Anime Revenue Tops $28 Billion as Overseas Earnings Surpass Domestic Sales

The Japanese animation industry generated $28.5 billion in total revenue in 2025, a figure that represents a 15.8 percent increase over the previous year in yen terms. The Association of Japanese Animations released these figures during its annual session at TIFFCOM, the content market associated with the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Overseas markets accounted for approximately $16 billion of that total, while the domestic market in Japan generated about $12 billion. This marks the first time in 2020 that international sales surpassed domestic ones. The revenue calculation includes box office receipts, streaming and television rights, licensing deals, merchandise, and event tickets.

The financial surge was heavily influenced by the release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. The Movie: Infinity Castle. The film earned roughly $800 million worldwide, with some revenue occurring in 2026. In Japan alone, the movie took in $250 million, or 40 billion yen. This performance made it the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film of all time. The previous entry in the franchise also earned 40 billion yen domestically but did not achieve the same level of international success.

Kazuko Ishikawa, president of the Association of Japanese Animations and Nippon Animation, addressed the industry's future needs in her opening remarks. She stated that it is vital to build a strong ecosystem for creators and their support teams so they can focus on storytelling. Ishikawa also referenced the Japanese government's IP360 strategy, which targets $130 billion in overseas sales for Japanese content by 2033. Anime is projected to contribute 6 trillion yen to that goal.

Studio revenues also increased, rising 8.4 percent to $3.2 billion. Overseas studios contributed a record $880 million to this total. The weak yen affects these numbers in two ways: it lowers the dollar value of domestic earnings but increases the dollar value when Japanese companies bring foreign cash back to Japan.

Masahiro Hasegawa, the chief editor of the report, pointed to audience rankings as evidence of anime's global standing. He noted that several anime titles rank highly on IMDb, with the Attack on Titan series leading the list. Death Note sits in third place, positioned between Rick and Morty and The Simpsons.

This latest growth follows a nearly 15 percent increase in the prior year, which had set a previous record of $25 billion. The market size has nearly tripled since the association began tracking industry figures in 2002.