This is your weekly Animenomics briefing, covering the business of anime and manga. Today is Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
In case you missed it: NHK World aired a feature on anime producer Masao Maruyama, the founder of anime studios Madhouse, MAPPA, and Studio M2, on its Anime Manga Explosion program last weekend.
Shibuya Tsutaya reinvents itself as hub for anime IPs
Shibuya’s iconic Tsutaya video rental store and bookstore reopened to the public last week after a six-month renovation, but visitors will find that it’s now less like a bookstore and more of an exhibition space for popular media properties.
Why it matters: Tsutaya and its parent company, Culture Convenience Club, are adapting to Japan’s new reality of a declining print market and fewer bookstores.
The Nikkei financial newspaper reports that Tsutaya has closed 20 percent of its stores in the last decade, and annual sales figures remain a fraction of pre-pandemic levels.
What’s happening: Amid anime’s growing presence in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, Tsutaya now dedicates more floor space to high-end anime, manga, and music merchandise.
The ten-story building now has a Pokémon trading card play area, exhibition galleries, reading lounges, a themed cafe, an IP bookstore, and more.
Takahiro Kamata, who leads the management of Shibuya Tsutaya, told media outlets that the store targets young adults and foreign tourists.
Kamata shared data showing that 43 percent of store passersby are people in their 20s and that 60 percent of visitors to the in-store Starbucks Coffee outlet are foreign tourists.
Our thought bubble: Shibuya Tsutaya’s focus on exhibitions and collaborations also opens itself to new revenue streams from contracts with anime and manga IP owners, instead of relying solely on in-store sales.
See photos of the new Shibuya Tsutaya from Japanese media.
Anime producer helps studios unlock bridge financing
Makoto Kimura has left his position as the head of rights management at anime studio MAPPA to establish Blue Rights, a firm managing production planning for anime and other entertainment projects.
Why it matters: Kimura is best known in the anime industry as the architect of MAPPA’s plan to fund the Chainsaw Man anime without a production committee between 2020 and 2022.
It’s a rare example of a studio funding a major anime project alone without money with other producers, retaining ownership of the rights to the anime.
Catch up quick: Virtually all major anime productions today are funded using the production committee system that pools investor money for production planning.
Under this system, committees retain copyright ownership of the anime, and studios are often hired and paid merely as contractors to create the work.
MAPPA, by foregoing this system, relied on funding through distributor pre-sales and money from the public–private Japan Content Factory.
Founded in 2018, Japan Content Factory provides funds from the time pre-sales agreements are concluded to when production costs are paid.
What we’re watching: “With the recent success of Chainsaw Man, I believe the need for JCF and other forms of bridge financing will increase in the future,” Kimura told attendees of a Cool Japan Fund workshop recently.
“I would like to use the knowledge I have gained through planning and rights management in the field to expand what I have been doing at MAPPA with various companies,” he also told the Gamebiz news portal this month.
Such financing could allow more studios to receive royalties when their works become popular internationally, helping their bottom lines.
Clippings: Anime songs popular with tourists at karaoke
Anime songs are the most popular karaoke genre among foreign tourists visiting Big Echo’s Shibuya flagship branch. Visitors from abroad make up 10 percent of the store’s sales now. (Nikkei)
Between the lines: Parent company Daiichikosho, a manufacturer of karaoke systems, wants to attract more foreign tourists as part of a strategy to return to pre-pandemic sales and profits and to compete with rivals.
Kaiju No. 8 is the first Japanese program to be broadcast on X (formerly Twitter) and a television network simultaneously, with the social media company pledging to distribute more anime and Japanese content in the future. (The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Manga pirate sites remain rampant abroad, even as manga publishers see success domestically in taking down pirate sites based in Japan like Manga Mura. (The Mainichi)
Just last week, police in multiple Brazilian states arrested the operators of several anime and webtoon pirate websites with the cooperation of Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association.
Manga publisher VIZ Media, North America’s largest manga publisher, ousted longtime sales and marketing leader Kevin Hamric after the company eliminated his position as vice president of publishing sales. (ICv2)
Disney+ seeks Generation Z audiences with anime
“There is ultimately no big difference between Japanese and international fans, and the enjoyment [of anime] is becoming less and less country-specific. I think this is a big change in the last 10 years or so. Not so long ago, it was like, ‘This work was made for Japan, but people in North America would like this.’ But now, people really don’t think that way anymore, so we as a distributor don’t specify a target market.”
— Takuto Yawata, Walt Disney Japan head of animation
Context: Anime is popular with members of Generation Z all around the world no matter where they are, Yawata says in an interview with the AnimeAnime.jp news portal.
What he’s saying: “There are high expectations for Japanese anime, especially in terms of increasing engagement with Generation Z,” he explains, pointing out that anime content is now “indispensable” to Disney+ (and Hulu).
Yawata feels it’s important for Disney to license not only newer anime titles, but also older works like Macross for younger viewers who haven’t seen them.
Of note: Yawata gave a non-answer about the competition, saying only, “We want to make the Japanese anime industry as a whole more exciting without being too limited by what other companies are doing.”
1 sticker poll to go: How South Africans consume anime
Crunchyroll and Netflix are popular among anime viewers in South Africa, but a majority of poll respondents who use these streaming platforms also admit to using anime pirate sites, says the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).
Why it matters: South Africa is anime’s largest overseas market in Sub-Saharan Africa, and anime is challenging western pop culture’s dominance in the country.
Zoom out: Ruan Botha, a project manager at JETRO, believes a lack of supply in anime licenses and anime merchandise is driving some piracy behavior.
“The main reason we’re seeing people buying unlicensed products is not that they can’t afford official products, but because there’s a general lack of official anime products,” he writes on LinkedIn.
Yes, but: South Africa also allows parallel imports—imports of non-counterfeit goods via a third country like the United States—which can result in licenses being reported under other territories, Botha tells Animenomics.
Animenomics is an independently-run and reader-supported publication. If you enjoyed this newsletter, consider sharing it with others.
Great post, covered all the latest news and important info as it pertains to the anime industry. Subscribed!