Netflix Orders Anime Series Based On Japanese Manga ‘Pluto’, Sets Voice Cast

Netflix will splash the cash in the APAC region this year, boosting content investment by 15% as revenues grow by 12%, according to a report from Media Partners Asia (MPA).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Global streaming operation Netflix is forecast to spend $1.9 billion on local content in the Asia-Pacific region this year as group revenue from the region accelerates to 12%, according to a new report. The content investment spending figure represents a 15% hike. Netflix will grow revenues this year by 12% year-on-year to exceed $4 billion compared with 9% growth in 2022, says a new report published on Monday by Media Partners Asia.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor AMC Networks’ Sentai Filmworks unit reached an agreement with Japan’s Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS) that provides exclusive rights for AMC’s anime-focused HIDIVE streaming service to distribute part of MBS’s future programming lineup in all global markets outside of Asia. The pact is Sentai’s biggest-ever deal for anime content, according to the company. The output deal encompasses MBS’s programming slate based on a collection of popular manga and light novel titles. All of the shows will be available exclusively on HIDIVE outside of Asia. Among the shows covered in the Sentai-MBS output is “The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen: From Villainess to Savior” (pictured above). The new show, scheduled to premiere in July 2023, is a 12-episode series based on hit fantasy light novel by Tenichi and published by Ichijinsha. The series is being directed by Norio Nitta and written by Deko Akao with animation by OLM.

The latest entry in the Pokémon franchise is coming.

Netflix has announced a new Pokémon series is set to launch on the platform, but fans of the franchise have been left hugely divided. In celebration of Pokémon Day on Monday (February 27), the streaming giant confirmed new series Pokémon Concierge is coming soon.

Jordan Moreau Netflix has gotta catch ’em all. The streamer is teaming up with The Pokémon Company to create “Pokémon Concierge,” an upcoming stop-motion animated series. The series will follow “Haru, a concierge at the Pokémon Resort, and her interactions with Pokémon and their owners who visit as guests,” the logline says. A short teaser for “Pokémon Concierge,” announced on Monday, Feb. 27, a.k.a. Pokémon Day 2023, showed a blissful, sandy beach with a Psyduck waddling along the shore. “This is the Pokémon Resort. Pokémon are the guests here. Here is the story of the resort’s concierge,” a narrator says. The official poster for the show revealed Haru, a young, red-headed girl in a floral, Hawaiian-style shirt (covered with grass-type Oddishes), with her Psyduck.

Netflix and The Pokémon Company announced on Monday that the two are teaming up for a new stop-motion animated series called “Pokémon Concierge,” revealing a short teaser for the new show.Expanding the Pokémon world, the story follows Haru, a concierge at the ‘Pokémon Resort,’ and her interactions with Pokémon and their owners who visit as guests. You can see her hanging with Psyduck in the first teaser video above.The ambitious project is a collaboration between Netflix, The Pokémon Company and dwarf studios, which is handling production.“Netflix is looking forward to delighting fans in Japan and around the world with ‘Pokémon Concierge,’ an entirely new visual and storytelling experience featuring ground-breaking stop-motion animation set in the Pokémon world in close collaboration with The Pokémon Company,” Minyoung Kim, Vice President of Netflix Content in Asia, said in a statement.

Netflix has teamed with The Pokémon Company on a stop-motion animated series marking 17 years since the release of the firstPokémon game. Scroll down for a teaser.

There are scores of apps aiming to help us monitor our mental health, but sometimes the best approach is to turn off technology. Getting outdoors in parks, woodland and other natural settings has long been known to improve people’s mood – the Japanese call it shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing”. But recently researchers have been investigating whether spending time with animals can have similar benefits.

