Japan's Anime Industry Grows to Record $17.7B

[Tennis]

Revenue at animation houses climbed by nearly 10 percent, but a lack of capacity is likely to hamper further growth, with most studios now fully booked for years.

The Japanese anime industry pulled in a record $17.7 billion (￥2.01 trillion) last year, boosted by the smash hit Your Name, growing exports and revenue from mobile game licensing.

Revenue was up just under 10 percent to take the total past the ￥2 trillion mark for the first time, the culmination of seven years of consecutive growth for the industry, according to the annual report from The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA).

Domestic box office with anime features was up 14 percent to $585 million (￥66.3 billion), with nearly half of that accounted for by Makoto Shinkai's Your Name.

Total revenue from overseas sales, which includes broadcast rights, box office, DVD/Blu-ray sales and merchandising, jumped almost a third to $6.79 billion (￥768 billion) over the previous year. Sales to China increased, an AJA spokesperson confirmed, but figures for individual countries aren't compiled for the report.


TV series broadcast on Japanese networks brought in $936 million (￥106 billion). Revenue from Netflix and Amazon, which are ordering more original series, is broken down differently by the 52 anime production houses that make up the AJA, and therefore divided between domestic and overseas revenue.

Licensing fees from mobile games are proving an increasingly lucrative revenue stream for anime, including the highly profitable Fate/Grand Order. The game is operated by Sony Music in Japan and has been bringing in so much money that Sony Corp. has been citing it in its quarterly earnings reports. Licensing anime characters for use on the machines used for pachinko, a Japanese gambling game, is also highly lucrative, with both types of gaming delivering billions of dollars to the industry.

The anime industry is currently operating at full capacity, with many studios fully booked until 2020. A general shortage of young workers in Japan caused by its aging demographics is exacerbated by the low wages paid to junior animators, leaving limited room for further growth.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...xports-1058463

Wow anime sure is becoming popular. A shame about the lack of young workers though. Hopefully Japan does what is necessary and increase the number of young people in their country.

[Rabka Uhalla]

Dang weebs.

[Video Games]

Cool I thought it was going down. Gonna continue to pirate with a free conscience.

[Allybeboba]

Lot of people like it. Lot of people do not. Different strokes for different folks.

[Tennis]

Cool I thought it was going down. Gonna continue to pirate with a free conscience.

Could try moving there and starting a youtube channel. Some people end up being quite successful with that sort of thing.

[Putin-Chan]

Could try moving there and starting a youtube channel. Some people end up being quite successful with that sort of thing.

I can't think of a single worse career idea than moving to a foreign country and relying on a platform as volatile as Youtube to make a living.

[Video Games]

Could try moving there and starting a youtube channel. Some people end up being quite successful with that sort of thing.

Boyfriend doesn't want to because he hates doing things that require work, like learning juhpooknees.

[Ryzek]

Nice, glad to see its doing well.

[Deleted]

Anime will give you autism, consume in moderate amounts.

[Mihalik]

That's sure a lot of kiddie porn fantasies.

[Draco-Onis]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...xports-1058463

Wow anime sure is becoming popular. A shame about the lack of young workers though. Hopefully Japan does what is necessary and increase the number of young people in their country.

Japan is an aging dying country they will not find any young workers, our only hope is for an AI robot that makes anime.

[Tennis]

I can't think of a single worse career idea than moving to a foreign country and relying on a platform as volatile as Youtube to make a living.

Sometimes you gotta take a leap of faith for what you love.

[Mormolyce]

I somehow live in a world where there's apparently not enough people drawing the anime style?

I can't think of a single worse career idea than moving to a foreign country and relying on a platform as volatile as Youtube to make a living.

Youtube? I thought this was talking about a shortage of workers for regular animation houses.

Doesn't anime mostly distribute through streaming platforms and convenional disc purchases?

Japan is an aging dying country they will not find any young workers, our only hope is for an AI robot that makes anime.

And also dispenses schoolgirl underwear.

/oldjokes

[Daedius]

"Young workers" -- seen the incredibly shit pay animators get there? It's incredibly labour intensive, and they earn pittance. They can start by improving working conditions, pay, and work load.

I find it sad that voice actors get more recognition and greater pay... and they're just voice actors. Their "work" incredibly pales to animators...

[Garnier Fructis]

It would be great, except for the fact that most new shows are garbage (pandering, fanservice, etc.). But garbage sells well, apparently. For every good show like Gintama, there are 10 Moeshits.

[Sky High]

It would be great, except for the fact that most new shows are garbage (pandering, fanservice, etc.). But garbage sells well, apparently. For every good show like Gintama, there are 10 Moeshits.

IDK... I feel like that's been the MO for a while now.

[Usagi Senshi]

I remember when I was a weeaboo.....

*says the weeb who just purchased the Ranma OVA Bluray set and finished four series this week*

I used to buy a fuck ton of anime years ago (500+ VHS/LDs and 2000+ DVDs) but stopped collecting when it was taking up so much room and sold most of it (still have about 1k DVDs and BRs).

Now I just buy 80s/90s HD remasters and a a couple favorites.

[Garnier Fructis]

IDK... I feel like that's been the MO for a while now.

Yeah. And I've been mad about it for a while too. I just wait until reviews come in, and then I watch the good shows. Which, because everyone thinks generic slice of life and moeshit is worth 7/10, means that I watch things that are at least 8/10.

[Crackleslap]

Want off the planet! I have a passionate hatred for anime. I just cant stand it. Ugh. Oh well. Whatever floats your goat.

[Bigbazz]

They have a culture of focussing on your career first, along with working themselves to death. There isn't much time for makin babies with those things considered, but it's a hard thing to break when it's ingrained in the culture. As for Anime, doesn't surprise me that it's growing given a global audience who now have easy access via websites like crunchyroll.