Netflix Declares 300 Million Anime Fans Can't Be Wrong
According to Variety, Netflix chose the ideal context—last weekend's Anime Expo in Los Angeles—to share this news. Going by recent data, 'more than 50 percent of its members—amounting to over 150 million households, or an estimated 300 million viewers—now watch anime. The company says anime viewership on the platform has tripled over the past five years, with 2024 marking a record-breaking year: 33 anime titles appeared in Netflix's Global Top 10 (Non-English) rankings, more than double the number in 2021.'
What's more, 'The streamer also revealed that anime content was viewed over 1 billion times globally in 2024, and that 80 to 90 percent of users opt to watch anime dubbed. To capitalize on the demand, Netflix has begun offering anime titles with dubbed audio and descriptions in up to 33 languages.'
Those are not niche numbers, in other words, and Netflix will certainly aim to keep its subscribers happy by supplying more anime content. At Anime Expo, specific titles teased included hitman-turned-family-man manga adaptation Sakamoto Days, which returns July 14 after a high-charting first season, and much-anticipated sequel Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, which does not yet have a release date. That's just a fraction of the titles, though, and if that level of excitement continues to grow, you can expect even more anime to hit the streamer in the future.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time Magazine
a few seconds ago
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Twisty Ending of Netflix's Drama Delirium
On a quiet day in Bogotá in the early 1980s, university professor Fernando Aguilar (Juan Pablo Raba) returns from a short trip to find his wife, Agustina Londoño (Estefanía Piñeres), in the midst of a psychotic break. She's barricaded in a hotel room, disoriented and terrified, unable to explain what happened during the days he was away. There are no signs of violence, no visible trauma—only the disquieting certainty that something has shattered inside her. What begins as a psychiatric emergency soon unravels into a haunting exploration of family secrets, generational silence, and the blurred lines between madness and memory. This is the premise of Delirium, a Netflix psychological drama inspired by the internationally acclaimed novel Delirio by Colombian author Laura Restrepo. The eight-episode series, premiering July 18, unfolds against the backdrop of a politically turbulent Colombia. Delirium is both intimate and expansive—an unflinching look at mental illness, social hypocrisy, and the heavy burden of our unspoken traumas. According to showrunners Verónica Triana and Andrés Burgos, working on a period story offered a powerful opportunity to reflect on the present. 'Depicting how mental illness was addressed just over 40 years ago not only created moments rich in drama, but also serves as a clear contrast to highlight how far we've come—and how far we still have to go,' they tell TIME. 'Trauma, mental illness, and family secrets are universal themes that have always concerned our society. But today, we are beginning to name these illnesses, to understand them, and to ask for help when we need it.' Let's break down the major plot lines in Delirium. Madness in the Londoño family By Episode 6 of Delirium, Aguilar is still trying to understand what happened to his wife in a desperate bid to help her. His wife's aunt, Sofía—who arrived after receiving a call from Agustina saying she wasn't well—shares a story that spans generations of the Londoño family. Sofía is the sister of Agustina's mother, Eugenia, and they both grew up on the family's hacienda. As children, Eugenia and Sofía's father, Nicolás, began hearing strange noises and asked if anyone else heard them. 'Like a toothless old woman whispering in one ear, and in the other, a chair being dragged down the corridor,' he said. His wife, Blanca, attributed the sounds to tinnitus—a ringing in the ears—but Nicolás knew it was something else. As a pianist, he needed silence to compose and think, and he could only find that underwater. The next day, Eugenia told her father she had heard the sounds too. He simply replied: 'One day we're all going to die and stop hearing any sound.' Not long after, Blanca, the daughters, and Abel—Nicolás' piano student and secret lover—found his lifeless body in the farm's lake. Blanca forced her daughters to lie, saying their father had returned to France. From that point on, Eugenia began to lie compulsively, to the point of losing track of what was real. 'My father committed suicide. And we never spoke of it. And over time I understood what his relationship with Abel really was,' Sofía tells Aguilar. Delirium suggests that madness is in the Londoño blood. In a flashback in Episode 1, young Agustina gets her first period, and her mother warns her to stay away from men. 