Now let’s dial the focus down and zoom in closer to the U.S. audience. Following up on the first article in the U.S. Manga and Anime Landscape series, we would like to take stock of leading content in 2021, thanks to proprietary data provided by The NPD Group (NPD BookScan and Subscription Video Track for physical manga sales and anime streaming by Hours Watched, respectively). A summary list is available at the end of this article.

Based on NPD BookScan, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba was the bestselling manga series of the year. Although the final manga volume was published in August 2021, the popularity of the anime adaptation, in addition to the current manga shortage, signals that its streak will likely sustain well into 2022. In fact, its first season (26 episodes) was the most watched anime season on Netflix. Picking up where the record-breaking movie Demon Slayer: Mugen Train left off, its Entertainment District Arc has reached an end, and is available for streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu. A teaser of Swordsmith Village Arc, the next part of the story, has left fans longing for more.

The most sold manga title of 2021, however, was the first volume of Attack on Titan, first published in the U.S. almost 10 years ago. This accomplishment was a possible combination of many who decided to start their physical book collection as the manga series concluded its enthralling journey in 2021, as well as new fans that discovered the franchise and eagerly began reading the manga out of anticipation. The highly acclaimed fourth and final season of its anime adaption has resumed and will likely keep bolstering interest in the manga this year.

As much as well-established top series, such as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba and Attack on Titan, can represent a substantial proportion of print sales, new manga are essential to keep readers engaged and returning to the genre. Among the exciting fresh releases of 2021, the manhwa Solo Leveling stood out with only the 3 volumes published. The serialized webtoon has been entertaining fans online since 2018, but clearly, holding physical books and turning the pages still feel different and special. A game and a drama for Solo Leveling were reportedly in the works, and rumors of an anime adaptation have recently surfaced. While the anime is not officially confirmed yet as of the time of this article, fans of the series can count on its upcoming original soundtrack by the group The Boyz, set for March 2^nd. Perhaps 2022 will be a landmark year for the breakthrough of Korean manhwa and webcomics in anime.

On the streaming screen, The NPD Group’s Subscription Video Track gave us a glimpse into the anime viewers on Netflix and Hulu, 2 of the most popular platforms in America. We previously pinpointed that the first season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba has the highest Hours Watched among anime seasons available on Netflix in 2021. On Hulu, the most popular anime season was Dragon Ball Super. While its long run of 131 episodes (compared to the typical 13- or 26-episode anime season) certainly pumped up the viewership number, the exhilarating 2015 series has undeniably brought the iconic franchise back to the fandom. A new movie, titled Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO, is slated to premiere this April in Japan. Although a North America release date has not been announced, fans are surely keen on immersing in the electrifying action sequences in theater.

Among anime movies, there was no considerable change in viewership ranking since we last examined this category in the first 3 quarters of 2021. Overall last year, the top movies by Hours Watched on Netflix and Hulu remained to be the new release New Gods: Nezha Reborn and the subtitled version of Akira (1988), respectively. The former, which was a 3D animated modern take on a character from the Chinese novel The Investiture of the God, had a strong week-long opening earlier in the year (April), and then continued to generate steady viewership throughout the year. Meanwhile, the classic cyberpunk movie Akira again proved its enduring impact on anime fans and shown that easily accessible older titles can become new again for first-time viewers.

Similar to manga, there were a lot of impressive anime series releases in 2021. On Netflix, the most watched new** anime premiering last year was season 1 of the horror-mystery High-Rise Invasion. Centering around the 16-year-old girl Yuri Honjo’s quest for survival and escape from the world surrounded by sky-scrappers and overran by masked hostile forces, the series opened to somewhat mixed reception.

Another notable new isekai last year was the first season of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, which had the most Hours Watched on Hulu among new** anime titles. The first part of season 1 was released weekly from January to March, and the second one ran from October to December to an even stronger viewership than the first. The story followed a man starting life again in a magical world as a baby while retaining all his previous life’s memories and knowledge. There is reportedly no official confirmation of a sequel, although 2 subsequent seasons are rumored to already be in production.

In general, 2021 has continued to mark a meaningful year for manga and anime. Manga book sales continued its growth streak and went up more than $250 million (based on MSRP US dollar sales) from 2020, according to The NPD Group/ NPD BookScan data. Monthly anime streaming on both Netflix and Hulu has slowed down from the lockdown’s peaks but remained strong (The NPD Group / Subscription Video Track). We can expect the anime streaming war to intensify for production resources, content rights, and viewers’ attention. Given the state of the market, we should also have confidence in the increasingly seamless access to content for fans, which could be shorter wait time from overseas releases, wider anime movie selection and showings in theater, an easing manga print shortage, or new entertainment formats powered by cutting-edge technologies.

