Almost 90% of Netflix’s subscribers in Japan watch anime, according to the streamer’s anime creative director, Kohei Obara, who describes anime as “one of the cornerstones of our investment in Japan”. Netflix also said in the run up to Mip TV 2022 that globally, viewing hours for Japanese anime on Netflix were up 20% last year compared to 2020.
And yet, the genre – for now – remains a long way off the number of hours Japanese viewers spend watching Netflix’s Korean series, including relatively old titles such as 2019/2020 tvN blockbuster, "Crash Landing on You", and the first season of JTBC’s "Itaewon Class".
Netflix’s weekly charts showed only one anime title, Kotaro Lives Alone, on Japan’s TV top 10. The series debuted on the list in March at number five, dropping to number nine in its second week.
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