A Whisker Away director Tomotaka Shibayama is set to direct a new anime feature film for Netflix, set for release in 2024. Studio Colorido announced that it will partner with Netflix to co-produce three new anime feature films.

This includes Drifting Home, which will be available worldwide on September 16, 2022.

This is the first time Netflix has collaborated over a multi-year period on a lengthy animation production with a Japanese domestic animation company.

Netflix has tried to increase the number of anime available on its site.

In Japan, about 90% of people watch anime, and half of Netflix customers watched it last year. Other streaming sites, such as Amazon and Disney, are starting to add more anime to their lineups.

The number of Netflix customers in the Asia-Pacific region has declined in recent months, with the region losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade.

New Studio Colorido movies are exclusive Netflix anime

Koji Yamamoto, president of Studio Colorido, explains:

“Our goal is to make a film that is Colorido unique. We have worked hard and have progressed towards that goal in our own way. Until now, Japanese movies were often unable to go global, but now it is possible to send them out into the world in the form of Netflix movies. Netflix connects Japanese movies with users around the world.”

Koji Yamamoto

The new piece is part of Netflix’s recently created “Anime Creators’ Base,” which is designed to help creators develop conceptual images.

Tomotaka Shibayama’s 2024 Feature Film

A Whisker away, directed by Tomotaka Shibayama, is the studio’s third feature.

This new anime feature film is slated for release in 2024. The plot of the third film has remained a mystery until now.

Shibayama comments,

“The new work I’m currently planning is a story about a little mysterious love story that takes place over one winter. I want to deliver a work that will be a cheering song for boys and girls, carefully depicting the extraordinary things that suddenly come into their daily lives and the emotional growth of the characters. We hope you will enjoy it.”

Tomotaka Shibayama

A Whisker Away by Tomotaka Shibayama

In this film by Junichi Satoh and Tomotaka Shibayama, Miyo (Mirai Shida) turns into a cat when she wants to be near Hinode (Natsuki Hanae). However, he is a boy who does not share her degree of adoration.

By donning a cat mask that turns her into a white kitten with glacier blue eyes, she can still get close to Hinode and watch him make pottery with his grandfather.

Also, Hinode names the cat after his beloved former pet Taro, assuming it’s a cute stray cat. One of the many gestures that secretly make Miyo swoon.

When a clean dream with a calm landscape and lovely animals gets a little wild. It’s more fun indeed, and thankfully A Whisker Away includes some off-the-shelf concepts to keep the story great as it progresses.

As if the movie creates its furry cosplay mythology, there are laws, secret passages and more. A Whisker Away has enough lessons – or, depending on the audience, memories – to instill all of its equal whimsy and romance.