'And also be very careful with those tickles down there. I don't want you becoming like Aunt Ilse, my father's sister,' says Eugenia. Agustina asks if she's the aunt 'who went crazy.' Her mother responds yes: 'She didn't obey her parents and kept scratching herself all the time, in front of everyone. They had to tie her up and send her to an asylum. Madness enters from there. You don't know what has happened in this family,' Eugenia implies, linking sexuality with mental illness. The mental anguish in the family does not end there. Since childhood, Agustina has seen insects crawling on her skin that aren't really there. Her brother, Carlos Vicente Jr. (nicknamed Bichi), was beaten by their father for dressing like a girl, and Agustina believed she could heal his physical wounds. Though diagnoses and disorders are never mentioned by name, the series strongly implies that the Londoño family carries some hereditary mental disorder. Midas' criminal scheme The series flashes back to when Agustina was in school. Her brother Joaco became friends with Fredy Rodríguez—known as Midas—after he won a scholarship to the elite school Joaco attended. Midas and Agustina fall in love. As a teenager, Midas got involved with a trafficker and started a drug-smuggling and money-laundering operation targeting wealthy students. In early adulthood, he pitched an investment proposal to Joaco's father, joining him and other investors in the scheme. Trouble arises when one shipment is seized in Florida. Despite setbacks, Midas urges investors to continue, but some partners grow suspicious. A violent incident involves Araña, a paraplegic partner, who kills Jenny, a stripper and friend of Midas, by strangulation during a sexual act meant to secure investments. Midas kills Araña after a confrontation fueled by accusations of betrayal. The scheme unravels further when Midas and his partner Misterio—the trafficker Midas started working with in his teenage years—are ambushed by police; Misterio is killed and Midas escapes. Later, Joaco warns Midas that Jorge, another partner in the scheme, has turned him in, pushing Midas to go into hiding at the family farm. From here, the criminal plot becomes intertwined with Agustina's psychotic break. What caused Agustina's psychotic break? At the end of Episode 1, Aguilar returns from a trip with his children to find the house empty. Listening to a message on the answering machine, he learns Agustina is at the Hotel Wellington. In the background, he hears her screaming, 'He left me, f-ck him.' Before the trip, Aguilar explains to Agustina that he was traveling without her so he could better bond with his children, from his relationship with his ex, Marta. Initially, Agustina had thought she would be going with them. The truth behind her breakdown is revealed only in the final episode. Agustina regains clarity and seeks out Aguilar at his ex-wife's home—the place he went after Agustina asked him to leave during her psychotic episode. She recounts what happened. After Aguilar left with the children, Agustina spent her time painting a wall until her mother called, inviting her to a birthday celebration at the family farm. Despite their tension, Agustina went. There, she overheard Eugenia speaking with Joaco about her unhappiness with Midas' presence at the party. But Joaco insists they need Midas; the business is failing without him. He also mentions that her son and Agustina's other brother, Carlos—named after his father—has come back demanding his share of the inheritance. Carlos had run away in his youth after being beaten for being 'too feminine' and reemerged years later following their father's death. During the celebration, Agustina stands beside Midas while Joaco gives a speech praising their mother. He omits mention of Carlos and refers to Agustina as 'the special girl,' with a condescending tone. Agustina interrupts, saying that it was Aunt Sofía who cared for them, while their mother was busy with wine and pills. Their mother then introduces Joaco's girlfriend, Mariana, and says she wants grandchildren. At that point, Agustina reveals a trauma: she had become pregnant by Midas, but her mother forced her to terminate the pregnancy because he was not 'acceptable.' Later, once married to Aguilar, she lost another baby. 'Since he [Midas] is not an entrepreneur but a trafficker, he is good for money but not to father my child,' she says. She also accuses her brother of hiding the existence of their other brother, Carlos, because he is gay, and points to Mariana as their mother's 'last hope.' The argument ends only when Joaco tells his sister, 'Thank God you never became a mother.' This sets off a psychotic break for Augustina. She sees insects crawling on her body and in the party food, hears voices mocking her, and believes everyone is laughing at her. Midas takes her to the Hotel Wellington, but since he is on the run, he can't stay, so he leaves a henchman in charge of calling Aguilar so he can come pick her up. How does Delirium end? After learning the truth, Agustina tells her husband he can talk to Midas, who is hiding at his mother's house. Aguilar finds him hooded, leaving a market with fruits and vegetables. Noticing he is being followed, Midas turns and asks about Agustina. Aguilar replies, 'Today she is better.' Midas is relieved and asks if Aguilar needs anything. Aguilar declines. Midas asks him to take care of Agustina, then disappears. Back at home, Aguilar smiles at Agustina. The couple kisses and, for a moment, peace seems restored. But now Aguilar knows: Agustina is flawed—'not perfect'—with broken pieces, as she narrates in the closing moments of the series. 'The process of preparing Agustina's character was led by directors Julio Jorquera and Rafael Martínez. Julio was very wise in pointing out that madness is not something one can rehearse, which threw all the team—especially Estefanía—into a kind of vertigo and delirium that felt necessary for this production. The idea was to discover and surprise ourselves throughout the process, something that's not easy to achieve within a production system where efficiency is valued just as much as content,' the showrunners say. 'It wasn't easy for her. But I believe that arriving on set without a fixed plan allowed for the spontaneity we were seeking. Letting go of preconceived ideas about what madness is or how it should be portrayed was key for all of us.'
