How Netflix’s Release Strategy Killed This Anime

The combined power of WIT Studio and Hiromu Arakawa, the mangaka of Fullmetal Alchemist, could have been a huge win for the streaming service.

Last month, a producer at WIT Studio made a public plea for Netflix to promote his latest anime – but did its release model doom Moonrise from the start?

But first….

- Miles A.

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Chart of the Week

The spring 2025 simulcast season is here! Here’s a sneak peek at just SOME of the data we capture each season. Now that voting for Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards for last year’s titles has closed, let’s take a look at how audiences are “voting” on the platform for this season’s new titles. Since Crunchyroll removed comments, but kept episode likes, here’s what we learned from the most liked first episodes of the spring season so far.

• If you’re in anime fan spaces online, The Beginning After The End’s high like-count may come as a surprise, after recent controversies. but this speaks to the sheer volume of viewers for the title. It’s also a strong suggestion that its detractors are a vocal minority.

• New seasons of established IP with active audiences (Wind Breaker and Fire Force) ranking high is expected. So long as these seasons deliver an experience that matches—if not surpasses— their previous seasons, audiences and their approval are anticipated to grow.

• The top 10 most liked first episodes are a good mix of genres, but there’s a clear demographic lean towards shonen and seinen titles. Men, who tend to be these early simulcast season viewers, are more likely to engage with Crunchyroll’s features, liking episodes or rating series. Women tend to wait and see what’s worth their time and binge watch, so we’ll see what they prefer this season later! - Chloe C.

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Entertainment At Large

Inside Crunchyroll’s Latest Plans To Expand The Anime Universe (Forbes)

This PR piece about Crunchyroll’s new strategy is an interesting look into how they’re trying to position themselves both to the industry and to fans. (One key clue it’s a PR piece is that it’s from a Forbes contributor and not the Forbes editorial team). The article leans into the idea of “anime as a lifestyle,” highlighting Crunchyroll’s investments in live anime music, merchandise, and manga, as well as anime sourced not just from Japan.

One interesting point to note is how the CEO addressed the AI elephant in the room head on: “We are not considering AI in the creative process, including our voice actors. We consider them to be creators because they are contributing to the story and plot with their voice.”

This comes as a big heel turn from previous statements, where he explicitly mentioned Crunchyroll exploring AI subtitles and closed captions, to massive backlash. In the new Forbes interview, he then mentions exploring AI machine learning for “back-end systems to improve content discoverability, recommendations and personalization, but only as ways to improve the customer experience and not touching on the content itself.”

Responses to this clear policy change have been positive so far, with Redditors pointing out that if they pay for a streaming service, they expect dubs and subs from human, professional translators and localization teams.- Klaudia A.

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Studio Ghibli’s archive is the key to its 4K restoration process (The Verge)

This lovely piece about the backstory behind Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke 4k restoration is just delightful. In an age full of remakes, streaming services removing shows and movies for tax writeoffs, and the Trump administration killing funding for the arts and historical preservation, it’s really nice to see.

It reminds me of Polygon’s 2023 piece about Disney’s Cinderella 4K restoration, and the differences between these two companies’ priorities. Oh to live in a world where the Mouse chose to do regular re-releases of their animated films in theaters instead of constant live action/CGI remakes and dumping their few 4K restorations on Disney+. - Klaudia A.

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Ones to Watch

READ: My Classmate Ren-kun is Kinda Scary

Watching the slightly scary (but pure) delinquent Ren and his slightly too serious (about Ren) childhood friend Tadaomi is a delight! This manga is the lighthearted and genuinely funny story of an unlikely pairing, who only seem to care about their own little world together. It’s easy to read for all ages, and you will want to protect this couple from anything that stands in their way!
- Ariel Chan, White Box Senior Advising Consultant

WATCH: Revue Starlight

On the surface, Revue Starlight might strike you as just another music anime. Students at Seisho Music Academy settle their conflicts through beautifully choreographed musical fighting sequences in their effort to climb to the top. There’s yuri, and a talking giraffe.

But if you look a little more closely, you'll see a very deep show with engaging character drama, and a message that is all too relevant in today's highly competitive society.

Inspired by the iconic all-female theatre troupe Takarazuka Revue, Revue Starlight explores the true cost of standing under the spotlight.- Miguel M.

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Netflix's Latest Anime Casualty

Last week, a fan set off a round of discourse and English-speaking anime press with an essay on Reddit: “Netflix is quietly KILLING a passion anime project.”

In short, the complaint was that Netflix hadn’t done anything meaningful to promote the upcoming anime series Moonrise, and its release was only days away. Based on how little organic interest White Box recorded at the time, this seemed a fair claim. It was strange how few people were aware of the title, particularly considering it was produced by one of the most famous anime studios amongst overseas fans, WIT Studio, (Attack on Titan, SPY x FAMILY), and it sported handsome character designs from Fullmetal Alchemist mangaka Hiromu Arakawa.

But the heart of the Reddit essay, and the part that more than a dozen outlets picked up on, was a tweet from mid-March where Studio WIT producer Ryōma Kawamura tweeted out a thinly-veiled plea to Netflix to promote the title. This isn’t the first time that the team at WIT has been critical of Netflix: in Lynzee Loveridge’s interview with WIT president George Wada for Anime News Network, Wada was not shy about his concerns with Netflix’s promotional strategy. He argued that the company’s focus on promoting the platform itself comes at the expense of individual titles:

“I think that the way that [Netflix’s] marketing structure is set up is going to be one of their biggest challenges in the future. Netflix should understand that each and every title is important to the creators, and they should keep that in mind going forward.” - George Wada | President, Production IG & WIT Studio

Here’s the thing, though: Netflix absolutely did promote the title…as much as they do any other. In the last three years, Sakamoto Days is the only anime title where Netflix has done an international push for the “merchandising, events, and…additional aspects” that George Wada cited. However, even without these more traditional elements of IP development, anime exclusive to Netflix generally perform well.