‘Tokyo Swindlers’ Director One Hitoshi Strikes Long-Term Deal With Netflix

Global streaming group, Netflix has inked a partnership with “Tokyo Swindlers” director Hitoshi One. As part of the deal, Netflix will exclusively produce and distribute new series and films by One for the next five years.

One made his film directorial debut in 2011 with the theatrical version of “Moteki,” which was adapted from a Japanese manga and for which he received the prize for most popular title at the 35th Japan Academy Awards. He also collected the best director award at the 39th Japan Academy Awards for 2015 title “Bakuman” and the Grand Prize in the TV category at the 60th Galaxy Awards for “Elpis: Hope or Disaster.”

Related Stories

VIP+

Cloud Adoption Key to Media Business Exploiting AI

Linkin Park Rises From the Ashes With Dark Songs, a Joyful Attitude and a New Singer Who Does Primal Scream Therapy Proud: Concert Review

Working across both live action and animation formats, film and TV, Oh has other credits including: 2016’s “Scoop!”; 2017’s “Tornado Girl”; “Sunny: Tsuyoi Kimochi Tsuyoi Ai”; TV mini-series “Kyouen NG”; and last year’s “New Dimension! Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Battle of Supernatural Powers Flying Sushi.”

His “Tokyo Swindlers” debuted in July this year, ranking in the Netflix Global Top 10 TV (Non-English) for five consecutive weeks and held the No.1 spot in the Netflix Top 10 TV in Japan for six consecutive weeks.

“Two weeks after ‘Tokyo Swindlers’ started streaming, I received a proposal from Netflix for an exclusive contract. I was surprised at how quickly I responded, but I realized that I was drawn to the distribution medium, a genre that is not yet as established as film and TV dramas,” One said in a prepared statement.  

“Mr. One has generously demonstrated his creative talents in ‘Tokyo Swindlers,’ a thrilling story with quirky characters full of humanity. The series has become one of the most-watched shows in Japan on Netflix. Through Mr. One’s one-of-a-kind perspective, we will discover stories that have yet to be told and deliver entertainment that will captivate viewers around the world,” said Netflix’s VP of content in Japan, Sakamoto Kaata.

Other Netflix titles out of Japan this year include action (“City Hunter,” “House of Ninjas”) and unscripted (“The Boyfriend”). In the remainder of the year is “Beyond Goodbye,” the first Netflix Japan title selected for the Busan International Film Festival’s On Screen Section, and which was inspired by a true story from Netflix’s executive producer Okano Makiko.