TOKYO -- Video-streaming service Netflix has announced new deals with four Japanese and South Korean anime studios to bolster its animation production, which has won a thumbs-up from global fans.
Tokyo-based Anima & Co., Science Saru and Mappa, as well as Seoul-based Studio Mir, have inked "production line partnerships" with Netflix, the American provider of on-demand entertainment said Friday.
This expands Netflix's anime studio partners to nine, with Studio Mir the first outside Japan. Similar partnerships with a total of five Japanese studios were formed in 2018 and 2019.
Like the existing partners, the four new ones are expected to produce multiple anime works for Netflix over several years. The arrangement is a win-win for both sides: It broadens the American company's menu of original content and lets the studios focus on production with steady income.
Streaming works from the partnerships include a new "Ghost in the Shell" series from Production I.G, which became a partner in 2018.
Netflix had 23.5 million paid memberships in the Asia-Pacific region as of the end of September, a net increase of 1 million from three months earlier.
In Japan, subscribers increased by about 2 million on the year to exceed 5 million at the end of August. Netflix has plans to offer at least 15 works of Japanese-made live-action original programming by 2022.
