Japan’s Animation Industry Grows 15.8% To Record $28BN, Driven By Both Domestic & Overseas Sales – TIFFCOM
Japan’s anime industry grew by 15.8% to $28.18BN (JPY4.45TR) in 2025, with growth coming from both local and overseas markets, according to figures presented by the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) at TIFFCOM.
The report also showed that overseas revenues reached $16.1BN (JPY2.54TR), accounting for nearly 57% of the total, while domestic revenues at $12BN (JPY1.9TR) accounted for 43%.
However, in contrast to the previous year, when the growth rate in overseas revenue was much higher than domestic, in 2025 the industry experienced growth both at home and overseas. Domestic revenues were up by just over 14% year-on-year, while overseas revenues registered 17% growth.
In 2024, overseas sales grew by 26% while domestic income remained mostly flat. Anime’s overseas revenues first overtook domestic in 2020 and have continued to pull ahead ever since, widening the gap between the two markets. “Many Japanese business entities are going overseas to pursue revenue opportunities, so we expect this trend to continue,” said Masahiro Hasegawa, Editor-in-Chief of AJA’s Anime Industry Report, who presented the figures.
While those figures were for the industry as a whole, Hasegawa explained that a second set of figures have been collated to show the revenues flowing back to anime production companies, rather than the production committees that finance anime works and include many different rights holders.
Revenues flowing back to production outfits increased by 8% to reach $3.2BN (JPY505BN) in 2025, according to the report, compared to $2.95BN (JPY466BN) the previous year. Hasegawa said that more production companies are taking an equity position in their works, therefore holding on to intellectual property (IP), which enables them to participate in a share of overseas revenue.
Of course, 2025 was the year that the industry enjoyed a massive domestic and international hit with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie – Infinity Castle, which grossed around $800M worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time.
So far in 2026, global anime hits have included Chiikawa The Movie: The Secret Of Mermaid Island, which has grossed around $159M worldwide. The film ranks at number 31 in Box Office Mojo’s global chart for 2026, just below Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie and above Bollywood hit Dhurandhar: The Revenge.
“Anime’s international breakthrough has already been realized,” said Hasegawa. “Also the content industry has been designated one of the core industries of Japan. What this report shows is that the Japanese anime industry is interested in expanding to the up-and-coming regions of the world, although this entails localization and piracy counter measures are also important.”
The Japanese government has introduced an ambitious support program for the content industries, which aims to boost exports of Japanese content to $127BN (JPY20TR) by 2033 as part of its IP360 initiative. The target for the anime industry is to hit $38BN (JPY6TR) in export revenues by 2033, almost twice the current figure.
