A 25,000-word editorial guide to how the $20-billion Japanese anime industry actually works — for foreign buyers, investors, licensors and brand teams. Ten articles, four themes, one map.
Inside the working day of a rank-and-file Japanese in-between animator — and the structural reasons wages stay low, talent is leaving, and the global anime boom faces a capacity wall.
Japan's manga market — print, digital, app — is now estimated over ¥6.9 trillion, larger than its anime business. For foreign publishers and investors, the entry point is the four Tokyo publishing houses.
How a single anime figure travels from a Tokyo production committee through Good Smile, Bandai Spirits and Premium Bandai to a foreign retail shelf — and why most foreign retailers misread the licensing stack.
ANYCOLOR (Nijisanji) and Cover (Hololive) are both TSE-listed and profitable. A B2B breakdown of the VTuber revenue mix, talent splits, agency moats and brand-collaboration opportunity.
Behind the neon, Akihabara is a working B2B node — Japan's most concentrated test market for anime IP. A foreign buyer's guide to a 1-km square of Tokyo.
Five platforms now dominate global anime streaming, but each holds different rights, libraries, and business models. A region-by-region map for media buyers and investors.
Most foreign companies bungle their first anime IP deal because Western licensing instincts produce wrong answers in Japan. A practitioner's step-by-step guide.
A ranked, opinionated guide to the ten Japanese animation studios that dominate foreign-licensed output. Who owns IP, who runs on committees, and where the real deal flow concentrates.
Overseas anime sales topped ¥1.7T and overtook domestic in 2023. What the AJA data, geography and licensing terms mean for foreign buyers.
Almost every Japanese anime is owned by a multi-company production committee — not the studio that drew it. A B2B guide for foreign buyers, distributors and investors on how the 製作委員会 system shapes rights, deals and timelines.
ANYCOLOR runs Nijisanji, one of the world's biggest VTuber agencies, turning virtual talent into a fast-growing Japanese export.
