 From left to right: Kaata Sakamoto (Netflix) and Manabu Ootsuka (MAPPA) Netflix has entered into a strategic partnership with Japanese animation studio MAPPA, reinforcing its long-term commitment to anime as a core global content pillar. Announced on January 21, 2026, the agreement deepens collaboration between the two companies across multiple stages of anime production, with Netflix set to exclusively stream a slate of new, original MAPPA-produced titles worldwide. Under the partnership, Netflix and MAPPA will work together on projects designed from the outset for international audiences, spanning story development, production planning, and downstream business areas such as merchandising. Multiple new anime projects are already in development, with global day-and-date premieres planned on Netflix. Founded in 2011, MAPPA has rapidly established itself as one of Japan's leading animation studios despite its relatively short history. The studio is known for high-profile titles including Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Yuri!!! on Ice, and Jigokuraku (Hell's Paradise). In recent years, MAPPA has drawn attention for pursuing a more studio-led business model, most notably with Chainsaw Man, where it played a central role not only in production but also in IP development and merchandising. The partnership reflects Netflix's growing reliance on anime as a key driver of viewer engagement. According to the company, more than half of its global members now watch anime, and overall anime viewership on the platform has tripled over the past five years. By securing exclusive global rights to new MAPPA titles, Netflix aims to strengthen its anime lineup while offering creators a direct path to international audiences. MAPPA President and CEO Manabu Ootsuka described the expanded partnership as an extension of the studio's philosophy of maintaining independence both creatively and commercially. He emphasized the importance of animation studios taking the lead across the full value chain, from understanding global audience demand to project development and business expansion, positioning the collaboration with Netflix as a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship. From Netflix's perspective, the alliance aligns with its broader strategy of working closely with top-tier Japanese studios rather than operating solely as a distribution platform. Kaata Sakamoto, Vice President of Content for Netflix Japan, highlighted MAPPA's willingness to take creative risks and pursue new forms of expression, noting that Netflix's global scale and appetite for bold content make it a natural partner for such ambitions. Netflix and MAPPA have collaborated previously on titles such as Kakegurui Twin, and Netflix has also brought other MAPPA works to international audiences. The new agreement formalizes and expands that relationship, signaling a shift toward deeper, studio-centered partnerships. As global demand for Japanese animation continues to rise, the Netflix–MAPPA partnership underscores a broader industry trend: animation studios seeking greater control over production and IP, and global platforms positioning themselves as long-term partners in the creative process rather than simple licensors. Source: Animation Business Journal, Nikkei |
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| Sounds like Netflix exclusivity only applies to "new, original MAPPA-produced titles" that are "designed from the outset for international audiences" and doesn't apply to current series and adaptations. By the way, being designed for the international market sounds like it doesn't meet MAL's criteria for defining anime. |
| I don't want to live in this world where the only way to get anime original series is for them to be unceremoniously dumped onto netflix in some big batch thats not even forgotten about in a week, cause it needs to acknowledged to even be forgotten in the first place. @GrumbleDango I don't think that affects mal's description, the stuff people get hung up not being here like like scott pilgrim or whatnot are more cause all the central staff were foreigners that just commissioned a Japanese studio to animate it the same way boondocks or batman animated series were, if all of mappa's stuff is made in japan its still anime regardless of whether its made for a global market. |
Immahnoob said: Jizzy, I know you have no idea how to argue for shit, tokiyashiro said: Jizzy as you would call yourself because youre a dick The most butthurt award goes to you And clearly you havent watched that many shows thats why you cant determine if a show is unique or not Or maybe you're just a child who likes common stuffs where hero saves the day and guys gets all the girls. Sad taste you have there kid you came up to me in the first place making you look more like a kid who got slapped without me even knowing it and start crying about it to me |
| Netflix has insane money. If they can buy something like Warner Bros, they can easily lock in deals with anime studios and who knows, maybe even buy one someday. |
| Last time they collaborated, Yasuke happened and that was a production nightmare |
"Get your tentacles off me or ill make calamari out of your manhood" -Mirai Nikki Dub |
| Unsurprising news. Studio Mappa is the worst thing to happen to anime. |
| Anime is DEAD and Netflix® killed it |
| This makes it clear why Lazarus wanted to appeal western audience so hard. Gonna just skip mappa originals from now on. |
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| Just saw the news and not surprised. MAPPA always sucked on its own. Hopefully with this collab, there will be better plots from them and with more steampunk because "international audience" - it'll be like Nitroplus at a discount (because Netflix). Nitroplus and MADHOUSE are dominating the market so hard that it's a reasonable move from upcoming MAPPA to collab with a platform to change direction while they still got the spotlight. Edit: Also, just saw that they did AOT final season. Ugh. Knew there was something different/off in the quality. Or maybe WIT is better fitting for studio mention, Nitroplus is more like the ones holding distributor rights(?) Or whatever. |
