'Komi Can't Communicate' Is One of Netflix's First Weekly Anime

While Netflix is known for dropping entire seasons of its shows at once, the streaming service has had a few original shows with weekly releases of new episodes. One of its most recent additions is the hilarious new anime Komi Can't Communicate. But when do new episodes start streaming?

Komi Can't Communicate is a new coming-of-age comedy anime about a girl named Shouko Komi. While she comes off as beautful, aloof, and charismatic to her fellow high school students, she actually suffers from severe social anxiety and has trouble communicating with others. Upon making her first friend in the average and unremarkable Hitohito Tadano, Komi resolves to come out of her shell and sets her sights on making 100 friends in school.

The original manga previously made a splash as one of Japan's "Most Wanted Anime Adaptations" of 2020. Now that the anime is finally here, what's its release schedule like stateside?

Netflix hosts several exclusive anime, and typically releases entire seasons at once. But when these same anime come out in Japan, they are typically released months earlier on a weekly basis.

Take Beastars, for example. The critically acclaimed anime had its first season air in October 2019 in Japan, with new episodes releasing weekly. But in the U.S., the first season began streaming in March of the following year. The second season received similar treatment as it started airing in Japan in January 2021, but streamed here the following July.

The Fall 2021 anime season marks the first time new anime on Netflix have gotten weekly releases outside of Japan. Shows like Blue Period and Komi Can't Communicate each have one new episode a week. But for some reason, the release schedule for anime like Komi is still a little strange.

Komi Can't Communicate started streaming in the U.S. on Oct. 21 and new episodes come out every Thursday. While this is a far cry from Netflix's usual "whole season in one day" MO, the release schedule doesn't come without some catches.

While its "worldwide release date" was in mid-October, the anime began airing in Japan weeks earlier, on Oct. 7. It still follows a weekly release schedule, but Japan is actually considerably ahead of its international viewers in keeping up with Komi.

Fans outside of Japan actually wait two weeks for new episodes of Komi. By the time U.S. Netflix got Episode 1 of Komi, Japan was on Episode 3. When Episode 4 premieres the week of Nov. 8, Japan will already be on Episode 6.

This is a far cry from other more dedicated anime streaming services like Crunchyroll and Funimation, which simulcast new episodes of anime as soon as they come out in Japan.

Nevertheless, having these Netflix anime a week or two apart from its original airdate is still much more preferrable than having to wait several months for a whole season that aired... several months earlier.