Netflix may be an anime streaming giant in Japan, but it’s still gaining ground in other parts of the world. Strong, exclusive titles like Delicious in Dungeon and the new Ranma 1/2 are helping them gain that ground, along with shared licenses like One Piece and the darling of the season, Science SARU’s DAN DA DAN. Similarly, Amazon Prime and Hulu/Disney+ are looking to make their own mark, with the former licensing Tatsuki Fujimoto’s compelling film Look Back and the latter grabbing up BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War (and DAN DA DAN).
Of the three mainstream streamers, two of them — Netflix and Amazon Prime — have two of this season’s strongest titles. One streams Madhouse’s anime adaptation of an award-winning manga, which has inspired music videos and science exhibitions. The other offers a magical girl series that, even in a post Madoka Magica world, manages to be inventive in an as-yet-unseen way. And yet, neither Netflix nor Prime sees fit to bring any attention to them. So, why?
For what it’s worth, there will always be high- and low-priority titles. Even on sites like Crunchyroll and HIDIVE, which are mostly-to-fully dedicated to anime streaming, some titles will be highlighted while others are left to fend for themselves. Dragon Ball DAIMA gets spotlighted while, say, Chibi Maruko-chan (a more mainstream title with episodes numbering in the 1400s) is more set-and-forget. But when a streamer’s cut of an anime season is three or fewer shows, and there’s at least some impetus to be part of the anime landscape, where is the promotion?
In the case of Netflix, its problems outside Japan used to be much bigger. As recently as 2022, the streaming giant was still putting prestige titles like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean in what fans termed “Netflix jail.” In other words, they would wait for the season to end, then drop it all at once to match their binge-watching model. The (lack of) wisdom in a forced binge-watching model is a subject for another time; suffice to say, it is now the way of things for anime released weekly in Japan to be released weekly outside Japan as well.
While this problem has been solved, they’ve swapped it for another: tucking away quality titles with little marketing. Take this season’s Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, a stunning historical fiction work based on the manga by Uoto. The series takes place in Medieval Poland, and offers one of the most thoughtful insights into the adoption of the heliocentric model of the universe I’ve seen in recent years. It’s beautifully animated, well adapted, and educational. Rather than simply pitting religion and science against each other and calling it a day, Orb places its focus on what such a massive sea change can do to a person. Multiple generations of thinkers from all levels of society find their faith shaken, strengthened, or both as they rethink their place in the universe.
And yet, if you were to peruse the Netflix Anime social media, you would not find a mention of it. Perhaps there’s something tucked away in a recap video, but at a glance, you wouldn’t even know this show existed. There’s not even a trailer for it on a Netflix-associated YouTube account.
Similarly, there’s Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. While some outlets pitch the series as a “satire” of magical girl anime, that’s hardly accurate. It is a magical girl series — the magical girls just happen to be part of the workforce, and their magic is sufficiently advanced technology. (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha did something similar 20 years ago, but the programming aspect is much more up-front in Magilumiere.) In this setting, magical girls are exterminators who hunt down giant monsters called Kaii. Protagonist Kana is on a job hunt, with only her skills at research and memorization to aid her, and finds herself employed by a four-person (now five-person) start-up. If the series is subversive, it’s insofar as it champions small businesses and treating your employees well.
Compared to Netflix’s treatment of Orb, Amazon Prime actually did some heavy lifting with Magilumiere, but that’s only by comparison. The coverage consists of a couple of episode announcements on social media, a trailer, and a “Meet the Magical Girls” video by CheyenneTheGeek. (Thank you, Cheyenne — we’re glad someone has our backs.) It’s admittedly been a hard push to get Amazon Prime anime and anime-adjacent titles released outside Japan, so the fact that it’s even available is a big win. But how much of a win is it if the series remains relatively buried?
I wish this editorial ended with an answer to the “Why?” I’ve been in the anime industry in some capacity for more than a decade and I’ve watched the landscape change year by year. In some ways, we’re in a better place than we were, with more titles available than ever and recognition actually being given to series we love. But every advance brings with it new types of problems that we couldn’t have foreseen a decade or two ago. Old-school anime fans are extremely accustomed to word-of-mouth advertising since there was a time when that was all we had. And yes, there is a long history of burying less promising anime titles in the back of a catalog. But it’s strange to see strong titles essentially buried.
There’s no question that DAN DA DAN is worth the hype, that Sakamoto Days deserves all the advance press it’s getting based on its incredible source manga, that One Piece is a perennial hit. It’s not an either/or question. Stunning titles are being lost as we speak — and in an era of disposable digital entertainment, how permanent will that loss be when the season is over? See these while you can. Even if their home streaming platforms don’t care, we should.
Image Source: Official Orb Website
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