Adidas is the latest company choosing to leverage independently made anime-style imagery to promote its products versus licensing properties from Japan's anime rightsholders, an approach that's increasingly viable for global legacy brands. Read this feature story by editor Richardson Handjaja.

Kadokawa has formed a new subsidiary to oversee its manga retail operations in the United States, two and a half years after the publisher launched a marketing push in North America and began opening a chain of Manga Spot stores. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Bandai Namco and Plott, a Tokyo-based startup that produces short anime for YouTube, will test whether the format can be used to launch new shonen media mix properties that will grow into a new merchandising engine. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Permanent, full-time employment arrangements are growing at Japanese anime studios, over a decade of labor surveys found, challenging an oft-repeated narrative that the anime industry relies mostly on freelance animators. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Attendance at the annual AnimeJapan trade exhibition reached a new record this year as anime viewership continues to grow worldwide, but it's unclear whether the event can keep its momentum amid a planned move to Osaka for 2027–2028. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

In 2025, online content piracy cost Japan's entertainment industry a staggering ¥5.7 trillion (US$36 billion) in lost revenue, a crisis driven by limits on access to manga, anime, and other media. Read this story by Jakarta-based correspondent Yohana Belinda.

Japan's small and medium anime merchandise retailers, facing stagnation at home due to a declining population, are turning to cross-border e-commerce providers like Beenos to reach new customers abroad. Read this story by Animenomics editor Richardson Handjaja.

Original anime films are incubators of new talent, but rising production costs and changing audience viewing behavior are tipping the anime film market toward franchise films and making original productions riskier for investors. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japan's anime home video sales and rentals plummeted 31 percent in 2025 to ¥18.7 billion (US$118 million), one of the steepest declines on record, amid an accelerating shift in domestic anime consumption to streaming video. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japan's anime rightsholders are shifting away from film distributors like Toho and Shochiku and building their own systems for distributing anime films domestically to retain a bigger share of box office earnings. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

For @icv2.com's manga week coverage this year, I explain the numbers behind Japan's shrinking domestic manga market, plus their implications on Japanese publishers' and U.S. comics retailers' businesses for the year ahead.

Japan's domestic manga market shrank by 1.7% in 2025, the first decline in eight years, amid stalling digital sales growth and an accelerating tumble in print sales. Full-year sales were estimated at ¥693 billion (US$4.4 billion). Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

TV Asahi plans to double its anime production capacity by 2030 as the commercial broadcaster best known for classic titles like Doraemon and Crayon Shin-chan seeks to transform into a business that focuses on IP creation. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Sony Music Entertainment Japan has named Aniplex president Atsuhiro Iwakami as its incoming president and chief executive officer, a sign of the anime production planning company's growing influence in the Sony Music Group. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Sales of counterfeit anime and other character products caused US$30 billion in estimated financial damages in 2025. It was the first measure of the impact of piracy on the market for Japanese entertainment merchandise. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japan sales of print manga volumes in 2025 saw their biggest drop since 2022. Digital manga also had its slowest growth rate on record in the second half, a sign that digital manga's growth is coming to an end sooner rather than later. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Anime films' recent successes in North America are enticing Japanese film distributor Gaga to enter direct distribution of anime films in the region, starting with a movie from the mobile game "Umamusume: Pretty Derby". Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japan's antitrust regulator is preparing guidelines to regulate how anime production committees, studios, and streamers negotiate and share information after an inquiry into labor practices in the industry highlighted structural issues. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Link-U Technologies, which built digital manga platforms like Shueisha's MANGA Plus and Square Enix's Manga UP!, is pursuing AI-driven manga app development as the digital manga market undergoes a shift in Japan and abroad. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Toho is elevating its United Kingdom subsidiary into a European regional headquarters, with the film distribution and production giant also buying Glasgow-based anime distributor @alltheanime.com from Embracer Group's Plaion Pictures. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japan's US$1.3 billion manga app market stands to benefit from a new law forcing Apple and Google to allow app developers to direct users to external stores in order to pay for purchases, bypassing app store fees that cut into revenue. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Warner Bros. has spent the last 20 years investing in anime, including leading production committees for "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" and "Record of Ragnarok", but a possible sale of the company could impact its expansive anime portfolio. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

The Japan Times interviewed Animenomics editor @rhandjaja.bsky.social about the implications of the latest political spat between China and Japan on the anime industry.

Japan's user-generated web novel platforms have become a growing source of original stories to be adapted into manga, anime, and film, but their operators are contending with a rise in submitted works that are generated by AI. Read this headline and more in this week's business briefing.

