Forum - View topic

Netflix to Produce 30 'New' Anime Series for 2018 Release

My time has come... *cue epic music*

Netflix is the Google in this scenario. They are going to spend billions of dollars making a ton of VERY slick content. As others have mentioned, in the short term this will be very good for Japanese animators. A lot of them are probably going to be beating down the doors trying to get work from Netflix, since I imagine Netflix is going to pay a lot more than the local production committees. I think the Japanese industry still has a lot of time to up their game, but if they keep putting out too much stale, recycled (and poorly compensated) product, I can guarantee that 15 years from now Netflix will be one of the biggest players in anime, if not the majority share holder.

Shay Guy wrote:

And yet neither Netflix nor Amazon has managed to get streaming rights for Eva. Is it not just price? Have Gainax and Khara tangled themselves into a Macross-esque legal snarl?

I'm not an expert but I think the big issue with Eva isn't that it's just expensive but that it's old and it can be hard to get anime fans to invest in anime that's older than five years at this point. Most of the anime fans who would have an interest in watching/owning Eva probably already do but it's frankly kind of too old for most everyone else at this point. Streaming companies like Netflix and Amazon are more interested in snagging what's hot and new and will make them the most money than going after fan favorites for old timer otaku.

My time has come... *cue epic music*

When I said sooner or later Western media companies would start muscling in on the anime industry, they said I was crazy. That will never happen!! Anime is only for Japanese!! It's not anime if it's not purely produced for the local Japanese dude! Anime will never change and we want it to stay the same forever!!

This was inevitable. Anime is a growing industry, and companies like Netflix who are still growing their user base have every incentive to capture a significant portion of the market. This kind of reminds me of what happened with AOL when Google and Microsoft started taking over the internet business. Now Google and Microsoft own almost everything, aside from Facebook. Though I wonder how long it is until Microsoft takes over Facebook.

Netflix is the Google in this scenario. They are going to spend billions of dollars making a ton of VERY slick content. As others have mentioned, in the short term this will be very good for Japanese animators. A lot of them are probably going to be beating down the doors trying to get work from Netflix, since I imagine Netflix is going to pay a lot more than the local production committees. I think the Japanese industry still has a lot of time to up their game, but if they keep putting out too much stale, recycled (and poorly compensated) product, I can guarantee that 15 years from now Netflix will be one of the biggest players in anime, if not the majority share holder.

Netflix has some of their shows on DVD. For example, here´s a link to Orange is the New Black season 3 on DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Orange-New-Black-Season-Digital/dp/B01CQB7W7Y
And I´ve also seen Daredevil being sold on DVD. Even Ajin and Knights of Sidonia have DVDs for them.

It's been rumored for a while that the only reason no one has picked up Neon Genesis Evangelion is that Gainax (and now Khara) is not wanting to license it to anyone new right now. Some companies were able to renew in 2007 (latest I can find), but I'm unsure about any renewals/new licenses after that.

I'm curious as to why the ANN headline chose to put New in single quotation marks. Generally, that's a typographical convention to convey skepticism. In any case, it's an impressive goal. Netflix figured out long ago that the real money is in owning its own content as opposed to licensing from others. I see this as a good thing for the anime industry. I wonder if Amazon will start following suit? We know Crunchyroll already is, but they simply don't have the same size piggy bank as the Giants.

My time has come... *cue epic music*

When I said sooner or later Western media companies would start muscling in on the anime industry, they said I was crazy. That will never happen!! Anime is only for Japanese!! It's not anime if it's not purely produced for the local Japanese dude! Anime will never change and we want it to stay the same forever!!

Already confirmed that Netflix works don't pay the animators anymore than the other method, so I seriously doubt that they will be "beating down the door trying to get work from Netflix." Given that they announce licenses as "Netflix-produced series that we personally created!!!1111" this type of article is meaningless. Most, if not all, of these productions would've been made without Netflix involvement.

Yea and many new live action western shows are adapted from books or manuscripts written by aspiring unknowns.

Netflix investing now heavily in original content is similarly a smart move, as it will allow them to maintain much more of their revenue.

Netflix cannot replace the 15.9 billion dollar (in 2016) industry by itself

TasteyCookie wrote:

Netflix cannot replace the 15.9 billion dollar (in 2016) industry by itself

That $15.9 billion dollar figure counts all sorts of things not directly relevant to anime production like merchandise. You're probably talking about this report from the Association of Japanese Animators: http://aja.gr.jp/?wpdmdl=1005 (PDF). The relevant figures come from the graph entitled "Trends in Japanese animation market in a limited sense." That total comes to about $2 billion.