PhrazeJan 20, 10:46 PM
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Reply to VivavideoUser2x
Last time they collaborated, Yasuke happened and that was a production nightmare
| @VivavideoUser2x Was about to say that Netflix is hit or miss when it comes to anime, but now I've been reminded of that abomination again. |
on 
| ah yes, the "globalization" anime fans are CLEARLY asking for.... |
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| Looks like Netflix is just doing their thing again! |
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| MAPPA was already psudeo-western trash so that partnership makes sense |
| So we are going to get more DEI shitshows like Lazarus? |
| Extremely happy to see that one of the best anime studios works with Netflix. This means more accessibility for countries outside of US, UK and Australia. HOWEVER if I see woke propaganda in either the localization or woke anime content and of course extreme censorship like what happened with Ranma ½ (2024) because of some puritan butthurt neon haired far left US Netflix production managers I will immediately unsubscribe from the platform and stop supporting them.... |
YubisoftJan 21, 1:37 AM
| Netflix continues their quest to turn everything they touch to shit and things just keep getting worse. "Designed for international audiences", the most well known recipe for disaster. We've just seen it with Lazarus. |
| I have mixed feelings on this. |
| This comment section is insufferable and unfortunately too representative of MAL's forum userbase; that's all I'll say. I'm not sure how I feel about this partnership; on one hand, Netflix is definitely the western anime distributor that works closest with anime on the production side of things, so this was just a natural evolution and might actually help creatives. On the other hand, I don't feel great about Netflix getting involved in anything, ever. Where will blu-rays be released in the west? Would studio-licensor integration result in even less creative freedom due to additional pressure to make safe shows? And so on. |
| Can't wait for more original flops like Takt Op. Destiny. |
Reply to NS2D
MAPPA was already psudeo-western trash so that partnership makes sense
| @NS2D I can imagine you just got half of this website seething with your comment lmao |
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Reply to cokeshawty
@NS2D I can imagine you just got half of this website seething with your comment lmao
| @cokeshawty Really? I feel like that's what most people here think aside from those who only watch the super popular mainstream shows like Chainsaw Man and Dandadan |
Reply to NS2D
@cokeshawty Really? I feel like that's what most people here think aside from those who only watch the super popular mainstream shows like Chainsaw Man and Dandadan
| @NS2D I think you overestimate |
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| I just hope anime won't be gay, and that they will stay true to the original in every aspect. |
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Reply to detarameMAL
This comment section is insufferable and unfortunately too representative of MAL's forum userbase; that's all I'll say.
I'm not sure how I feel about this partnership; on one hand, Netflix is definitely the western anime distributor that works closest with anime on the production side of things, so this was just a natural evolution and might actually help creatives. On the other hand, I don't feel great about Netflix getting involved in anything, ever. Where will blu-rays be released in the west? Would studio-licensor integration result in even less creative freedom due to additional pressure to make safe shows? And so on.
I'm not sure how I feel about this partnership; on one hand, Netflix is definitely the western anime distributor that works closest with anime on the production side of things, so this was just a natural evolution and might actually help creatives. On the other hand, I don't feel great about Netflix getting involved in anything, ever. Where will blu-rays be released in the west? Would studio-licensor integration result in even less creative freedom due to additional pressure to make safe shows? And so on.
| @detarameMAL I like how ya'll insult the comment section without any real feedback onto the issues. People being worried is completely justified with the last few years of anime being made for algorithms (like Netflix's) have resulted in much lower quality productions (outside of visuals). Most anime made in the last 6 years have been far moe forgettable than previous decades because of this. Catering to global audiences will just make it even worse. We already went through this with Japanese video games in the 2010s and they only recently figured out that the path to success globally was to just make their Japanese games with the Japanese target audience instead. Sadly I don't think the anime industry will learn this because there's too many casuals who will reward them no matter what happens Lastly, nothing about this is good for creative. Netflix is notorious for paying shit. |
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Reply to DigitalParadox
Genuinely curious where all this MAPPA hate is coming from? The only controversial thing I've ever heard about them is overworking their employees which I understand is common in a lot of studios in this industry (doesn't justify it though). Is this why?
They've produced a lot of very popular and amazingly animated shows and I usually only hear/see good things in regards to quality.
For the record, I think this deal sucks for anime fans. Netflix have a pretty good reputation of enshittening pretty much anything they touch in recent years and I don't exactly watch anime to see western culture. If I did, I would watch western shows.
They've produced a lot of very popular and amazingly animated shows and I usually only hear/see good things in regards to quality.
