Hakkeyoi!! Prepare yourself for some hardcore Sumo action as Netflix drops the first trailer for its upcoming Japanese original series Sanctuary. Produced by the Slowtide, the eight-episode sports drama TV series takes place in and around the professional world of Japan’s most iconic sport.
Hitting the service on May 4, Netflix’s Sanctuary is one of the many Japanese originals the streaming giant has in store for this year. The Japanese sports drama walks us through the life of a young delinquent who goes on to become a sumo apprentice. However, he soon finds himself on a collision course with a voiceless sumo wrestler, who has a secret of his own. The official logline for the series reads, “A tough, desperate kid becomes a sumo wrestler, captivating fans with his cocky attitude — and upsetting an industry steeped in tradition.”
Image: Netflix
Netflix is billing the show as “a gritty look into the underbelly of professional sumo, a world full of young men with ambitions for money, women, fame, and power, where some may find sanctuary with a history of more than 1,500 years in Japan’s traditional culture and as a religious ceremony.” Accompanying the announcement, was a brief teaser trailer, which gives us a slight glimpse at the protagonist and the overall world. While there wasn’t much to decipher, we do get a good look at our protagonist and his crazy lifestyle.
The show comes via Eguchi Kan, who directed the whole thing from a screenplay written by Kanazawa Tomoki. Fujita Daisuke serves as the producer, while Sakamoto Kaata is the executive producer for Netflix. The sports drama is set to feature a wide variety of cast including Wataru Ichinose, Shôta Sometani, Deadpool 2’s Kutsuna Shioli and Tomorowo Taguchi.
In a bid to capture and grow its subscriber base in Japan, Netflix is doubling down on regional releases and has a whole slew of Japanese-language original shows in the pipeline. The streaming giant was met with outstanding success with its recent Japanese releases like First Love or Alice in Borderland and is likely to keep the momentum going.
