Global Media Streams: Netflix and the Changing Ecosystem of Anime Production

Abstract

Streaming services have become a primary intermediary between international content producers and global audiences, and their palpable influence as gatekeepers, tastemakers, and disruptors of media industries abroad have significant ramifications for the way television is produced and distributed. Using the case study of how Netflix is influencing the Japanese anime industry, this research outlines the contradictory ways that the streaming service engages with international media and how local creators are grappling with the specter of globalism that Netflix represents in their own work. Utilizing textual analysis, discursive analysis, and interviews with industry insiders, this article identifies some of the shifts that are occurring in the anime industry due to the advent of Netflix on the level of production and text.