The spring 2025 animeseason saw the premiere of many great new anime, and among them was Netflix’sMoonrise.Moonrisewas an original sci-fi anime produced by Wit Studio with character designs by Hiromu Arakawa ofFullmetal Alchemistfame and directed by a veteranAttack on Titananimator, and sure enough, the few promotional materials it was afforded made it out to be absolutely gorgeous.
Moonrisehad all the makings of being anime’s next big hit, but unfortunately, that didn’t come to pass. The series has been out for two weeks now, and it’s just as good as people thought it would be, if not better, but unfortunately,Moonrise’s release was structured in a way that kept most people from giving it the time of day, and it’s unlikely to get any notable recognition anytime soon. The reasons why that happened are far too recognizable at this point, and it’s especially unfortunate to see it happening with a series likeMoonrise.
Moonrise Is One Of Netflix’s Least-Popular Anime, According To A New Report
Moonrise Was As Unpopular As People Feared It Would Be
Even after two weeks, hardly anyone is talking aboutMoonrise, and that’s not just hearsay. According to Netflix’s viewership reports,Moonrisefailed to enter the global top 10 for non-English shows the week it was released, even though the shows that did make the list that week didn’t have particularly high viewership. By comparison, recent hits likeTerminator ZeroandtheSakamoto Daysanimeeasily cracked the top 10, so overall,Moonrise’s performance on Netflix can be seen as nothing but an abject failure.
Moonrise’s failure, unfortunately, isn’t the least bit surprising. Before its release,Moonriseproducer Ryoma Kawamura called out Netflixfor their lack of promotion on social media, begging them to do their best to promote it as he couldn’t do it by himself and it was “buried deep”. It would appear that Kawamura’s pleas fell on deaf ears, however, asMoonrise, despite how much fans and the staff involved called out the lack of attention brought to it, was still largely ignored by fans, and that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.
Why Netflix’s Moonrise Failed When Other Netflix Anime Were Hits
Netflix Still Isn’t The Best Place For Anime
It’s always unfortunate when Netflix’s binge model kills shows of any medium, butMoonrisehad the potential to be big thanks to its amazing story and overall production, and as such,Moonrisebeing the latest victim of Netflix’s binge model is especially bad because it had everything going for it to be a major hit if it was on a better streaming site for anime. At best,Moonriseis bound to go down as a cult hit that people look back on fondly years after the fact, but it’s a shame that it couldn’t achieve more than that.
Moonrise
Cast
Moonrise is a science fiction series set in a future where Earth and the Moon are inhabited by humans. It follows a young man from Earth who joins the army to combat lunar rebels, discovering that his former best friend is now among his adversaries.
