Well, yes, but actually, no.
Summary:
- My Daemon is Netflix's 2023 animated series.
- It was made by a Thai animation studio.
- That's why it's not commonly considered an anime.
- It can still be called an anime.
My Daemon is a fantasy sci-fi television series, produced by Thailand-based Igloo Studio. All 13 episodes aired on Netflix on November 23, 2023.
The series follows an elementary school student, Kento (no, not Nanami), who finds a small daemon creature and decides to raise it in the world where Earth and Hell collided because of a nuclear explosion.
My Daemon received a lot of positive reviews, with both fans and critics praising it for a well-written story, great animation and incredible production. There's no doubt that the series became a success, but there are doubts about what type of medium My Daemon is.
Wasn't Made by a Japanese Studio
Although the series looks and feels like a CGI anime, a lot of people don't consider it an anime at all. You won't find My Daemon on MyAnimeList, the most popular website dedicated to manga and anime.
Fans have tried to submit My Daemon to the website, but the series keeps getting rejected, since it was made by a Thai studio. However, we believe that My Daemon is the closest to anime that you may find among non-Japanese animation.
What Can Be Considered an Anime?
There seems to be a certain set of rules that a series has to meet in order to be called an anime. It has to come from Japan, its original voiceover has to be Japanese, and it has to have an anime-typical art style.
But the line is becoming more and more blurred nowadays. There are such series as Heaven Official's Blessing or The Founder of Diabolism, which come from China, but are also on MyAnimeList and are considered anime by a lot of fans.
There's Castlevania, an American animated series that looks so much like an anime that many think it is one. And don't even get us started on Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is also an American series that fans often bring up when it's time to talk about anime.
And out of all these series, My Daemon feels like an anime the most. It's set in Japan, its original voiceover is in Japanese, it's written by Hirotaka Adachi, who is a Japanese writer and filmmaker.
Basically, everything is Japanese except for the animation studio, so it's puzzling why so many people are trying so hard to exclude My Daemon from the anime community.
Moreover, even the story of My Daemon has that anime-typical weirdness (we say that lovingly) that you won't find in any other type of media. That's why you shouldn't be anxious about calling it an anime, you'll be right to do so.