Netflix marks 10th anniversary in Japan, unveiling three new series
Netflix is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Japan with not one, two, but three buzzing new series coming your way. The streaming giant recently revealed the shows set to premiere next year.
The first on the lineup is a comedy punch, Did Someone Happen to Mention Me? which currently has the cameras rolling. Koji Yakusho, the Best Actor winner at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival for Perfect Days, stars in the series as Gen Takasegawa.
The Japanese series revolves around the first Japanese actor to play the lead at London’s Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, who hasn’t been able to return to his motherland for some time. But when he does come back two years later, he realises the world has completely buried his memory, and he’s remembered by none.
Did Someone Happen to Mention Me? marks a reunion for writer Kankuro Kudo and producer Akira Isoyama, who previously worked on Let’s Get Divorced and Extremely Inappropriate!. Speaking of his role, Yakusho said, “This is the second time in my life that I’ve been given the role of an ‘actor.’ The shoot will be a long one, spanning into the next year, but I’ll do my best until the very end to make this a work that everyone can enjoy.”
The next in the queue is Steel Ball Run, based on the manga series, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Published first in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1987, the manga has been circulated over 120 million copies. The upcoming Japanese series on Netflix is described as “an epic saga,” set in the 19th century, which revolves around the first-ever intercontinental horse race across North America.
Steel Ball Run documents the ancestry and fate of the Joestar family, starting with the encounter between Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando. Johnny Joestar is an ex-hockey prodigy who’s now paraplegic. He joins forces with Gyro Zeppeli, an enigmatic outlaw, to embark together on a trying race across the continent.
About the forthcoming show, director Yasuhiro Kimura said, “Steel Ball Run is a story that depicts characters running through a grand race, staking their own beliefs. My heart is pounding with excitement to be entrusted with directing this anime adaptation.”
The last show on the Japanese slate is a drama series, Straight to Hell. Directed by Tomoyuki Takimoto and Norichika Ohba, the series stars Erika Toda, revolving around the story of one of the most popular real-life clairvoyants, the late Kazuko Hosoki. In a statement, Toda added, “I knew of Kazuko Hosoki, but I didn’t know what kind of person she really was.”
Having presumed the entity to be a “flashy fortune-teller,” Toda couldn’t have imagined portraying her someday for the screen. “She felt like someone far away, nothing like me at all. Some of you may think it’s amusing that I’m playing her, but this story portrays the real life of Kazuko Hosoki from not so long ago – one you don’t know – and I’m certain it will draw you into this world and toss you around,” she concluded.