If you loved “Shōgun” or can’t get enough of Japanese storytelling, Disney+ just made a move that should have you very excited. The streamer has announced a landmark multi-year deal with The Seven, one of Japan’s most celebrated production companies, and it could change what’s coming to Disney+ in a big way.
Who Is The Seven?
If the name doesn’t ring a bell yet, the work almost certainly will. The Seven is the Tokyo-based production company behind some of the most gripping Japanese content to hit global streaming in recent years. The company holds a multi-year production partnership with Netflix, under which it produced “Alice in Borderland” and the manga adaptation “Yu Yu Hakusho,” both of which found enormous global audiences.
The Seven also has an upcoming samurai series called “Song of the Samurai” that was recently picked up by HBO for release this May, meaning their work is already landing on some of the biggest platforms in the world simultaneously.
The company was launched in early 2022 and is backed by TBS Holdings, one of Japan’s major commercial broadcasters. In January, TBS also made a $150 million investment in Legendary Entertainment, which included a strategic partnership focused on adapting Japanese IP for the global market.In short, this is a company with serious ambition and the track record to back it up.
What the Disney+ Deal Means
This partnership is a first for Disney+ in Japan in a meaningful way. Rather than simply buying or co-producing completed projects on a case-by-case basis, Disney will now work alongside The Seven from the earliest stages of development, shaping stories from concept to screen.
The intention is for projects to be primarily in Japanese and filmed in Japan, with the teams taking a medium- to long-term perspective when building a development slate. For each year of the deal, The Seven will propose multiple compelling projects, including original IPs, adaptations of published works, and unique independent development projects.
The Seven’s chief creative officer Akira Morii shared his excitement about the collaboration, saying the goal is to take Japan’s signature storytelling and “elevate them into top-tier entertainment that anyone — regardless of border or race — can feel is their own story.”
Why This Matters Right Now
The timing of this deal couldn’t be more telling. Japanese content has never been more popular globally, and Disney knows it. The success of “Shōgun” on FX — which swept the 2024 Emmys with a record-setting 18 wins including Best Drama Series — made it impossible to ignore the appetite audiences have for authentic, richly crafted Japanese storytelling on a big stage.
And the numbers back it up. Japan’s premium streaming sector grew 15 percent in 2025 to hit revenues of $7.2 billion, making it the world’s third-biggest premium streaming market by revenue, behind only the U.S. and China. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters noted last year that Japanese titles on the platform have been viewed for a cumulative 25 billion hours, making them the second-most-watched form of non-English content globally, behind only Korean.
Disney+ currently trails Netflix and Amazon in Japan, but this deal is a clear signal that the platform is serious about closing that gap and doing it the right way, by investing in authentic local storytelling from the ground up rather than chasing trends after the fact.
For fans of Japanese content, the best may genuinely be yet to come.
