The outlook for the future of the manga and anime industry is shining bright as the industry continues to find success and popularity in international markets.
Project Anime recently held their Project Anime: Los Angeles 2019 event as part of “an international conference series that invites convention directors, executives, anime and Japanese pop culture industry leaders, distributors, exhibitors, and more to discuss ways to improve the anime and Japanese pop culture market in their territories and across the globe.” At the conference, Project Anime Producer and former Crunchyroll VP of Events and Manga Dallas Middaugh noted that anime and manga were “going through a period of radical change:”
Dallas Middaugh @dallasmiddaugh ‘s opening remarks at Project Anime in LA described anime & manga as “going through a period of radical change” – as overseas interest & availability of content from Japan has grown + increased investment fr. overseas #ProjectAnime19 #AX2019 pic.twitter.com/FsuvwKcBay
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
As part of his opening remarks, chronicled on Twitter by MangaComicsManga writer Deb Aoki, Middaugh related his experiences working in the industry, illustrating how attitudes towards oversea markets have grown more positive and collaborative:
“When I started in this biz, JP rights holders weren’t interested in markets outside of Japan – at most, int’l licensing was only 5-15% of their revenue. To them it was like sofa change.” –@dallasmiddaugh #ProjectAnime #AX2019 pic.twitter.com/0y3oGc6SF6
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
“In 2015, I moved to manga publishing to anime. I was used to US book publishing, where bks usually need 1-2 years in advance for licensing, marketing, production/translation. When I moved to @Crunchyroll, we were lucky if JP anime production companies gave us a week lead time.”
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
“At Crunchyroll, sometime we got less than 24 hours notice before finding out we had the rights to an anime. This gave us barely any time to translate, & almost no time to properly promote the show. Why did JP rights holders wait so long? B/c it’s sofa change to them.” – Dallas M
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
“In 2019, things have changed — the lead time has increased from 1 week to 1 month. Sometimes, we get 3, maybe 6 months lead time after hearing that we have rights to air an anime series. This gives us a better chance to sell and market anime.” – Dallas Middaugh @ #ProjectAnime
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
Middaugh proposes that there are three reasons for this shift in attitudes. The first, is the growing popularity of the medium worldwide:
So deeper dive into 1. Anime/manga biz is more popular worldwide – “In US, graphic novels are 2-5% of total publishing sales, of which 25% is manga. If you take kids comics out of the mix (Dog Boy, etc.), then manga = 50% of graphic novels sold in US.”- Dallas Middaugh
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
“Meanwhile, in France, 25% of all books published are graphic novels/BD/manga, of which 50% is manga. This indicates potential for growth in the overseas market.” – Dallas Middaugh @ #ProjectAnime19
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
The second is the declining age and population of Japan, which caused companies to look to international markets for future growth:
Reason 2 – As population in JP declines and ages, domestic sales of anime & manga also declines. “It’s as popular as ever, but given current trends, JP’s population will go from 124 million ppl now to 88 million ppl in 40 years.” Where is growth potential? Overseas.
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
Manga publishers are also now doubling down on the international market. With the arrival of @SquareEnix having their own manga/book publishing imprint, “now all top 5 JP manga publishers have subsidiaries in N. America.” – Dallas Middaugh #ProjectAnime19 pic.twitter.com/UpZSnlj3e1
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
The final reason Middaugh puts forth is that, as the markets and fan bases of anime and manga grow, larger production companies are more interested in investing in projects based on the medium:
Reason 3 – As interest in anime/manga grows overseas, larger overseas companies are getting interested in the content. “This happened with Star Wars – it told Hollywood that there was a hunger for sci-fi stories. It happened with Iron Man too. This led to more superhero movies.”
— Deb Aoki (@debaoki) July 2, 2019
Middaugh’s optimism is not without merit, as these trends are supported by rapidly growing sales numbers. Anime streaming service Crunchyroll currently has 2 million paid subscribers after doubling their subscriber numbers in only 2 years. According to Comicbook.com, 2018 sales of manga grew from it’s previous years revenue by 7.24%, a stark contrast to the 1% fall in revenue reported by the Western comic industry.