During TIFFCOM 2025 (Tokyo International Film Festival Content Market), the Association of Japanese Animations (aja.gr.jp) announced the publication of its Anime Industry Report 2025 and preliminary figures that paint a rosy picture for the nation’s animation sector. The full report will be available in December 2025, compiling the organization’s research, statistics and analysis for 2024.
Figures for 2024 were compiled from a survey of anime production companies, reports on trends in each industry and media, and the latest market information from anime industry experts, according to the AJA. Figures in the report track back 22 years, showing a steady increase in the broader anime industry, commercial production sales and overseas sales shares.
The Japanese government is taking advantage of the ever-expanding popularity of anime content worldwide by making anime production and related media a pillar of its “New Cool Japan Strategy,” with the goal of achieving a 20 trillion yen ($US130 billion) industry by 2033.
Megumi Onouchi, AJA committee member and CEO of Japan’s HumanMedia Inc., previewed the report during TIFFCOM’s panel “The Cutting Edge of Japanese Animation’s Global Expansion,” which also featured presentations by leading studios Bandai Namco, Toho and Studio4℃, which produced the Annecy prize winner ChaO.
“Overseas revenue is now climbing high and has not yet reached the peak. We believe it has potential to expand to even more markets,” said Onouchi. “We’re also seeing a rise in international events related to anime. There are currently 160 events across 50 countries, and the numbers are increasing.”
Key Findings:
- The anime market overall in 2024 reached 3.8407 trillion yen (US$24.94 billion), or 114.8% over the previous year. A new market record.
- This is the second-biggest year-on-year growth jump after 2019 (115.3% vs. 2018).
- Figures have been steadily increasing since 2009 (1.2661 trillion yen / US$8.22 billion).
- The Japanese market accounted for 1.6705 trillion yen (up 2.8% from 2023), with overseas sales making up an overwhelming majority contribution with 2.1702 trillion yen (US$14.1 billion)
- Sales for commercial anime productions reached 466.2 billion yen (US$3 billion), a steady increase at 109.1% year-on-year and another new record for Japan’s animation industry.
- This exceeds the growth rate of the domestic anime industry market (102.8%), but is lower than the growth rate of the entire anime industry market including overseas (114.8%).
- Although the proportion of the overseas market is small compared to the overall market, its proportion has been increasing.
Pre-orders for the Anime Industry Report 2025 are open until November 30, available in SPY by mail-order, print and download (Japanese language).
Following up on the report announcement, the AJA has also issued a Joint Statement on Creation and Rights in the Era of Generative AI. The statement was crafted in collaboration with the public interest organization Japan Cartoonists Association and 17 publishers, including Kadokawa, Kodansha and LEED.
The open letter explicitly condemns OpenAI’s Sora2, which launched a viral trend where users were generating “Studio Ghibli” style images earlier this year. “In Sora2, OpenAI has adopted a system in which copyrighted works are generated, published, and publicly transmitted unless there is an explicit opt-out request from the rights holder. This is not only against the principles of Japan’s copyright law, but also against the principles of the copyright treaty of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which has 194 member countries around the world,” the statement reads.
The AJA and its cosignatories assert a “zero tolerance policy towards piracy” while saying they welcome “proper utilization” of generative AI technology that helps “create a society in which more people can share the joy of creation,” and outlines the following principles:
- In both the learning stage and the creation and publication stage, rights holders are required to comply with the principles of copyright law.
- The AI business operator will take steps such as obtaining permission.
- Transparency of training data is guaranteed.
- If the rights holder grants permission for use, the rights holder will receive appropriate compensation.
The writers assert that in response to infringement of rights by AI businesses, “We will take appropriate legal and ethical action against copyright infringement, regardless of whether or not it utilizes generative AI.” Looking ahead, they say, “As [members] of the content industry, we work closely with creators to achieve both the ‘use and protection’ of copyrighted works and creative works.”
The full statement on GenAI is available here.
[Sources: Association of Japanese Animations, Deadline]
