Netflix Orders SEIS MANOS – An Anime Original Series That Isn’t Actually Anime

Here’s why.

Netflix has ordered, what sounds like, a rather dark “anime” series called Seis Manos, a new series set in Mexico in the 1970’s era. Seis Manos centers on three orphaned martial arts warriors who join forces with a DEA agent and a Mexican Federale to battle for justice after their beloved mentor is murdered on the streets of their tiny border town.

The series is being produced by Viz Media, however, that appears to be the only link to Japan this ‘anime’ really has to offer.   Development and production of Seis Manos will be handled by Powerhouse Animation, Inc (based in Austin, Texas)., which produced the Netflix original anime show Castlevania. The series is co-created by Powerhouse CEO Brad Graeber and writer Alvaro Rodriguez (Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series). Also a writer on the series is Dan Dominguez (Captain Underpants, Spongebob Squarepants, Crash and Bernstein), and the series will be directed by Willis Bulliner (Agents of Mayhem, storyboards on Netflix’s Castlevania).

So, as you can see, this isn’t really a Japanese-born cartoon, so it isn’t exactly clear why this is being called an anime and not just “animated drama”, but nevertheless, the series will be made available internationally via Netflix in 2019 which typically implies local languages will be had.