CyberAgent has designated the head of its anime and IP business division as the company's next chief executive officer, reflecting its shift from digital advertising as a core business to entertainment in the last five years. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Kadokawa is writing down the financial value of its nearly ¥3 billion acquisition of anime studio Doga Kobo as the publisher moves to integrate back-office operations and improve profitability across its seven anime studio subsidiaries. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Overseas revenues of Japan's anime industry saw the third consecutive year of double-digit growth in 2024, according to the Association of Japanese Animations, but there is concern at home that anime's domestic market is stagnating. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Animenomics has been named as a finalist in the Los Angeles Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. We are nominated for a story published in February about how the end of de minimis duty exemptions affects imports of anime merchandise into the United States.

Japan's new conservative government under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has signaled new emphasis on supporting exports of the country's entertainment content, such as anime, manga, and video games. Read this headline and more in this week's business briefing.

New York-based anime film distributor GKIDS, which was acquired by film giant Toho last year, plans to invest in more anime co-productions in order to further grow the North American anime market. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japan's wholesale trading conglomerates are paving the way for anime, manga, and video game companies to enter the retail merchandising market around the world thanks to their experience in overseas business development. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Anime rightsholders frustrated with what they view as inadequate safeguards against unauthorized use of intellectual property have forced OpenAI to restrict Sora users' ability to generate videos of specific anime characters by name. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Crunchyroll is reentering digital manga distribution in the United States and Canada with a new platform built by Japanese manga application development pioneer Link-U Group. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japanese amusement giant Genda is taking control of its North American business and consolidating 14 subsidiaries, showing confidence in local demand for entertainment experiences like Kiddleton claw machines with anime-themed prizes. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Anime cafes are popping up throughout Southeast Asia, where anime fans say they view brands more favorably when anime-inspired products are offered. Read this story by Jakarta-based correspondent Yohana Belinda.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle's first anime film opened in 49 territories last weekend and topped multiple box office charts worldwide, including in North America, with IMAX screens making significant contributions to ticket sales. Read this headline and more in this week's business briefing.

This is up next! twitch.tv/animelockdown

Animenomics will present a current overview of how the anime industry works this Saturday, September 13, as part of @animelockdown.bsky.social programming on twitch.tv/animelockdown. Join us to learn about anime studio financials, anime production committees, and more!

A senior executive at TMS Entertainment has urged Netflix to share more details on viewer demographics amid efforts by anime producers seeking to reclaim control of marketing efforts for their titles from global streaming platforms. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Light novel and manga publisher Overlap will offer 40% of its holding company shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange beginning in October, a sign of optimism in the market for Japan's digital-first light novels and their anime adaptations. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Manga's rapid global growth in recent years has been driven almost entirely by rising demand for physical deluxe edition releases rather than digital manga, says an advisor to manga licensing broker Tuttle-Mori Agency. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japanese anime studios' average annual revenue edged up last year, but a persistent labor shortage is creating a mixed fiscal picture. Large studios sensitive to higher production costs are seeing lower profits compared to 2023. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

One year after WEBTOON Entertainment's IPO on Nasdaq, the digital comics company controlled by South Korean internet giant Naver is accelerating investment in its English platform to counter decline a decline in global readership. Read our interview with WEBTOON executives.

Delta Air Lines will add Crunchyroll as a content partner on its Delta Sync in-flight entertainment system, making the streamer's anime library available to up to 120 million members of the carrier's SkyMiles frequent flyer program. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

New York-based @qubicpictures.bsky.social is shifting how it finances international anime co-productions as streaming platforms like Netflix reduce direct financing of anime projects and shift to a traditional licensing model. Read part two of our interview with CEO Justin Leach.

AlphaPolis has acquired all shares in "Re:Zero" anime studio White Fox in a deal that allows the digital manga and web novel publisher to diversify operations and transform itself into an IP production company. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

New York-based @qubicpictures.bsky.social is ensuring the voices of anime studios and creators are heard as the entry of global streaming video platforms into Japan since 2015 prompted renewed interest in international anime co-productions. Read part one of our interview with CEO Justin Leach.

Sony will invest about ¥68 billion (US$463 million) in Bandai Namco, acquiring a 2.5% stake in the toys, anime, and gaming giant and potentially giving Sony access to distribute high-value IPs like Bandai Namco's iconic Gundam property. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Japanese broadcasting group TBS has tapped former TV Tokyo anime chief Yukio Kawasaki—who brokered the 2009 deal that allowed Crunchyroll to pivot from pirated anime streaming—to lead its new anime and IP production business. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.

Anime Expo organizer Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation is weighing a possible move of the convention from downtown Los Angeles as turnstile attendance numbers show signs of reaching capacity. Read this and more headlines in this week's business briefing.