Anime Hits Record $28.2 Billion as Tokyo Festival Talks Money

By Daniel Okafor

Japanese anime spending hit a record JPY4.45 trillion ($28.2 billion) in 2025, up 15.8%, according to preliminary figures presented at TIFFCOM by Hasegawa Masahiro, editor-in-chief of the Association of Japanese Animations' annual "Anime Industry Report." The number landed mid-market, as if to answer the government's JPY20 trillion ($126.6 billion) content export target repeated at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival's opening ceremony.

The festival ran Oct. 26–Nov. 4. TIFFCOM, its content market, ran Oct. 28–30 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center in Hamamatsucho.

Who owns Japanese IP?

The week's running theme: who owns Japanese IP, who pays to develop it, and how far producers will travel for partners. TIFFCOM and the Cannes Film Market will stage a second Japan IP Market in Cannes on May 14–15, 2027, after a first edition in May, when Japan was Country of Honor.

Amazon MGM Studios Japan is doubling its investment in Japanese content to reach global standards, head Buddy Marini said at a TIFFCOM session alongside "Kokuho" producer Matsuhashi Shinzo and "One Piece" executive producer Steven Maeda.

TIFFCOM CEO Shiina Yasushi wants Japanese companies to keep their IP and overseas distribution, Hollywood-style. "I believe anime is leading the way worldwide, with live-action following in its footsteps," he told Variety. He plans to grow TIFFCOM well beyond its current size — venue included — by around 2030.

Registered visitors rose 13% to 1,425. Overseas visitors rose 9% to 814; North Americans grew by a third, Europeans by nearly 70%. Overall participation slipped to 4,405 from 4,610, mostly on fewer arrivals from Greater China. The market drew participants from 51 countries and regions, up from 46, with 317 exhibitors.

What do the record anime numbers actually show?

Local growth jumped to 14.1% from 4.6%, reaching JPY1.91 trillion ($12.1 billion). Overseas revenue rose 17.2% to JPY2.54 trillion ($16.1 billion) — slower than the previous year's 26% — and still accounts for 57.1% of the total. Studio revenue rose 8.4% to a record JPY505.5 billion ($3.2 billion).

"The idea of studios holding the rights to their own works and managing them to generate revenue is growing year by year," Hasegawa said.

The AJA named its new national prize the Nippon Anime Awards, with the first ceremony set for Nov. 21, 2027, at SGC Hall Ariake in Tokyo.

Why are filmmakers struggling amid the boom?

Minister Akazawa Ryosei and Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, by video, restated the JPY20 trillion overseas content sales goal by 2033. A Cabinet Office task force, first convened Oct. 22, aims to consolidate scattered government support.

Producers want existing tools fixed first. "Tokyo Vice" producer Alex Boden said the IP360 incentive's JPY800 million ($5.1 million) minimum spend shuts out independents, since most Japanese films cost $1.5 million to $3 million. "So how does a producer know that they can count on the Japan incentive in advance? That's the question, and we need a solution," Boden said.

Netflix production policy director Deb Richards said a lower but certain incentive would be fine — "the criteria is not clear."

Director O Mipo, sharing the Kurosawa Akira Award with Mohammad Rasoulof, was blunter. "I honestly don't think there are any directors in Japan right now who are making a living solely from directing movies," she said. "In Japan, the reality is that you don't get a single yen at the planning stage."

Programming director Ichiyama Shozo said support for low-budget films "is still insufficient." The festival launched TIFF Work-in-Progress and turned Nippon Cinema Now into a competition; Tanaka Miki's debut "Silver Express" won best film.

Where are the co-production partners coming from?

Everywhere, including Mongolia, the U.K. and possibly South America. Toho Europe's Andrew Partridge noted a "real movement to emerging markets" in Africa and the Middle East. Singapore's Robot Playground Media CEO Ervin Han said a 2023 TIFFCOM meeting brought Italian co-producers to "The Violinist," which won Annecy's top prize this year.

The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market selected 24 projects and partnered for the first time with Frontières, Fantasia's genre co-production market. Taiwan's "Uncle" won the Tokyo Project Award and Asian Gen-Z Award. Taiwan-Japan fund Daily Capital, launched Oct. 28, targets NT$100 million ($3.1 million) for at least five projects over two years.

All-rights buyouts are fading, Chang Chen-yu said. Distributors favor minimum guarantees with rights split by territory. K2 Pictures' K2P Film Fund I closed in February at about JPY5 billion ($32 million) and aims to back some 50 films over seven years.

AGBO, the Russo brothers' studio, delivered the AI keynote. Chief scientific officer Dominic Hughes said AI can judge whether a play is Shakespeare's, but writing one, "you'd have the sense that it was written by a 12-year-old." Partner Chris Brearton: "Not a solution, but data."

Academy CEO Bill Kramer said Oscar membership outside the U.S. has grown from 5% to 25% in a decade, and from 2029 the ceremony streams free on YouTube in 30-plus languages. Cate Blanchett's Displacement Film Fund premiered five shorts.

FIAPF's new A-list includes Tokyo. Jury president Rolf de Heer shrugged: "Tokyo was effectively an A festival."

The festival's centerpiece, Yamazaki Takashi's "Godzilla Minus Zero," earned JPY910 million ($5.8 million) from 590,000-plus admissions on Nov. 3 — Japan's biggest live-action opening day, roughly double "Godzilla Minus One," which won the visual effects Oscar. The Grand Prix went to Milcho Manchevski's "Sister Brother Manhole Cover."

Festival director Hisamatsu Takeo will reassess TIFF's global standing before its 40th anniversary — and its next decade.