Netflix could soon become the new go-to place to stream new anime series and anime-based projects, including live-action films based on specific shows.
The streaming subscription service has not only picked up exclusive streaming rights to several new anime series, but also has a live-action movie planned for one of the most popular shows to come out of Japan in recent years.
It's true that Netflix already has quite a variety of older anime series, including those that are perfect for first-timers, but now the service has plans to bring new anime to viewers, putting it in direct competition with anime subscription streaming service Crunchyroll.
One of the first new series on the service comes courtesy of anime studio P.A. Works, which announced that Kuromukuro, its 15th anniversary project, will have its streaming premiere exclusively on Netflix on April 11, just four days after it first airs on television in Japan. Netflix will then air new episodes of the series every Monday. Kuromukuro will also eventually become available in other countries, although there's no official release date for that just yet.
Netflix also has several original anime projects in the works, including Perfect Bones, a 12-episode series about a futuristic world where scientists strive to create "the perfect human." Several of these "perfect" children go to a facility where they train and learn how to use their powers, but there's an evil organization that kidnaps the children with the intent of using those powers to take over the world.
Last year, Netflix announced that it planned on adapting Japanese manga Ajin: Demi Human into a series, too. That show, which will have 13 episodes, follows a Japanese high school student who dies and then returns as an immortal "Ajin." But a group of people who hunt immortal beings are after him, so he must spend the rest of his life on the run.
Netflix also has two seasons of its current original anime series, Knights of Sidonia, available for streaming.
Although Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman originally aired in Japanese theaters, Netflix picked up the streaming rights for the movie and started airing it as a three-episode anime series in Japan. The service hopes to stream it to the rest of the world by the end of 2016.
Perhaps in its biggest anime-based move yet, though, Netflix has plans of taking the popular Death Note anime and turning it into a live-action movie. The subscription service is in "final negotiations" to take on the project, which will star Nat Wolff and Margaret Qualley. Executive producers on the movie include Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jason Hoffs and Masi Oka. Shane Black will serve as director.
Death Note is an anime series about a student who finds a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone by writing their name in it. It often makes "best of" lists, both by anime and fan critics alike.