For the record, I think this deal sucks for anime fans. Netflix have a pretty good reputation of enshittening pretty much anything they touch in recent years and I don't exactly watch anime to see western culture. If I did, I would watch western shows.
| @DigitalParadox Visually, they make good stuff. But otherwise it's all just overrated. Like God of High School was commonly referred to by casuals as the best anime of 2020 and yet it was extremely generic and dull in terms of actual content. Animation was great and that's all. And even that was actually really bad outside of the fights. Just looking at their list of anime right now, MAPPA's actually made more bad anime than good. Basically, all their popular anime (Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakegarui, Zombie Land Saga, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga) are their only good anime. Listeners was terrible. Lazarus was insultingly bad. But this is less about MAPPA being bad and more about Netflix being a terrible influence on anime. Either way, focusing in "global audiences" never works out well |
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| Terrible news. should lead with global perspective—from planning and development to international reach and related business ventures. This is simply the wrong way to think about anime. It's crazy. This was the common mindset for Japanese game companies in the 2010s and they created flop after flop because the games no longer felt unique or creative. The same thing has already been happening to anime in recent years as studios catered towards algorithms instead of being creative and trying new things. Japanese game companies re-learned that the right approach is to make games catered towards Japanese audiences and that unique "Japanese" vibe is what makes their games appealing. People want to watch anime because of its Japanese roots. Catering to a "global reach" ignores that vital component. Fuck MAPPA |
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Reply to Kougeru
@DigitalParadox
Visually, they make good stuff. But otherwise it's all just overrated. Like God of High School was commonly referred to by casuals as the best anime of 2020 and yet it was extremely generic and dull in terms of actual content. Animation was great and that's all. And even that was actually really bad outside of the fights.
Just looking at their list of anime right now, MAPPA's actually made more bad anime than good. Basically, all their popular anime (Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakegarui, Zombie Land Saga, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga) are their only good anime. Listeners was terrible. Lazarus was insultingly bad.
But this is less about MAPPA being bad and more about Netflix being a terrible influence on anime. Either way, focusing in "global audiences" never works out well
Visually, they make good stuff. But otherwise it's all just overrated. Like God of High School was commonly referred to by casuals as the best anime of 2020 and yet it was extremely generic and dull in terms of actual content. Animation was great and that's all. And even that was actually really bad outside of the fights.
Just looking at their list of anime right now, MAPPA's actually made more bad anime than good. Basically, all their popular anime (Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakegarui, Zombie Land Saga, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga) are their only good anime. Listeners was terrible. Lazarus was insultingly bad.
But this is less about MAPPA being bad and more about Netflix being a terrible influence on anime. Either way, focusing in "global audiences" never works out well
Kougeru said: You’re cherry-picking hard. You’re ignoring a huge chunk of MAPPA’s solid work and hyper-focusing on a couple of weaker titles to push a narrative. When a studio’s “only good anime” list includes Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga, Zombieland Saga, and Kakegurui, that alone already puts them above most studios.Just looking at their list of anime right now, MAPPA's actually made more bad anime than good. Basically, all their popular anime (Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakegarui, Zombie Land Saga, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga) are their only good anime. Listeners was terrible. Lazarus was insultingly bad. MAPPA is taking on the heaviest, most demanding productions in the industry right now, projects other studios won’t even touch. Saying they’ve made “more bad anime than good” completely ignores the scale, ambition, and consistency they’ve shown in the past decade. Love them or not, MAPPA is literally carrying modern anime output at the moment. |
Reply to HidingHere
Lmao, these comments. You guys know that this isn't anything new right? Wit already entered this partnership with Netflix, doing for them shows like Vampire in the Garden, Great Pretender, Grimm Variations, My Melody and Kuromi and Moonrise. Netflix also seems to have a deal with Colorido for the distribution of their original movies. Also calling Lazarus and by extension MAPPA woke and western makes me cringe so o much ( Please dont look up the plot of Carole & Tuesday lmao, or the majority of Watanabe's filmography for that matter).
I for one, am very much looking forward to the upcoming Beat & Motion adaptation
I for one, am very much looking forward to the upcoming Beat & Motion adaptation
| @HidingHere These days, people get hyped over anything remotely related to MAPPA. If the exact same news came from another studio, no one would’ve cared. |
Reply to HidingHere
Lmao, these comments. You guys know that this isn't anything new right? Wit already entered this partnership with Netflix, doing for them shows like Vampire in the Garden, Great Pretender, Grimm Variations, My Melody and Kuromi and Moonrise. Netflix also seems to have a deal with Colorido for the distribution of their original movies. Also calling Lazarus and by extension MAPPA woke and western makes me cringe so o much ( Please dont look up the plot of Carole & Tuesday lmao, or the majority of Watanabe's filmography for that matter).
