Netflix is getting My Hero Academia, Spy x Family and more great anime before 2024 ends, and I can't wait

Tom Power
·3 min read
Izuku charges up a powerful attack in My Hero Academia's TV adaptation.
Izuku charges up a powerful attack in My Hero Academia's TV adaptation.

Get ready, anime lovers, because Netflix's absolutely stacked library of Japanese animated fare is about to get a whole lot better. Taking to its social media channels, including X/Twitter, Netflix has announced that it would be improving its anime back catalog before 2024 ends.

And when I say "improving", I mean it. The world's best streaming service is already home to plenty of top-tier first- and third-party anime offerings. But, with classic shows like My Hero Academia, hugely popular recent series including Spy x Family, and acclaimed movies such as One Piece Film: Red – the 15th feature film based on Eiichiro Oda's beloved One Piece manga – among those coming to the service, Netflix is going all-out to upgrade its suite of anime content.

As the X/Twitter post above reveals, Haikuyu!!, Black Clover, and Jujutsu Kaisen are also making their way onto Netflix in the months ahead. It's unclear if some or all of these shows will become Netflix exclusives, or if they'll remain on other platforms – Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Funimation among them – down the line. Given they're the two biggest anime-centric streamers around, I'd be very surprised if the latter duo lost the aforementioned series to Netflix. Hulu, though, might find itself losing some of the best anime to one of its biggest streaming rivals before the end of the year.

Battling for anime supremacy

But wait, dear reader – Netflix isn't just going to expand its licensed anime library between now and December 31. Indeed, the streaming titan also confirmed that three new exclusive projects – one movie and two TV series – would debut on the platform soon.

First up is The Grimm Variations, a "bold reboot" of the The Brothers Grimm's renowned folklore-based tales. Designed by all-female manga artist group CLAMP and animated by WIT Studio, the anthology will make its Netflix bow on April 17.

Less than two months later, two manga heavyweights will duke it out on Netflix in what the streamer describes as an "epic collab". Baki Hanma vs Kengan Ashura will launch on the platform on June 6. The Shonen anime has been created by animation studio Larx Entertainment and directed by Seiji Kishi.

Lastly, the long-awaited final season of Netflix's animated adaptation of Beastars will finally be released later this year. Unfortunately, it sounds like fans of the cult classic series will only get to see Part 1 of Beastars' concluding installment in 2024, so expect a cliffhanger-style ending when it eventually makes its way onto the service. Japanese studio Orange has returned to make the series, which continues to be directed by Shin'ichi Matsumi and written by Nanami Higuchi.

Will any of the aforementioned trio make their way onto our best Netflix shows and/or best Netflix movies lists? Time will tell, but they'll have to be near-perfect if they're to have any hope of displacing exclusive anime-style productions like Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai, licensed material including the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series, or even standard animated fare, such as the beloved BoJack Horseman, in those articles.

If nothing else, we'll have some new candidates vying for a spot on our best anime list. And, given Netflix's latest round of intriguing announcements, Crunchyroll and Funimation might find themselves looking up to their rival as the best anime streaming service soon if they're not careful. I never thought I'd see the day; but hey, stranger things have happened.

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