Shopping Guide
The TV anime Knights of Sidonia, which has been broadcasting in Japan since April, is finally coming to Europe and North America. The anime will begin being distributed on Netflix, the world’s leading entertainment distribution service, starting on July 4.
The distribution will cover North America (Canada and the U.S.), European countries including England, Holland, and Sweden, and many Latin American countries including Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. The anime will be delivered to viewers around the world all at once. Beginning this fall, the anime will also be distributed in France, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland.
Netflix is an American-born company that started out as an online DVD rental service and has become one of the most prominent paid video distribution services. The service is accessible in over 40 countries and it has 48 million users. Included in the service aren’t just existing popular movies and TV shows, in recent years the company has put effort into creating shows exclusive to the service. Famous studios including Walt Disney and Dreamworks Animation also create Netflix-exclusive content.
Knights of Sidonia will be one more such show exclusive to Netflix. The show can only be viewed on Netflix in North America. This is a first for Japanese anime. It seems likely that this highly popular work will strengthen Netflix’s ability to attract customers.
Currently, the number of anime being distributed overseas is increasing, but the benefit of this exclusive distribution is that it is being done on a platform that is distributed to general audiences. It will be interesting to see from here on what viewers’ reactions toward the show will be.
The original work to Knights of Sidonia is a manga of the same name by Tsutomu Nihei that is currently serialized in the monthly magazine Afternoon (Kodansha). Humanity fled the solar system after it was destroyed by strange creatures called Gauna and it travels the cosmos aboard the gigantic ship Sidonia. The story depicts main character Nagate Tanikaze who is a Guardian trainee as him and his friends fight against the Gauna. The manga has a core fanbase even overseas. Also, the studio behind the anime is Polygon Pictures, a studio that is world famous for its CG anime. More and more, the series will continue expanding not just in Japan, but overseas as well.
© Tsutomu Nihei, Kodansha Ltd. / Toha Heavy Industries Video Production Department
Source: animeanime
