I've been watching Netflix make moves into the anime industry for the last few years. They have given us hits like Delicious in Dungeon this year and will stream the highly anticipated Sakamoto Days in January, but they’ve managed to bring a pair of anime hits out during the current season. Both Dragon Ball Daima and Dan Da Dan prove that Netflix isn't here to play around when it comes to anime.
Despite also streaming on anime-centered service Crunchyroll, Dragon Ball Daima and Dan Da Dan have amassed enough viewers to sit comfortably in the Top 10 Non-English language shows for the past week. In fact, both series would be in the charts for English language shows on Netflix if they weren’t tracked separately. I’ve been obsessively following anime on Netflix since they made it clear they saw it as a growth area for the business, and I can’t remember a time they had two similar hits airing at the same time.
This is a pretty big accomplishment for Netflix and potentially a step toward them serving as the introductory service for anime that Crunchyroll sees them as. It also shows just how popular both these shows are; they rank higher in the charts than Netflix’s big anime exclusive this season, the (incredibly good) Ranma ½ remake from MAPPA. Netflix can’t compete with the depth of Crunchyroll’s anime library, but they can attract big shows each season that take advantage of Netflix’s huge advantage in subscriber base.
Both Dan Da Dan and Dragon Ball Daima are currently airing on both Netflix and Crunchyroll.