Japanese Breakfast has caused a stir online by sharing her controversial thoughts on The Beatles‘ seminal seventh album ‘Revolver’.Released back in 1966, the record is widely regarded as the Fab Four’s best full-length project. Using cutting edge studio technology, the LP is one of the most innovative pop records ever made.Taking to Twitter last Sunday (February 19), Japanese Breakfast – real name Michelle Zauner – claimed that “‘Revolver’ is the ‘Tusk’ of Beatles albums”, referring to Fleetwood Mac‘s experimental 1979 follow-up to ‘Rumours’.“I’m not saying either of these albums are bad!” Zauner clarified in a follow-up tweet.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two of Japan’s leading video streaming services are to merge, it was announced late last week, creating the largest local company in the market. Current number two player U-Next is to absorb Premium Platform Japan, a company which operates the Paravi streaming platform. The combined company is estimated to have some 3.7 million subscribers and revenues exceeding JPY800 billion ($594 million) per year. Integration of the two operations could begin as soon as July, local media reported. That would allow U-Next subscribers to access Paravi’s content, much of which is re-runs from conventional TV broadcasters. Premium Platform Japan is substantially owned by TBS Holdings and TV Tokyo.

Naman Ramachandran Classic cult film streamer Cultpix has struck a 31-film deal from three immensely popular franchises with Japan’s Kadokawa Daiei Studio at Berlin’s ongoing European Film Market (EFM). The deal includes 20 Zatoichi films, eight Gamera films and three Daimajin films. The deal is for the Nordic countries initially, but the aim is for wider distribution eventually. In addition, timed with Nikkatsu’s 50th anniversary of their “Roman Poruno” films, Cultpix rediscovered six previously virtually unknown Nikkatsu productions, shot in Sweden between 1971-1973, with everything Japanese apart from the actors and the locations. The screenwriter, director and behind-the-camera talent were all flown in from Japan. The films were to emulate the popular “Swedish sin” films of the time, as there was a market need for them in Japan.

Kate Hudson’s wedding plans are a little different than usual.

The Japanese House has suggested new music is on the way.The singer-songwriter, real name Amber Bain, posted a photo of herself on Instagram with the caption ‘News coming soon’, directing fans to sign up to her mailing list to hear it first.The Japanese House last released new music in 2020 in the form of the EP ‘Chewing Cotton Wool’. Her only studio album so far, ‘Good At Falling’, came out the year prior.A post shared by The Japanese House (@thejapanesehouse)The announcement comes off the back of the news that she is set to appear at The 1975‘s biggest ever UK headline show at London’s Finsbury Park, with a capacity of over 40,000, on July 2.

Leiji Matsumoto, the Japanese manga and anime creator known for science fiction sagas, TV series like Space Pirate Captain Harlock and music videos for Daft Punk, died of acute heart failure on February 13. He was 85.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent Leading Japanese manga artist Matsumoto Leiji, whose space operas became known to fans globally in animated incarnations, died on Feb. 13 in Tokyo at age 85. His representatives announced on Monday that the cause of death was heart failure.   Born Matsumoto Akira in 1938 in Kurume, a city on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, Matsumoto began drawing manga professionally after his arrival in Tokyo at age 18. He made his debut in 1954 with a comic titled “Mitsubachi no Boken” (Adventure of the Honey Bee).  

Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV has finalized a deal with Netflix to produce ten-part unscripted comedy series Ariyoshi Assists. 

“I think we need to find a way to avoid the U.S. brainwash,” said Newen Connect CEO Rodolphe Buet at this morning’s Berlinale Series Adapting to the Market session.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent The latest series from Alex de la Iglesia and “Veneno” creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo feature at a first-look Next from Spain Showcase which marks a massive step-up in the country’s presence at the Berlinale Series Market. Running Feb. 20-22, the showcase also unveils “Rapa” Season 2, with its first season proving Movistar+’s biggest 2022 bow, and “This Is Not Sweden,” a pioneering Spanish co-production with Scandinavia and Germany.  The Showcase titles are joined by Isaki Lacuesta’s “The Chauffeur’s Son,” a Co-Pro Series project from “Elite’s” Zeta Studios, and “Selftape,” a Filmin Original from Filmax and a Series Market Screening.