Returning to Anime Expo, North America’s biggest Japanese pop culture fan event, Netflix showcased their diverse slate of upcoming anime and manga-inspire shows.
The ‘From Japan to the World’ J-Content presentation for more than 3,000 fans at the Main Events Stage featured the newly announced Pokémon Concierge (December, 2023) series star Non, who will voice the lead character Haru in the Japanese version and delighted fans with a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming series and newly presented teaser art.
The story about Haru’s adventures at the Pokémon Resort will join an ever expanding slate of J-Content, which also includes previously announced titles like Beastars Final Season (Coming 2024), whose main character Legoshi surprised fans onstage with a first look at some of the character designs for the upcoming and final season.
Netflix also gave fans and press a new glimpse at upcoming project Pluto (October 26), an anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Naoki Urasawa. Coming all the way from Tokyo, anime legend Masao Maruyama excited fans with insights into his decade-spanning career in the industry and what makes the upcoming Pluto project so special, before presenting a brand-new teaser trailer for the series.
Fans also heard from the stars of upcoming live-action zombie-comedy flick Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (August 3, 2023), with co-creator of the original manga Kotaro Takata and lead actor Eiji Akaso presenting the first teaser trailer, while joking about 100 things they’d do before the zombie apocalypse would take over.
Before wrapping up the panel, fans were treated to a special video message from the cast of the One Piece live-action series (August 31), in which series lead Iñaki Godoy took viewers to a special meeting with legendary voice actor Mayumi Tanaka, revealing that the original voice cast of the long-running anime series will reprise their roles for the Japanese dub of the upcoming series.
Netflix anime details:
Pluto (Premieres October 26): Europol detective robot Gesicht races to solve a string of murders targeting advanced robots and key figures in robot law, uncovering the greatest evil in history.
Praised by many as a masterpiece, the manga Pluto is based on Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy ‘The Greatest Robot on Earth’ arc from 1964 and created by Naoki Urasawa (20th Century Boys, Yawara!, Master Keaton) and his long-time co creator Takashi Nagasaki. The suspense drama takes place in a neo-futuristic world where humans and high-functioning robots live in complete harmony. The globally acclaimed manga has won numerous awards, including the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.
Based on Pluto by Naoki Urasawa & Osamu Tezuka
Producer: Takashi Nagasaki
Creative Supervisor: Macoto Tezka
Supported by Tezuka Productions and ‘BIG COMIC’ Published by Shogakukan
Executive Producers: Masao Maruyama, Taro Maki, Yuji Yamamoto
Director: Toshio Kawaguchi
Character Designer / Supervising Animation Director: Shigeru Fujita
Creative Advisor: Naoki Urasawa
Supervising Animators: Kazunori Aoki, Kaku Saito
CGI Director / Special Effects Compositor: Takahiro Miyata
Art Director: Chikako Shibata
Compositing Director: Mitsuhiro Sato
Audio Director: Masafumi Mima
Music: Yugo Kanno
Animation Production: Studio M2
Produced by GENCO
Pokémon Concierge (coming this December) is the first collaborative production between Netflix and The Pokémon Company and an ambitious stop-motion project produced by critically acclaimed dwarf studios. Expanding the Pokémon world, the story follows Haru, a concierge at the Pokémon Resort, and her interactions with Pokémon and their owners who visit as guests.
Director: Iku Ogawa
Screenplay by: Harumi Doki
Concept Arts / Character Design: Tadahiro Uesugi
Production: dwarf studios
Voice Cast: Non (Haru)
Beastars Final Season (coming 2024): A new chapter of the animal human drama Beastars begins! After that final battle, where did the gray wolf Legoshi go? Beastars is an animal human drama set in a world where bipedal carnivores and herbivores live together. In this unique world, the gray wolf Legoshi and his classmates attend the Cherryton Academy, where all students stay in dormitories. This is the story of love and friendship that goes beyond species. However, at times, their unrestrainable instincts as carnivores and herbivores lead to tragic events. This new chapter tells the story after Seasons 1 and 2.
Based on the manga by: Paru Itagaki
Animation Production: Orange
Voice Cast: Chikahiro Kobayashi (Legoshi)
