English-leaning Gachiakuta (formerly Twitter) X accounts: one (fully in English) managed by Crunchyroll and another global one (mostly English) managed by Kodansha, which showcased clearly different approaches to the build-up of the anime.
I’m trusting in X’s terribly untrustworthy ability to display all posts here, but checking the posts and quote posts (so ignoring reposts, of which they often cross-reposted) from both accounts: the Kodansha-managed X account put out more posts before and on the day of Gachiakuta‘s broadcast than all the posts from the Crunchyroll-managed X did since its creation. (It’s something like 24 posts to 21 when restricting it to purely English posts.) Crunchyroll’s account was made a month prior to Kodansha’s. It goes without saying that Kodansha also put out a bunch more English posts in the months before its premiere. I stopped counting after 100.
Another streamer in Netflix has previously acknowledged, as a matter of strategy, that it waits for demand to justify earnest promotion of anime. In an interview with Nikkei XTrend last year, Netflix VP Kim Minyoung and Yuji Yamano, Director of Content for Netflix Japan, spoke about Netflix’s global strategy and turning points in its anime expansion. Kim said that they expected Sakamoto Days to be a big hit in Japan and the US and focused initial efforts there:
“We expected it to be a big hit in Japan and the US, and we had plans for those two markets. For example, with a movie release, we would judge other countries based on weekend box office results, but with Netflix, we can see how our audience grows second by second. So, while we hadn’t initially planned to promote ‘SAKAMOTO DAYS’ extensively in Indonesia, we stepped it up after seeing the audience growth.“
“Furthermore, in this case, we focused our attention not only on ‘SAKAMOTO DAYS’ but also on our catalog of similar stories. The trailer for ‘SAKAMOTO DAYS,’ available on our service, received around 52 million impressions (views) worldwide. We initially promote based on that viewing data and then make improvements as needed.“
Netflix’s promotional strategy has been criticized at times by fans and even producers of the titles it acquires. Justin Leach, producer of the Netflix-exclusive series Leviathan, said his company was unable to manage overseas marketing and highlighted Netflix’s lack of significant marketing in Japan, North America, and Europe. He said studios should have the option to independently market a title if it falls outside of a streamer’s core selection in a region.
The promotional strategies and strength of Gachiakuta paid off in the end. As we reported in October, the Kodansha-managed global X account claimed that Gachiakuta was the most-watched Crunchyroll anime of the Summer 2025 season. The new Dentsu report restates this claim. Crunchyroll did not respond to our request for confirmation at the time. Gachiakuta Season 2 and more projects have been announced. You can check out the full feature below. It contains interesting insights about the behind-the-scenes worries and conversations regarding coordinating global promotion.
Source: Dentsu
©Kei Urana, Hideyoshi Andou and KODANSHA/ “GACHIAKUTA” Production Committee
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