Keeping up with hobbies in the Asian entertainment industry has always been extremely expensive, but some fan groups take their devotion to financial extremes. A recent large-scale survey by the Yano Research Institute in Japan revealed that while anime and manga have many more followers nationwide, it’s the idol fans who are truly emptying their bank accounts and consuming most of their free time for their favorite artists.

The researchers surveyed tens of thousands of people and found that while the average otaku spends between 10,000 and 50,000 yen annually, followers of music groups average a staggering 81,000 yen per year. It gets worse: nearly 30% of these devoted fans admitted spending over 100,000 yen annually and dedicating over ten hours weekly to their favorite pop star. Breaking stereotypes, the dominant profile in this high-spending sector is mostly female, concentrated among women from adolescence to their thirties.

The truly striking aspect of the study is how this trend has persisted and grown over the years. In the latest surveys projected for 2025, anime remains undisputed king with over 5.4 million fans, followed closely by manga. However, despite the idol niche being much smaller (around 3.5 million people), their average annual spending jumped to 121,000 yen per person. Researchers noted their family incomes are nearly identical to other geek groups; the secret is that these people simply sacrifice a much larger percentage of their salary to keep their passion alive.

Given the staggering amounts of money thousands inject annually into their favorite human stars, do you think you spend a similar amount collecting anime figures and merchandise, or is your otaku budget more reserved to make ends meet?