In the ongoing quest to feed its ravenous anime audience, Netflix has turned to its existing roster of Japanese studio partners to bolster its catalogue with new anime titles. 

Their latest slate will kick off when the seventh arc of Hirohiko Araki’s popular shonen battle manga series Steel Ball Run: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (pictured) drops on March 19. Animated by David Production (Fire Force, Cells at Work!) and offering a reboot story to welcome new viewers, the series follows a paraplegic former horse jockey named Johnny Joestar who teams up with the mysterious Gyro Zeppeli to compete in the first cross-country horse race across America. While most of the riders are after a cash grand prize, Johnny hopes to learn superpowers from Gyro that could restore his ability to walk. 

Studio Kai (Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Fuuto PI) will then follow up in April with slice-of-life anime The Ramparts of Ice. Based on an independent web novel by Kōcha Agasawa, this story focuses on a girl who struggles to connect with others in high school. Her walls slowly break down as she begins to develop friendships with an extroverted boy who doesn’t respect her boundaries, the high school idol and an easygoing member of the basketball team. 

Iconic anime studio Kyoto Animation (Violet Evergarden, Lucky Star) will also debut its next 2D-animated series on the streamer in July. Sparks of Tomorrow is a historical adventure based on a same-name novel by Hiro Yuki that’s set in an alternate-history Japan where technology is still dominated by steam engines. With the city of Kyoto shrouded in clouds of hazardous smoke, a young boy and girl work together to hunt down the mysterious 20th Century Electrical Catalogue and usher the nation into an age of electricity. 

Other ongoing anime projects in the works that will make their way onto Netflix this year include the sequel martial-arts series BAKI-DOU: The Invincible Samurai (February) and the second part of BEASTARS Final Season (March). 

Netflix’s viewership for anime-style content has tripled over the last five years, and the streamer has been frantically trying to keep up with this explosive demand. Just last week, it announced a landmark deal with leading anime studio MAPPA to co-develop series exclusively for the platform.