The Japanese animation market hit an all-time high. According to a detailed report by financial research firm Teikoku Databank, the anime production market exceeded the 400 billion yen mark for the first time in 2025. With a total of 406.586 billion yen (a 9.9% increase from the previous year), combined studio earnings reached their highest level since tracking began in 2000.

This growth was driven by streaming platform demand, the success of high-budget films, and secondary licensing exploitation. Average sales per company reached 1.337 billion yen, marking five consecutive years of growth. However, the economic boom wasn’t evenly distributed: main contractors and studios with original licenses recorded record average revenues of 2.795 billion yen, while smaller subcontractors specializing in drawing or backgrounds struggled with profit margins due to rising labor costs, payments to freelancers, and increased foreign work costs due to yen weakness.

Despite these record numbers, the analyst firm predicts the market will see its first contraction in five years in 2026. The bottleneck isn’t due to lack of public interest, but a severe animator shortage plaguing Japanese animation studios, forcing them to decline projects due to operational capacity limits. This “busy but unprofitable” trend threatens delays and internal restructuring in the anime industry, forcing large companies to focus on improving efficiency and creative working conditions instead of saturating release schedules.

With the industry generating unprecedented millions but teetering on collapse due to lack of skilled staff, do you think production committees should reduce annual release volumes to ensure better wages and schedules for animators?