The Netflix Anime Studio Focus was held at Annecy this morning. Several new series and a movie were shown off and given public trailers — and release dates. Good news…the majority of things that were previewed are things we’re getting within the year! (The exception being, sigh, Blue-Eye Samurai…)
In August Yuki Igarashi (Star Wars: Visions) presents The Ribbon Hero, a modern take on Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight. Both are about a young princess who disguises herself as a knight to save her kingdom – only Ribbon Hero works a little sci-fi into the fantasy. Princess Knight was one of the most influential manga ever written, inspiring The Rose of Versailles, Revolutionary Girl Utena and other tales of women who fight. Animated by Outline, The Ribbon Hero will be released August 8.
Sparks Of Tomorrow, from director Minoru Ota, is due out in less than two weeks. It’s set in a steampunk world where two kids may have discovered the energy source that will change everything: electricity! AS’s Grant White attended a preview screening for this series at MCM Comic Con London last month; you can read his review here. The show premieres on Netflix July 5.
Fool Night will be released later in 2026. In a dystopian world where the loss of plant life has created a scarcity of oxygen, humanity has found a way to cling to existence through the process of “Transfloration” — turning those near death into life-giving plants called Spiriflor. Fool Night is a rare collaboration between two separate studios: Sunrise and Shaft. Directed by Atsushi Yukawam, the series will be released later this year.
Bass X Machina was announced for November 3. From Brian Tyree Henry and LeSean Thomas, it’s described as a steampunk Western about one father who appoints himself sheriff and has to contend with a west wilder than usual…killer robots and supernatural terrors are just some of the things he’ll face in the pursuit of justice.
Annoyingly, the two things we most want to see — The One Piece and Blue-Eye Samurai Season Two — appear to be exclusive to the room. While trailers for the other Netflix anime productions are online, the clips shown for those two are not. For Blue-Eye, that really sets me off because we’ve been anticipating some kind of teaser for this season for months now. Having no public trailer absolutely blows.
Here’s what was shown at Annecy: Mizu arrives in England, and is standing on the shoreline with Fowler, the guy she captured in Japan with hopes he’d lead Mizu to her father. Fowler says he hasn’t been in London for a while but claims he will have no problem playing the game of power the same way he had in Japan. One cut later Mizu is in an underground fighting match — apparently part of the plan — and all the other toughs in the room underestimate her. After a few bones are bent into unnatural positions, the ringmaster decides to make it “fair” by giving an opponent a weapon. But that’s when Mizu brings out her own — and the reel ends.
The only new visual for Blue Eye Samurai Season Two is the screenshot that graces the top of this article. There are no screens of The One Piece, but there is a new poster. The One Piece premieres its first season in February; Blue-Eye Samurai still has no return date.
