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Netflix is co-producing three feature films
with Studio Colorido including "Drifting Home", which premieres
in September, as it invests more deeply in original anime. The
film will also premiere in cinemas domestically.
Anime has proven a draw for Netflix in both Japan, where almost
90% of its users watch it, and globally, where half of users
tuned in last year, with rivals including Amazon and Disney also
racing to offer such content.
"In order to ... win globally, we must win locally first," Kaata
Sakamoto, vice president of content for Japan, told Reuters in
an interview.
The Asia-Pacific region was the lone bright spot in Netflix's
first-quarter earnings, in which the world's dominant streaming
service reported it lost subscribers for the first time in more
than a decade. The company said it was seeing "nice growth" in
the region, including in Japan, where it reported 5 million
users in September 2020.
Netflix offers access to a broader audience than the hardcore
anime fans traditionally targeted by the industry, Studio
Colorido President Koji Yamamoto told Reuters.
The studio favours stories in which characters are pulled from
their ordinary lives by a fantastical turn of events such as
"Penguin Highway" from 2018, in which an elementary schoolboy
investigates the sudden appearance of penguins in his town.
Such family-friendly fare fits with Netflix's strategy of
expanding its content offerings in Japan, including launching
some 40 original anime titles, scripted dramas such as "First
Love," and unscripted series like "Last One Standing."
"We are ramping up our investment in Japan content, not just in
volume but in a variety of genre and formats," Sakamoto said.
Netflix has also struck deals with domestic broadcasters, which
have been slow to embrace streaming, for content such as
long-running variety show "Old Enough!" from Nippon TV. The
show, which depicts very young children running errands for the
first time while being filmed by production staff in disguise,
has generated buzz online.
(Reporting by Sam Nussey in Tokyo and Dawn Chmielewski in Los
Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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