I for one, am very much looking forward to the upcoming Beat & Motion adaptation
I for one, am very much looking forward to the upcoming Beat & Motion adaptation
| @HidingHere Never seen those titles but it seems like I will be disappointed with this collab already. They sound like cartoons made for children. If this is the extent of their international audience, besides the Warner Bros interest... Disappointed. |
|
Reply to HidingHere
Phraze said:
@HidingHere
Never seen those titles but it seems like I will be disappointed with this collab already. They sound like cartoons made for children. If this is the extent of their international audience, besides the Warner Bros interest... Disappointed.
@HidingHere
Never seen those titles but it seems like I will be disappointed with this collab already. They sound like cartoons made for children. If this is the extent of their international audience, besides the Warner Bros interest... Disappointed.
News Flash: Anime is cartoons
Please don't personify production companies. Instead look at the people actually hands on involved in the show's production: directors, writers etc.
Also, the shareholders making up production comitees funding these shows like to see numbers go up. If they want to keep seeing the number go up, they need to venture outside the Japanese market (which will only shrink in the foreseeable future for obvious reasons)
| @HidingHere Shareholders would still see numbers go up even if they adapt mediocre or original plots as long as it is backed by a giant media company like Netflix. Share doesn't reflect on the quality. Fair point on the Japanese market though. Animation is also not cartoon. It became synonymous but the western understanding of cartoons is that they lack depth and are for children. |
|
| So much for that Crunchyroll "monopoly" |
 |
| Yasuke season 2 is coming to netflix? |
| HACKs! 🤢🤮 |
Reply to Phraze
@HidingHere
Shareholders would still see numbers go up even if they adapt mediocre or original plots as long as it is backed by a giant media company like Netflix. Share doesn't reflect on the quality. Fair point on the Japanese market though.
Animation is also not cartoon. It became synonymous but the western understanding of cartoons is that they lack depth and are for children.
Shareholders would still see numbers go up even if they adapt mediocre or original plots as long as it is backed by a giant media company like Netflix. Share doesn't reflect on the quality. Fair point on the Japanese market though.
Animation is also not cartoon. It became synonymous but the western understanding of cartoons is that they lack depth and are for children.
Phraze said: Animation is also not cartoon it is. You are a cartoon fan. deal with it. |
| HACKs! 🤢🤮 |
Reply to Kougeru
@DigitalParadox
Visually, they make good stuff. But otherwise it's all just overrated. Like God of High School was commonly referred to by casuals as the best anime of 2020 and yet it was extremely generic and dull in terms of actual content. Animation was great and that's all. And even that was actually really bad outside of the fights.
Just looking at their list of anime right now, MAPPA's actually made more bad anime than good. Basically, all their popular anime (Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakegarui, Zombie Land Saga, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga) are their only good anime. Listeners was terrible. Lazarus was insultingly bad.
But this is less about MAPPA being bad and more about Netflix being a terrible influence on anime. Either way, focusing in "global audiences" never works out well
Visually, they make good stuff. But otherwise it's all just overrated. Like God of High School was commonly referred to by casuals as the best anime of 2020 and yet it was extremely generic and dull in terms of actual content. Animation was great and that's all. And even that was actually really bad outside of the fights.
Just looking at their list of anime right now, MAPPA's actually made more bad anime than good. Basically, all their popular anime (Jujutsu Kaisen, Kakegarui, Zombie Land Saga, Chainsaw Man, Vinland Saga) are their only good anime. Listeners was terrible. Lazarus was insultingly bad.
But this is less about MAPPA being bad and more about Netflix being a terrible influence on anime. Either way, focusing in "global audiences" never works out well
| @Kougeru but Yasuke was amazing and underrated. |
| HACKs! 🤢🤮 |
| @thebrentinator24 Grifting has ruined everything so I'm not surprised that it's in the anime community now, especially when you have someone like Chibi Reviews out here spreading the nonsense like wildfire The only thing I'm concerned about is if they will actually simulcast everything going forward instead of what they did to Fragrant Flower for example |
Reply to Phraze
@HidingHere
Never seen those titles but it seems like I will be disappointed with this collab already. They sound like cartoons made for children. If this is the extent of their international audience, besides the Warner Bros interest... Disappointed.
Never seen those titles but it seems like I will be disappointed with this collab already. They sound like cartoons made for children. If this is the extent of their international audience, besides the Warner Bros interest... Disappointed.
| @Phraze Netflix produces a very wide range of anime, not just one style or demographic. They actively explore every genre and age group from kids to fully mature audiences. Just look at titles like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Devilman Crybaby, and Great Pretender, all clearly aimed at older viewers and critically praised. They’ve also been doing great work outside action-heavy shows. Recently they released a shoujo series, Love Through a Prism, and it’s genuinely one of the best romance anime I’ve seen in a long time. |
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