Netflix has a new anime coming out, and it brings a change in release plan subscribers have been clamoring for.
Blue Box is an upcoming anime about an elite high school badminton club, where the protagonist Taiki develops a crush on a girl from the basketball team. Eventually they hit it off, and the sports anime melds romance and competition for their slightly tumultuous relationship.
The anime show arrives on the service starting Thursday, October 3, 2024, and episodes will become available on a weekly basis thereafter. This is in contrast to Netflix’s usual model of dumping an entire season all at once.
Fans are already keen with the different pace. “Weekly finally,” says one response on X/Twitter. “Weekly releases we are so here,” another adds.
Embark on an emotional rollercoaster with Taiki Inomata (Shoya Chiba), Chinatsu Kano (Reina Ueda), Hina Chono (Akari Kito), Kyo Kasahara (Chiaki Kobayashi), and Kengo Haryu (Yuma Uchida) as their stories unfold on and off the court ✨Blue Box will be released weekly on Netflix… pic.twitter.com/zhDxLipoNb
— Netflix Anime (@NetflixAnime) September 7, 2024
Netflix has been gradually employing the weekly model more and more in recent years, but usually the choice comes as a result of sharing distribution. The Great British Baking Show was weekly, and My Hero Academia and Oshi no Ko are both weekly, and they’re all licensed TV shows, not bespoke productions.
Blue Box is also licensed, but Netflix is the exclusive streaming home, and more importantly, this will be simulcast, similar to what Crunchyroll often offers.
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Typically, Netflix either puts out entire seasons at once, or splits things up into two parts, such as what happened with Stranger Things Season 4.
This has become increasingly frustrating, because it compels viewers to binge-watch rather than savor a new release.
If you’ve any other responsibilities in your life, it’s hard to find that kind of time on a whim. Besides those issues on a user-level, Netflix itself has suffered because shows just aren’t in the zeitgeist as long.
Going weekly prevents that, and Blue Box will be a fascinating experiment on how well Netflix does with gradually building a fanbase rather than hoping for one big splurge. Time will tell! Check out our guides on The One Piece and Dandadan for other major properties coming to the platform.