They’ll spirit you away.
Netflix continues to bolster its anime portfolio by rolling out a collection of Studio Ghibli films, ranging from 1984’s (pre Ghibli) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind to 2014’s When Marnie Was There, representing the vast majority of the studio’s works in that time period.
This collection has been hotly anticipated in Canada since the streaming rights first were sold off late last year: In the United States, the HBO Max service is the home of the collection, while Netflix picked up the rights for much of the rest of the world back in January. Quizzically, the Canadian rights weren’t acquired in that purchase, and it’s not immediately clear what enabled the company to complete the deal, or why a hold-up existed to begin with.
Canada-US rights splits aren’t all that uncommon in the streaming wars. Pokemon Journeys is being released in batches on Netflix in the United States, while in Canada it airs on the broadcast network Teletoon. In addition to Pokemon, Netflix has been shoring up its anime content with announcements they’ll be streaming series such as One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, and Avatar: The Last Airbender in recent months.