Netflix will begin streaming Zexcs' rakugo drama Akane-banashi worldwide on May 17, 2026, launching with two episodes and an English dub from day one.
Netflix has set a May 17, 2026 worldwide streaming date for Akane-banashi, the rakugo-themed drama produced by studio Zexcs. The platform will roll out the series with episodes 1 and 2 on launch day, followed by weekly releases from episode 3 onward, and an English dub will be available alongside the Japanese audio from the start.
Akane-banashi is based on the manga written by Yuki Suenaga and illustrated by Takamasa Moue, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since February 2022. VIZ Media publishes the English print and digital editions, and the chapters are also available through Shueisha's Manga Plus service. The story follows Akane Osaki, a teenager who grew up watching her father perform rakugo, the traditional Japanese art of solo comedic storytelling. After her father is denied promotion to the master rank and expelled from his school, Akane sets out to climb the rakugo ranks herself and restore her family's honor.
The television series originally premiered in Japan on April 4, 2026. Director Ayumu Watanabe leads the adaptation at Zexcs, with Suenaga handling series scripts in addition to his role as the manga's writer. The Japanese voice cast pairs Anna Nagase as Akane with Jun Fukuyama as her mentor figure Shinta Arakawa, Shizuka Ito as her mother Masaki, and Akio Otsuka as the senior rakugoka Issho Arakawa.
The May 17 launch makes Akane-banashi a near-simulcast on Netflix rather than a delayed catalogue add. Day-one subscribers will get the first two episodes together, with the show then settling into a weekly cadence to catch up to the Japanese broadcast. The English dub arriving on the same date is notable for a Shonen Jump drama of this scale, where dubs more often trail the sub track by several weeks or a full cour.
Ahead of the Netflix debut, the first three episodes have been made freely available on YouTube with English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles, giving newcomers a low-friction way to sample the series before committing to the streaming run.
Netflix India is included in the global release, meaning subscribers in India will get Akane-banashi on May 17 in line with the worldwide rollout, with both Japanese audio and the English dub selectable from launch. There is no separate licensing announcement for any other India-facing platform, so Netflix is the destination for the simulcast in this market. Pricing follows Netflix India's existing Mobile, Basic, Standard, and Premium tiers; no new add-on is required to access the title.
With the broadcast already two episodes deep in Japan by mid-May, Netflix's two-episode opening should bring international viewers roughly in step with the Japanese schedule before the weekly cadence kicks in. The early-availability YouTube window covering episodes 1 to 3 effectively extends the on-ramp for the Netflix debut, and a continued weekly release implies a standard one-cour or two-cour run tied to the manga's still-ongoing Shonen Jump serialisation.
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