On the other hand, will the return of fans to physical events and other in-person activities mean attention diverted from manga and anime binge? Event organizers and the industry will surely need to keep in mind the evolving interests and expectations of the growing and diversifying fanbase when planning the next moves. What do you reckon for the American audience, events, and industry this year? What do you think will be the movements defining the U.S. manga and anime landscape in the upcoming months?

U.S.’s best of 2021 summary:

By print unit sales (Source: The NPD Group / NPD BookScan)

• Bestselling manga series: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba (Koyoharu Gotouge)
• Bestselling manga volume: Attack on Titan, volume 1 (Hajime Isayama)
• Bestselling new manga series*: Solo Leveling (Chugong)

By Hour Watched (Source: The NPD Group / Subscription Video Track)

• Most watched anime season:
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba, season 1 (Ufotable)on Netflix
  • Dragon Ball Super (Toei Animation)on Hulu
• Most watched anime movie:
  • New Gods: Nezha Reborn (Light Chaser Animation Studios)on Netflix
  • Akira, subtitled version (Tokyo Movie Shinsha, now TMS Entertainment) on Hulu
• Most watched new anime series**:
  • High-Rise Invasion, season 1 (Zero-G)on Netflix
  • Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, season 1 (Studio Bind) on Hulu

Note:      (*) New manga series are considered as those with the first print volume published in 2021.

(**) New anime series are considered as those which the first season premiered on the respective streaming platform in 2021, as tracked by SPJA.

NPD BookScan is the gold standard in POS tracking for the US publishing market, covering approximately 85% of all the print books sold in the US with trend data back to 2004.

NPD’s Subscription Video Track provides title-level insights about the movies and TV content U.S. audience are watching on Subscription-Video-on-Demand platforms. Hours Watched is defined as “the amount of time the content was watched in hours during the reporting period”.

The post U.S. Manga and Anime Landscape: 2021 Year in Review appeared first on Project Anime.

Developments, such as AMC acquiring Sentai and Disney’s successful debut of Star Wars: Visions, show that major studios, not typically known for anime, are eager to be in the game. The interest proves to be a substantial indicator that the surge in anime popularity is not going away in the near future, making what is to come in 2022 that much more tantalizing for anime and manga fans around the globe.

Sharing their 2022 predictions are industry experts, Roland Kelts, Kuo-yu Liang, Kwok-Wai Hanson, and John McCallum, who look ahead with some insight into the next year, while also looking back on their 2021 predictions.

Roland Kelts, JAPANAMERICA Author, Journalist, and Scholar

I think my 2021 predictions were spot-on: we saw Vtubing explode in popularity and access, with corporates like Sega, Netflix, Crunchyroll and even the Japanese Pacific Baseball league getting in on the YouTube avatar action while Fox network TV in the US debuted a surreal ‘reality-show’ avatar singing competition (no joke). The streaming anime market in North America is where I thought it would be now: controlled by media giants whose divergent subscription models mean plenty more accessible anime but also potential pricing chaos for fans. This month’s acquisition of Sentai Filmworks and its streaming portal HIDIVE by AMC Networks kind of completes the circle. John Ledford’s Sentai was formerly A.D. Vision, founded by him and two anime fans working out of their bedrooms in …1992! (Thirty years ago, who’da thunk it?)

The only thing I did not anticipate happening so quickly was the radical shift in the Chinese market: the censorship, closed opportunities, piracy and poaching of Japanese talent and IP. 

The China Syndrome

The overseas market finally eclipsed the domestic market in the Association of Japanese Animations 2020 year-end report, which saw an overall dip (driven by COVID-19) for the first time in 11 years. But while North America remains robust, China is bedeviling the Japanese industry with its content crackdowns, tightening regulations, and talent-poaching. In Japan, low wages, labor shortages and lousy working conditions are only exacerbating things. Not too long ago, many of my industry colleagues predicted China would one day lead overseas anime consumption. Story’s changed and is changing.

