Netflix Signs 5-Year Deal with Japanese Producer Aki Isoyama

Netflix is deepening its business ties with Japanese hitmaker Aki Isoyama. The streamer revealed Thursday that it has signed an exclusive deal to produce and distribute new series and films by Aki Isoyama over the next five years. The deal continues Netflix’s Investment is increasingly bullish In the Japanese content space.

Isoyama has recently been involved in some of Netflix’s most successful Japanese TV series. She served as executive producer on the time-travel comedy Extremely inappropriate!which topped Netflix Japan’s most-watched charts for three weeks this spring. The series, which tells the story of a single father who mysteriously travels back in time from 1986 to the present day, has become a social phenomenon in Japan, reflecting the country’s complicated feelings about the growing acceptance of homosexuality. International The lighthearted drama takes its name from the perverse ways its misguided protagonists often engage in — crude comments, beating children, smoking cigarettes everywhere — that were typical of Japan’s freewheeling 1980s bubble era but are no longer welcome in today’s peaceful Tokyo.

Isoayama and Netflix have also had success Let’s get divorcedwhich was released worldwide last June, is another lighthearted drama with social relevance, telling the story of a seemingly happy and successful Japanese couple who decide to break with tradition and address the core dissatisfaction in their marriage.

“Aki Isoyama’s work always captures the spirit of the times and asks profound questions while remaining engaging and charming,” said Kaata Sakamoto, Head of Content at Netflix Japan. “She is a master storyteller who showcases Japan and its culture in an exciting and entertaining way. We are excited to see what new stories Aki Isoyama will create in collaboration with Netflix to showcase the charm of Japan to audiences around the world.”

Netflix said Isoyama has already begun work on the first series to be released under the new deal. The new project is described as telling stories in an “unprecedented style” and Isoyama is working with her longtime writing partner Kankuro Kudo (Extremely inappropriate, Let’s get divorced, Ikebukuro West Exit Park and Kisarazu Cat’s Eye) Netflix said more details about the project will be announced soon.

Isoyama added: “Netflix offers a variety of local stories, and I see this collaboration as an opportunity to bring more exciting works from Japan. In addition to the jidaigeki and traditional imagery often seen in foreign films, I want to share another side of modern Japan. As streaming brings our stories to a global audience, cultural barriers are being broken down, the diversity and freedom of storytelling are increasing, and even Japan’s traditional business practices are evolving. I want to create optimistic, people-oriented works that reflect today’s realities.”

Netflix’s partnership with Isoyama follows other recent deals with Japanese content producers, including Tokyo-based The Seven Alice in Wonderlandand Netflix Yu Yu Hakusho Series Adaptation) and Babel Label Studio (reporter). The streamer has also worked with A-listers in Japanese cinema, such as Cannes favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda (who made his streaming debut by producing the Geisha series) story) and veteran writer Yuji Sakamoto (writer of the Netflix film) In love and deep water).