Netflix has certainly revealed a focused interest in anime over the past few years. From a partnership with Production I.G. to anime adaptations of Castlevania, Altered Carbon and the upcoming Dragon's Dogma, Netflix might be starting to blur the line between what's actually anime and just regular animation. Of course, this leads to a bigger discussion of what anime actually is as some otaku view anime to be limited to only animation that was created in Japan while others argue that anime is a "style of animation" that can be produced anywhere. Netflix is definitely a subscriber of the latter definition as several of their "anime" series have been produced outside of Japan.
A recent interview with Spanish animator Maite Ruiz de Austri and Indhun Chonicles producer Pilar Blasco revealed that the "Spanish anime" was actually a collaborative effort from animation studios located in Barcelona, Valencia, Singapore, Los Angeles, Japan, Korea and Canada.
Touching on the anime's global production team, Blasco stated, "Netflix has a wonderful catalog of anime production, and I believe it’s the only global platform right now that clearly bets on anime, which is a rising genre in all countries, certainly Europe and Spanish-speaking countries. And the experience of working with Netflix as a partner has been wonderful. They’re respectful of how we do things and always available for discussion. From the beginning, they were so open when we proposed an anime adaptation of this IP. John Derderian gambled on us, but from minute one was 100% on board from Tokyo. We owe a great deal to him, to Takeo Takahasi, our Netflix production director in Japan, and to Arturo Díaz and Diego Avalos, our Netflix producers in Spain."
While the Idhún's Memories book saga is a Harry Potter-like phenomenon in Spain and a few other countries, it's relatively an unknown property abroad, especially in North America. As such, Netflix's anime will be the first exposure to Laura Gallego's award-winning creation. For that reason, it was decided to make the anime a television series instead of a film adaptation, so that as much of the source material as possible could be retained.
The day the three Suns and three Moons came together in alignment over Idhun, Ashran, the necromancer, seized power and the reign of the winged snakes started.