The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) presented the preliminary findings of its latest Anime Industry Report at TIFFCOM, revealing that the anime market surpassed the four-trillion-yen mark for the first time in 2025, reaching a record 4.45 trillion yen (approximately USD 28.2 billion).
This represents a 15.8 percent growth year-on-year compared to the number posted in 2024. Additionally, the overseas market accounted for 57.1 percent of the total anime industry revenue, with the Japanese market also posting an encouraging double digit growth.
Overseas revenue climbed 17.2 percent to 2.54 trillion yen (about USD 16.1 billion), whereas the Japanese market rose 14.1 percent to 1.906 trillion yen (about USD 12.1 billion), regaining momentum after recording flat single-digit growth in 2024.
This marks the third consecutive year that international spending has exceeded Japan’s home market.
Addressing attendees during the presentation, Masahiro Hasegawa, editorial supervisor of the annual industry report, stated that Japanese animation has entered an era where ranking atop international box office charts and global streaming services is no longer uncommon.
He also pointed out in particular that while the growth of the overseas market had outpaced the domestic market in recent years, in 2025 “both the domestic and overseas markets are growing steadily.”
Kazuhiko Ishikawa, president of the AJA, also presented similar thoughts during the event, noting that “The market and the potential of Japanese animation are expanding further, as it has become more familiar around the world.”
Revenues of Anime Studios Also Hits New High
Keeping with the upward trajectory, the direct revenue collected by animation studios in Japan also reached a new high in 2025, increasing 8.4 percent to 505.5 billion yen (about USD 3.2 billion).
While there is growth, the studio earnings only represent between 11 percent and 13 percent of total market size, which includes consumer spending across downstream sectors like merchandise, music, and home distribution.
This financial difference explains why record-breaking growth across the anime industry does not automatically resolve longstanding labor and wage concerns for individual animators.
As nearly 90 percent of commercial spending remains with distributors, retailers, and committee investors, production studios often work within tight operating margins, making it harder for them to improve working condition, and sometimes even stay afloat, a trend reflected in previous anime industry findings too.
In the latest report, domestic contracts accounted for 364.7 billion yen, or 72.1 percent of studio income, while foreign contracts contributed 140.8 billion yen, or 27.9 percent.
The overseas share of studio earnings has seen a rise from 25.5 percent in 2024, as more international partners tie up with Japanese studios directly for creating anime.
Animation studios have also started targeting new regional territories directly, with studio Production I.G actively building audiences in India and Saudi Arabia.
Anime Industry Growth Fueled By Box Office Revenue
The box office served as a major commercial driver in 2025, led by Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, which adapted the concluding Infinity Castle story arc and generated nearly USD 800 million worldwide to become the highest-grossing Japanese film globally.
Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc, which released in 2025, also performed well commercially, adding to the growth of anime industry both within Japan and overseas.
The movie was completely produced by MAPPA, breaking away from the production committee structure, and managed to earn over USD 190 million.
Anime also performed well on overseas streaming platforms, as titles consistently dominated viewing charts on Netflix and other other platforms.
Anime also accounted for 100 of the 300 most-voted television series on IMDb, with nine titles placing in the top 20, led by Attack on Titan.
Japan Looks To Further Strengthen Overseas Anime Market
Japan is looking to build on this rapid overseas market growth by establishing a centralized public-private corporation scheduled to launch in fiscal year 2027 to accelerate the international expansion of its anime, manga, and video game industries.
The new organization will consolidate government subsidy programs to finance shared industry infrastructure. Its core responsibilities include developing advanced translation and artificial intelligence tools for faster overseas releases, deploying automated anti-piracy detection systems, supporting new centralized distribution platforms for anime and manga, and funding training programs to address production bottlenecks and labor shortages across studios.
The new entity will replace the previous Cool Japan Fund, which is being dissolved after accumulating roughly 54 billion yen in debt.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has designated commercial content creation as a core national infrastructure industry alongside automotive manufacturing and semiconductors, establishing an overall target of 20 trillion yen in international content sales by 2033.
Under that roadmap, the anime sector has been tasked with reaching six trillion yen in export revenue over the next decade
Source: Variety, GEM Standard
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