After scoring big with ‘Castlevania’, Netflix is diving deep into the world of original anime. The streamer already has ‘Devil May Cry’ and ‘Resident Evil’ in the works, now four more projects have been announced: ‘Altered Carbon: Resleeved’, ‘Gods and Heroes’, ‘SPRIGGAN’, and ‘Dragon’s Dogma’. Like ‘Castlevania’, ‘Devil May Cry’, and ‘Resident Evil’, ‘Dragon’s Dogma’ is based on a Capcom video game. ‘Altered Carbon: Resleeved’ will be a spin-off of the hit live-action series. ‘SPRIGGAN’ is based on the manga written by Hiroshi Takashige, illustrated by Ryoji Minagawa. ‘Gods and Heroes’ is an original concept, inspired by Greek mythology.
Netflix director of content (Japan), John Derderian, stated:
“Netflix aims to be the most compelling and attractive home for anime fans, creators and production studios. We are creating an environment where production houses can do their best work, and deliver their shows on a service where we connect anime fans from over 190 countries to content they love.”
Netflix has partnered with Anima Inc. for ‘Altered Carbon: Resleeved’, which “will explore new elements of the series mythology.” The first season of the live-action series premiered last February.
Set in a future where consciousness is digitized and stored, a prisoner returns to life in a new body and must solve a mind-bending murder to win his freedom.
Joel Kinnaman starred in the first season, but Anthony Mackie steps in, playing the same character in a new body, for Season Two.
According to Anima Inc. representative director Shinya Sasahara:
“We’re particularly excited by the production line deal as this allows our creative team to focus on creating great content.”
For ‘Dragon’s Dogma’, Netflix is working with Sublimation.
The story follows a man’s journey seeking revenge on a dragon who stole his heart. On his way, the man is brought back to life as an ‘Arisen’.
Sublimation representative director Atsushi Koishikawa stated:
“The Sublimation team has long dreamt of working on our own title. We have oftentimes worked with partner studios to create partial CGI portions within a given title, so we feel very fortunate to work with Netflix through this production line deal. We’re excited to bring our unique cel-shaded animation that carries hand-drawn textures to anime fans around the world.”
David Productions is Netflix’s partner for ‘SPRIGGAN’, which is described as “an edgy sci-fi battle action about a man with supernatural powers to seal historical remains.”
‘Gods and Heroes’ is the only one of these new projects that is an original concept.
“[It] tells the story of a young man who, cast aside by his people, learns that he is the illegitimate son of Zeus. He alone can save both Heaven and Earth but to do so he must survive the vengeful wrath of a goddess who wants him dead and the monstrous forces of evil she aligns against him.”
This series was created by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, who will serve as executive producers. The Parlapanides cowrote Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the manga/anime ‘Death Note’. The pair previously wrote another mythology-based film, ‘Immortals’. The series will be produced by Powerhouse Animation, who were responsible for ‘Castlevania’.
In a statement, Charley and Vlas Parlapanides said:
“In Gods & Heroes we wanted to tell a wholly original story set in the beloved world of Greek mythology. We are thankful for such an amazing cast and for such great creative partners at Netflix and Powerhouse Animation, who continue to push the envelope and expand the anime genre in a manner we had only dreamed of.”
‘Gods and Heroes’ already has a voice cast lined up: Jason O’Mara as the main character, plus Mamie Gummer, Derek Phillips, Chris Diamantopoulos, Jessica Henwick, Melina Kanakaredes, Claudia Christian, and Elias Toufexis.
Which of these projects sounds most interesting to you?
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