Netflix Disgorges A Ton Of Anime Trailers

Netflix may not have the resources to amass an anime library on the scale of Crunchyroll‘s, but it has the ability to finance its own original productions. This week during the Annecy Animation Festival the company revealed multiple anime shows and movies, most of them due to be released within the year. For example…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJL-llloz24

The Ribbon Hero is a modern take on Osama Tezuka’s classic manga Princess Knight. The original story is about Sapphire, a young princess who disguises herself as a knight to save her kingdom. The Ribbon Hero uses a different Sapphire, but the same premise. Plus, one big ribbon. Look for the movie August 8.

Before then, Netflix will premiere Sparks Of Tomorrow, set in a steampunk Japan around the turn of the century. Steam powers and runs everything, but that could change once two kids discover the full potential behind electricity. The first season premieres in less than two weeks, July 5.

Fool Night is a dystopian tale about an Earth that’s blanketed by clouds. Without sunlight, most of the plants die off, resulting in a lethal lack of oxygen. The solution humanity has come up with is to…turn themselves into plants. The story revolves around a downtrodden father who wonders if he himself should become a plant. Sounds too depressing for me, but it’s a rare collaborative effort between two established studios: Sunrise and Shaft. No specific release date has been revealed.

Toward the end of the year you can check out Bass X Machina, a sci-fi Western about a teched-out sheriff in a lawless community plagued by deadly monsters and robots. The premise sounds like a cool one, but there’s no trailer as of yet…just a screenshot.

Beyond 2026, The One Piece — the reanimated “kai” version of the classic long-running series, will begin in Febrnary. And then, hopefully, eventually, we’ll get the second season of Blue-Eye Samurai we are owed. What’s up with the delay there?