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Studio 4°C Offers Princess Arete, Genius Party, Mind Game Anime on Netflix (Updated)

Japanese anime production company Studio 4°C announced on Tuesday that it will add the Princess Arete, Mind Game, Genius Party, and Genius Party Beyond films to Netflix on September 2. The company will then tentatively add the Tweeny Witches television anime series to Netlix on September 15.

All of the anime will be available "in English and Spanish speaking countries where Netflix service is available."

The announcement does not state what languages will be available for subtitles or audio tracks.

September 2 also marks the day the Netflix streaming service will launch in Japan.

The studio had mentioned on Twitter on Saturday that it would release Mind Game and Genius Party in the United States, but did not specify at the time how it would make the films available.

Mind Game is a 2004 film directed by Masaaki Yuasa (Ping Pong, Kick-Heart) based on a manga by Robin Nishi. The film features a variety of experimental visual styles. The story follows Nishi, who wants to become a manga artist and marry his childhood sweetheart, Myon, but Myon is already engaged to someone else. Nishi goes to visit her family and runs into a pair of yakuza, kicking off an adventure.

Genius Party is an anthology of short films produced by Studio 4℃ and featuring directors such as Kōji Morimoto, Shinichiro Watanabe, Shōji Kawamori, Masaaki Yuasa, and Mahiro Maeda. The anthology was split into two parts—Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond — which opened in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

Sunao Katabuchi (Black Lagoon, Mai Mai Miracle) directed and wrote the Princess Arete film, which opened in Japan in July 2001. The film follows the titular princess, who is confined in a castle tower. Arete wants to meet the common people and travel the world, and she wants nothing to do with the competition going on among the knights in the kingdom, who are vying for the right to marry her by racing to find powerful magic objects. One day a sorcerer named Boax arrives and offers to take Arete as his wife and transform her into a proper princess.

All four anime have been officially screened in the United States, but not streamed or released on home video.

Media Blasters previously released Tweeny Witches on DVD. The 40-episode series tells the story of a young girl who wholeheartedly believes in magic, but finds her beliefs challenged when she is transported to an alternate world where magic and witches actually exist. Each episode in the series is nine minutes in length.

The series originally aired in Japan in 2004-2005.

Update: Studio 4°C contacted ANN on Tuesday to amend its previously announced streaming areas for all its anime on Netflix. The anime will now be available "in English and Spanish speaking countries where Netflix service is available."