Japan’s animation industry generated $22bn (¥3.3tn) in 2023, the highest number on record and a 14% increase on 2022, according to the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA).
The industry group, which has been releasing annual anime industry reports since 2009, revealed the results of its latest survey at the TIFFCOM market in Tokyo today (October 31).
AJA’s findings also revealed that overseas anime revenues surpassed those of the domestic market in 2023, with overseas revenues making up 51.5%, or $11.25bn(¥1.72tn), and domestic 49.5%, or $10.6 billion (¥1.62 trillion). It marks the second time overseas topped domestic, the first being in 2020. With anime’s popularity continuing to expand abroad and Japan’s contracting population, this trend is likely to continue, the AJA projects.
A breakdown of revenues by category showed overseas at 51.5% followed by merchandise (20.9%), gambling (10.1%), streaming (7.5%), live events (3.2%), television (2.9%), films at (2%) and video (1.1%). The “gambling” category refers to pachinko and related machines, which frequently use animated sequences to attract users.
Last year, anime films dominated the Japanese box office, with titles such as The First Slam Dunk (Toei) and Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine (Toho) taking $104m (¥15.87bn) and $91.1m (¥13.88bn), respectively.
Anime is a key component in the Japanese government’s goal of generating an annual ¥20tn ($130bn) via its contents market by 2033. Content from the country made ¥4.7tn ($31bn) in 2022. AJA projects that anime would have to account for ¥6.4tn ($42bn) of that 2033 goal, which would represent nearly double 2023’s record-breaking number.
Simply increasing the number of anime properties to reach that goal is not feasible at the moment due to a lack of human resources, said Michihiko Umezawa, president/director of Shin-ei Animation, which co-produced this year’s Ghost Cat Anzu, which premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and was selected for the ongoing Tokyo International Film Festival.
Instead, contents creators should work on expanding overseas sales while increasing the price per title, said Umezawa, adding that the cost of anime production is also increasing due to higher wages for animators and other staff members.
Kotaro Yoshikawa, board director and senior vice president at TMS Entertainment, the animation studio behind the hit Detective Conan franchise, added there is room for expansion in as-yet-untapped territories such as India, the Middle East and Africa.
Both Umezawa and Yoshikawa noted that their studios are working with generative AI on a test basis, but that use on animation in a practical sense is still a few years off.
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