Watch: Trailer For New Netflix Anime: ‘Oni: Thunder God’s Tale’

netflix oni thunder god tale tengu
Nick Davis

Netflix has been receiving a lot of trash talk across the internet recently for some questionable decisions. Decisions like raising their subscription cost and the whispers that they’ll be taking away password sharing. One of the biggest blows for Netflix subscribers has been the layoffs in the Netflix animation department. It appears as if Netflix will be almost entirely pulling out of the animation game in the near future.

But, they still have some projects that have been in the works arriving before the dry season. The trailer for one of them just came out today, and it looks like one of the most unique anime projects in a long time.

Oni: Thunder God’s Tale

oni thunder gods tale netflix logo
The logo for ‘Oni: Thunder God’s Tale’

Oni: Thunder God’s Tale is the newest Netflix anime series from Tonko House. While it’s certainly Japanese animation, it’s unlike most any you’ve probably ever seen before. Just from the trailer, we can see a stunning stop-motion animation style made beautifully dramatic through its moody lighting.

It’s exactly what we should expect from this animation studio. Tonko House is run by Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo, who are both formerly art directors for Pixar. They’ve done work on films like WALL-E and more recently have made an academy-award nominated short film called The Dam Keeper. Tsutsumi is fully Japanese where Kondo is Japanese-American, and Tonko House operates out of Berkeley, California. But the show is absolutely Japanese through and through, with the story fully taking place within Japanese folklore.

Oni: Thunder God’s Tale is about a young girl, Onari, who braves many locales and monsters from Japanese folklore on her quest to become a hero. On her journey, she learns about Oni, someone with the power to defy the gods. Several characters from Japanese mythology can be seen in the trailer. Like Tengu, who is seen in the trailer with the classic depiction of having a red face and long nose.

Netflix Anime 2022

Overall, Oni: Thunder God’s Tale looks like a wonderful and exciting project. It’s certain to create waves upon its release. It’s a little disappointing that this may be one of the last animation projects of this quality on the platform. Netflix has put out a lot of amazing animation over the years. Shows like Bojack HorsemanCastlevania, and The Midnight Gospel.

There’s no set release date for Oni: Thunder God’s Tale just yet. The trailer simply says “coming soon to Netflix”. Anime fans are hoping to see it hit the platform by the end of the year. Until then, there’s more anime coming to Netflix by way of Kakeguri TwinBastard, and Spriggan.

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