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Writer's pictureNicole S. Castro

#FEATURE: Our Top 7 Anime Picks from Netflix Festival Japan 2021

Written by: Nicole Castro

Published on: November 21, 2021 at 19:36 PHT (GMT+8)


Major streaming service Netflix has given fans many new anime titles to look forward to this end of 2021 to 2022 after the Netflix Festival Japan 2021 event which took place in Tokyo from Nov. 9-10, 2021.


The event was hosted by Japanese actress Marie Iitoyo (飯豊まりえ) and voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda (津田 健次郎). Tsuda, in particular, has voiced many famous roles for Netflix in recent years, most notably Tatsu in The Way of the Househusband. Since he will be starring in many more anime in the coming months, Netflix has released a promotional video featuring some of his roles.

For fans who want to watch the first day of the event (Anime Day) in detail, the full three-hour video is below.

Given the many titles to look forward to in the coming months, here are our top seven picks from Netflix's Anime Day.


1. Super Crooks (airs on Nov. 25, 2021)

Super Crooks will be the first to air among the new titles. It is an upcoming Japanese superhero anime based on the comic book series of the same name by writer Mark Millar and artist Leinil Francis Yu. The plot revolves around protagonist Johnny Bolt (CV: Kenjiro Tsuda) who recruits a team of eight supervillains to perform a super-powered heist in Spain.

Why are we excited for it? If you checked the trailer, then you know the animation is going to live up to our superpowered expectations. Studio Bones, the animators behind equally super series My Hero Academia, is producing it!



2. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (airs on Dec. 1, 2021)

Most people are not strangers to the JoJo fandom. This series has been serialized since 1987 in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump (after which it was transferred to the monthly seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump in 2005). It is Shueisha's largest ongoing manga series by volume count.


Whether or not you've been immersed in the fandom since the very beginning, you'll have the opportunity to dive into each story arc as they are relatively independent of each other. Each arc features a protagonist who is a member of the Joestar family and takes on the abbreviated title of "JoJo." This upcoming part six, Stone Ocean, focuses on Jolyne Cujoh (CV: Fairouz Ai), who is framed for a murder and consequently imprisoned in Green Dolphin Street Jail.


Why are we excited for it? We're ready for some fierce woman power to take the lead for part six! We finally get to see Jolyne use her Stand, Stone Free, animated!


3. Aggretsuko Season 4 (airs on Dec. 16, 2021)

The first three seasons of Aggretsuko are more than enough explanation for why this series is a favorite, especially among tired, 20-something adults who need an anime that resonates with their troubled working lives. But the season 4 trailer proves this series still has a lot to offer us in terms of plot, especially if you're all desperately waiting for Haida to finally do something about his romantic feelings for Retsuko.


Why are we excited for it? Haida does a major glow-up this season, and the other supporting characters go through significant life changes as well given the company is planning to do layoffs.


4. The Orbital Children (airs on Jan. 28, 2022)

This original sci-fi anime by Mitsuo Iso (Romaji: Chikyūgai Shōnen Shōjo; Alternative title: Extra-Terrestrial Boys & Girls) will be a six-episode series. The story takes place in the year 2045, in an era of AI. Children born on the moon and children from Earth are on a trip to space to meet at the Japanese-built space station, "Anshin" when an accident occurs.


Why are we excited for it? If the art from the trailer reminded you of Ghibli movies, well that's because you're right. Iso worked for Studio Ghibli as an artist from 1990-1992. Prior to The Orbital Children, Iso won the Excellence Award for animation at the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival for the sci-fi anime Coil - A Circle of Children, which focused on children growing up in a world where semi-immersive augmented reality (AR) technology had just begun to enter the mainstream.



5. Exception (airs in 2022)

Watch the Netflix preview discussion here

Exception is a completely new, original anime by Netflix, and is unique among the titles in this lineup for falling under the space-horror genre. It is set on dystopian earth, with humanity at the brink of extinction. They are forced to leave earth and look for a new place to survive in the Galaxy. A team of spacecraft is sent to a planet to terraform. These team members are created from a 3D printer that can produce biological structures through some unknown mechanism.


Why are we excited for it? The people working on this series are some of the best of the best. The story is by Hirotaka Adachi (pen name: Otsuichi), who won the prestigious Honkaku Mystery Award for the novel Goth, while character designs are by Yoshitaka Amano, who is famous for the video game franchise Final Fantasy.


6. Spriggan (airs in 2022)

The original Spriggan manga was serialized from 1989 to 1996, with an anime film in 1998. But finally it's getting a full-blown anime series adaptation this 2022! The plot for this military-action series revolves around an ancient civilization known for their advanced technology that ended up destroying itself due to misusing their powers. The ancestors, known as ARCAM, left messages for later generations in the form of indestructible message plates written in ancient Hebrew, informing them that if they could not find a good use for their creations, they should be destroyed.


Why are we excited for it? The trailer feels like a Hollywood action movie interspersed with alien-like, sci-fi technology. It not only makes us excited to learn the secrets about ARCAM, but also the various paramilitary groups who are after the secret messages as well as their motivations.


7. Vampire in the Garden (airs in 2022)

Watch the Netflix preview discussion here


Vampire in the Garden is another original anime slated for 2022 and focuses on the relationship between a human girl (Momo, CV: Megumi Han) and a vampire queen (Fiine, CV: Yu Kobayashi). They are born into a world where humans and vampires were once friends but are now at odds.


Why are we excited for it? Aside from the fact that this series is produced by the famous Wit Studio (Attack on Titan), we're excited to see how this show will be different in terms of tackling the relationship between humans and vampires (a common theme in many shows such as Vampire Knight, Vampire Hunter D, and Hellsing Ultimate), especially with the two main characters being female.


 

Digest by AniradioPlus

Reference: About Netflix official website, official YouTube, Comic Natalie

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