New Anime Report Marks Industry's First Backslide in Ten Years

The anime industry has become a juggernaut in the past few years. From TV series to movies and [...]

By Megan Peters

The anime industry has become a juggernaut in the past few years. From TV series to movies and OVAs, the medium is being binged on a new scale. In the last year, this became abundantly clear when the COVID-19 forced many indoors, and anime streaming sharply rose. But according to a new report, that record-breaking success did not translate to cash in Japan.

A new report from Yahoo! Japan breaks down the whole ordeal for fans. The article overlooks the anime market's size by profit, and it was there a striking figure made itself known. As it turns out, the anime market decreased in 2020 for the first time in ten years, and much of the slippage is due to the pandemic.

One Piece Anime 980 Spoilers Luffy
(Photo: Toei Animation)

The report notes that while anime features like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Mugen Train did amazingly well, the same could not be said for television productions. This is because work on weekly shows found themselves disrupted due to COVID-19 and a slew of shutdowns. Even hit series like One Piece and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations were hit by the shift, and other seasonal shows were postponed up to a year.

With these shows impacted, things only got worse when outsourced materials were delayed as well. It is no secret that the anime industry has an over-saturation issue, so many studios rely on outsourced art from China and South Korea to meet deadlines. The pandemic clogged up the production line as you can imagine, so delays and postponements cost production houses dearly.

According to the report, the anime market earned 251 billion yen in 2020. This is compared to its all-time high gross in 2019 when market size topped 255 billion yen. The loss marks the first time in a decade that the industry's size has shrunk, but experts predicted as much would happen given the global state of COVID-19. Now, all eyes are on 2021 as the battle against COVID-19 continues. More delays could be made as the year continues, so only time will tell what happens.

What do you think about this brand-new report? Are you surprised by its findings? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

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