Engadget
a few seconds ago
- Engadget
Netflix is already using generative AI in its original shows
Netflix admitted during its earnings call on Thursday that it used generative AI to create VFX in The Eternaut , a Netflix original from Argentina that was released in April 2025. The company's co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that generative AI was specifically used for a VFX shot in the post-apocalyptic drama, but the move is one of several ways Netflix is embracing AI. According to Sarandos, the creators of The Eternaut wanted to include a shot of building collapsing in Buenos Aires, and rather than contract a studio of visual effects artists to create the footage, Netflix used generative AI to create it. "Using AI powered tools, they were able to achieve an amazing result with remarkable speed," Sarandos shared during the earnings call. "In fact, that VFX sequence was completed 10 times faster than it could have been completed with... traditional VFX tools and workflows." The shot "just wouldn't have been feasible for a show on that budget," Sarandos says, as someone with some input on the show's budget. The executive says that The Eternaut features "the very first Gen AI final footage to appear on screen in a Netflix original series or film." Clearly, the show is also a prototype for how Netflix can avoid costs it doesn't want to swallow in the future. Workers in the entertainment industry have not taken kindly to the use of generative AI. Labor strikes — including the recently resolved SAG-AFTRA video game strike — have made securing protections against AI a central issue. The Oscar-nominated film The Brutalist came under fire in 2024 for using AI tools during production. Beyond that, whether generative AI models were illegally trained on copyrighted material is still an open question. Netflix plans to use generative AI to create ads for its ad-support Netflix subscription, and the company is reportedly testing a new search feature powered by OpenAI models. Using generative AI in production might seem par for the course for a company that's already invested, but it could help to normalize a technology that many creatives remain actively against.
CNBC
a minute ago
- CNBC
Why Netflix's beat-and-raise quarter is welcome news for Disney investors
Strong earnings from streaming king Netflix on Thursday sets the stage for Disney to shine with its results in a few weeks. Netflix reported an upbeat quarterly results after the bell Thursday, with revenue soaring 16% year over year, its seventh straight quarter of double-digit growth. The streaming service also delivered beats on operating income, earnings per share and free cash flow, and raised its full-year revenue guidance. (Shares were down Friday on Netflix warning that its operating margin would be lower in the second half of 2025). While the results certainly keep Netflix atop the competitive streaming industry, they also provide a good read-through for Disney, which has been hyper-focused on growing its streaming platforms — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ -- as its traditional TV business remains challenged. Indeed, Netflix reported "healthy member growth" — Netflix no longer discloses quarterly net member adds — proving consumers are still willing to pay for streaming entertainment. But it also found success with higher pricing for its products and revenue from its new ad-supported services. That higher pricing is welcome news for other streamers, including Disney, which has raised prices for Disney+ ad-supported and ad-free plans, as well as for its bundles which combine Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. The uptick in ad revenue at Netflix demonstrates that major streaming platforms like Disney+ can raise prices and grow advertising income without losing subscribers, proving that customers are willing to pay up for premium content, and that ad-supported models can help diversify revenue streams. In related news, NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock just announced Friday that it is raising prices by $3 per month for its ad-supported and ad-free tiers. The price hikes come after a surge in subscribers for the latest season of "Love Island" and in anticipation of its NBA broadcast package beginning this fall. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.) Ahead of Disney's third quarter on Aug. 6, UBS estimated double-digit earnings per share growth will continue, buoyed by resilient demand at the company's theme parks and similar improvement in direct-to-consumer profitability. They note concerns that the opening of Universal's Epic theme park in Orlando appear to have been overblown. The analysts raised its price target on Disney stock to $138 a share from $120 earlier this week. After a big move off their April lows, shares have been rangebound as investors wait to hear more about streaming profitability improvements, the strength of its parks and experiences business, and management's plan to mitigate declines in linear TV. The stock is trading roughly 1% lower at $121 per share Friday. Disney is a "show-me stock," Jim Cramer said Thursday on "Squawk on the Street." "People want to see the Disney+ numbers and see that there really is a breakout because there's been so much distrust about anything that's involved with linear [TV]," he said. "No one seems to get their way until they see the numbers. I think the numbers are going to come through and the stock's going to look cheap. I'm a believer." Of course, we don't sacrifice our discipline even when we have faith that Disney will be able to move higher over time. We trimmed our position on June 27 to capitalize on that big run. Now, we're waiting for earnings in a couple weeks for a business update. We maintain our price target of $130 and 2-rating on the stock. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long DIS. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
