Netflix’s love-in with Japanese content is continuing.
The streamer has unveiled four titles as part of its 2026 slate reveal, which was showcased today and follows an all-time record for viewing hours of Japanese content in the second half of 2025.
On the film side comes One Year to Live, Buy a Man from Hiroki Kazama. Added to the anime slate is Sparks of Tomorrow, which is based on Hiro Yuki’s ’20 Seiki Denki Mokuroku,’ and in the TV space is webtoon live-action adaptation Viral Hit and unscripted auction format Doors Closed, Bids Open.
One Year to Live, Buy a Man is based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Toriko Yoshikawa. It follows careful 40-year-old single woman Yui Katakura, who is diagnosed with cancer and changes her approac to life after being given a year to live. She meets Sena, a money-troubled pink-haired nightclub host, ‘buying’ him for 720,000 yen and beginning an unconventional bond that turns into an unpredictable love.
Ko Shibasaki and Eiji Akaso star, with Yoshikazu Okada the screenwriter and Kazama directing. Kasumi Yao and Tsutomu Hirabayashi are the producers, with AOI Pro. the production house for Netflix. No release date has been set.
Sparks of Tomorrow is from Kyoto Animation, with Minoru Ota the director, and Yuma Uchida and Sorta Amamiya starring. The anime features an alternative version of the 20th century in which technological progress evolved along a different path shaped by steam power, blanketing the Japanese city of Kyoto in smoke.
Per the synopsis: “A boy, hardened by the loss of his brother, grows distrustful after their shared dream of an ‘Age of Electricity’ is cut short. A deeply devout girl hides her dreams and regrets for her deceased mother deep within her heart. When the two cross paths, they set about exploring the secrets of the 20th Century Electrical Catalog, a glimpse into the future they long for. Together, they must confront their pasts and carve a path toward the future they once believed in.”
A July launch date has been set.
Viral Hit will launch earlier, on May 28. The series, based on the Webtoon title of the same name from Taejun Park and Kim Junghyun, will be directed by Hideki Takeuchi and written by Yuichi Tokunaga. The pair are known for collaborations on the likes of Fly Me to the Saitama and Cells at Work!. Ouji Suzuka, Ai Mikami, Araki Sugou, Mieko Harada, Nana Asakawa and Takuro Osada star.
The live-action adaptation follows Kota, a bullied high school student who realizes fighting could be a profitable venture after a fight with a classmate is accidentally streamed and goes viral. He launches a streaming channel and begins to change his life.
Door Closed, Bids Open will be hosted by Japanese TV personality. Matsuko Deluxe. Billed as a “forbidden auction show,” it will see a “select few” bidders invited to a secret social club, which mysteriously appears in an underground space. Inside, they have no idea what is up for sale. Imagine, Inc. is producing, with Junji Nakayama the producer, alongside Shinichi Sakurai.
The orders come as Japanese content booms on Netflix. At a digital roundtable with journalists this month, Netflix’s VP of Content for Japan, Kaata Sakamoto, called 2025 a “breakout year” thanks to titles such as Last Samurai Standing, Alice in Borderland Season 3 and Bullet Train Explosion.
Animes such as Dan Da Man, My Moledy & Kuromi and Record of Ragnarok also drew in subscribers, with Sakamoto saying: “Today, one in every two Netflix members globally watches Japanese anime, and the total viewing hours have tripled in the past five years. For audiences around the world, discovering anime through Netflix has become part of everyday life.
The service has also teamed with MAPPA, the studio behind Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu, to develop anime content, and secured all 47 games from the 2026 World Baseball Classic for the first time. The baseball will begin on March 5 and run to March 18.
Other launch dates announced at the showcase include One Piece: Into the Grand Line on March 10, Steel Ball Run Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure on March 19, Sins of Kujo on April 2, Straight to Hell on April 27 and Soul Mate on May 14.
In total, Netflix is lining up 26 original series, films and anime adaptations in 2026.
