Netflix has come out with many original anime series, including Husband’s Way, Insect Cage, A Whisker Away, Drifting Dragons, Child of Kamiari Month, and Children of the Whales to name a few. And while these shows are relatively good they all feel they are not as good as they could be.
Notable exceptions are Castlevania, Seven Deadly Sins, and Violet Evergarden, all of which are considered to be great shows. But with no Netflix Originals rated above 8.4, Violet Evergarden is the only one at that stage, and only seven with eight or higher (Ratings from the IMDB). So why not Netflix anime as well?
Production
The original Netflix average is in production for between seven and nine months. This is all over the board, live action, anime, and skit shows, so it’s to be expected that the animated series are on the other end of the spectrum though it’s not guaranteed.
On the other hand, most animation studios budget around three months per episode. Successful anime movies can go even further with the Mononoke Princess being produced for three years. On the same subject : Mean Girls is back on Netflix, and the internet has thoughts. This rushed timeline is likely to be the cornerstone of every other problem encountered, at least they will be put together to make the other issues clearer.
Anime and Manga
It’s amazing that many of Netflix’s original anime aren’t based on manga, A Whisker Away and Vampire in the Garden most notably. There are rumors that A Whisker Away may get a manga adaptation, however, this is very unusual and at least the vast majority of anime is inspired by a popular manga source. This gives them structure, swing, and arc directions that they may or may not choose to follow. This may interest you : Rival docuseries in Netflix operas on Drug Kingpin Owen Hanson. This became a huge problem in Vampire in the Garden. Each episode felt like it ran through a whole arc of content.
If there was a manga first the animators could have learned from their mistakes, choose which story lines needed further development and which ones could have been as clear as they were. Shows that closely follow a manga source, or at least as well as the manga, Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan for example, usually do well. While not perfect adaptations, another source that helps stabilize the story and allows fans to engage with the whole show differently does not strengthen.
Ideas and Details
Many Netflix animes are well animated, and have unique stories, Drifting Dragons for example. But in most cases, it feels like Netflix forgot one important detail or another. To see also : How to change your Netflix location to watch different shows and movies. In Drifting Dragons they forgot that the audience likes the characters, who are basically whales who hunt dragons just as they like to eat and sell them.
In Whale Children, they forgot that some happy moments should be more than sad. He simply jumps from murder to death to heartbreaking moments with little relief between them. Both of these shows are rated 6.2 and 7.1 respectively, probably high due to the technical aspects of the still looking good animation and the unique stories.
Laziness or Bravery?
In some cases, Netflix does things with its animation that have not really been done before, it is not clear whether they do this out of laziness or in an attempt to experiment. The Way of the Husband for example is depicted almost exclusively with inanimate frames, almost as if manga is being read to them.
Drifting Dragons is done almost entirely by advanced 3-D modeling. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. The Way of the House Husband has disappointed many fans of the manga, but Drifting Dragons is a great thing visually. Both of these methods may have reduced the show’s production costs, and may have helped them meet aggressive production deadlines. It is also possible that Netflix is trying to pioneer new methods of animation.
Overall
In general, Netflix’s original animes have a relatively low rating, and even more on MyAnimeList than IMDB, although this can probably be attributed to a slightly different audience. However, viewers do not seem to be as happy with the Netflix anime line as they are with the genre as a whole. Netflix seems to be expecting things to happen on a tight deadline that will cause bits and pieces to fall through the cracks. However, this does not mean that the shows cannot be enjoyable.
While the characters in Drifting Dragons may not appeal to anyone, the unique designs of the dragons themselves are well worth a look. Vampire in the Garden has a timeline too early, but every plot point is so good that it makes you mad that they didn’t take more time. You want more of the show, you’m mad you didn’t get it. Netflix still has some kinks to work out with their original anime versions, but they are well on the right track.
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