Cinema Paradiso

When COVID finally ebbs again, I believe anime fans will flood back to cinemas. Auteur-driven feature films like Mamoru Hosoda’s “Belle” and upcoming releases by Makoto Shinkai, Masaaki Yuasa, and (yes) Hayao Miyazaki demand and deserve to be seen on big screens, and I know many of us, if not most, are tired of watching all our anime on small screens via streaming media sites, however ubiquitous they have become.

Less Legacy, Less Live?

Anime-style remakes of legacy Hollywood titles like “Star Wars” and live-action adaptations of legacy anime titles like “Cowboy Bebop” may be running into a rut—and not without a little resistance from fans and investors alike.

This is conjecture, but the international anime fanbase still skews young, and anime content feels fresh and immediate to them. Those fans may not care what their mothers, fathers, or older siblings consider “classics.” A lot of productions based on long-running manga and anime are still forthcoming, so we will see. But while box office numbers this year for the conclusion of Hideaki Anno’s 25-year-old epic, “Evangelion,” proved that legacy titles themselves can have more than nine lives of longevity, that film was neither a remake nor an adaptation. It was new anime.

Kuo-Yu Liang, M&A Broker and Industry Advisor

Audio will become a robust revenue stream

In 2022, we will see audio fiction, based on light novels and manga, expand into a robust new revenue stream.  Companies like Yen Press and Graphic Audio have already published Solo Leveling and Vampire Hunter D.  Many more publishers will follow.  I also expect to see an increase in podcasts focusing on anime content.

Anime streamers on the rise with content integration

At least one streamer will master content integration while watching anime. This can be a physical and virtual product drop, community engagement, customized NFT creation, live interaction with talent, or things none of us have thought of yet.

New player and cryptocurrency

A significant new player will enter the anime business. My bet is on Apple. In addition, be prepared for someone to issue an anime-based cryptocurrency.

Kwok-Wai Hanson, Anime Trending Editor-in-Chief

Last year, I commented on how Disney may become a new player in the global anime streaming ecosystem. Disney made it clear that it’s ready to join the anime streaming battle and announced that it acquired a few anime series for Disney+ in Japan, including Summer Time Rendering, Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall, and the sequel to Tatami Galaxy,titled Tatami Time Machine Blues. It is not clear if the anime series will be available in other regions.

I also mentioned Japanese mobile game Disney: Twisted Wonderland as a potential entry point in anime for Disney. One year after the prediction, the English release is now scheduled for January 20, 2022 in the United States and Canada. It’s very exciting to see Disney take this approach and also greenlight an anime adaptation of the mobile game.

Disney Will Test Its Appetite for Anime

With last years’ prediction in mind along with what Disney has announced so far, 2022 will be a big litmus test for Disney’s appetite for anime and anime-inspired projects. We will likely see whether Disney will lean towards tapping the demand for anime by existing fans or appeal towards families, children, and its existing fanbase. The positive reception of Star Wars: Visions showed that it can strike a balance and satisfy both existing Star Wars fans and anime fans. I expect Disney to continue acquiring more anime series based on manga and light novels titles while continuing to experiment with its existing properties. I suspect we may see anime-inspired animation projects similar to Netflix’s Arcane and DOTA: Dragon’s Blood.

More Original Anime Projects Expected

Towards the end of 2021, we learned that SPY x FAMILY and various other Weekly Shonen Jump series will receive an anime adaptation alongside its ongoing manga publication. Publishers and anime licensors are moving quickly to snag Weekly Shonen Jump titles in hopes of finding the next big hit.

Because of this, I anticipate more original anime projects will be announced in 2022 than in previous years. The positive reception of ODDTAXI, especially with its successful Blu-ray crowdfunding campaign which was available to fans outside of Japan, and other original series like Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- will raise optimism behind potentially risky original anime projects that may not have manga readers and existing fans.

Korean Manhwa and Webcomics to Make Significant Breakthrough in Anime

In 2020, we were blessed with Tower of God, The God of High School, and Noblesse anime adaptations, but 2021 didn’t have any subsequent follow-up featuring Korean manhwa and webcomics. The successful print publications by Yen Press’s Solo Leveling and ABLAZE Publishing’s The Breaker indicates a strong hunger for Korean content in the broader English-speaking audience. Consolidation is already underway with Naver’s WEBTOON acquiring Wattpad and Kakao acquiring both Tapas Media and Radish. Because of the slew of Korean manhwa and webcomics available, I anticipate seeing announcements for Korean content to receive anime adaptations or anime-inspired animations.

John McCallum, Interpret Senior Research Manager

Overall my predictions for 2021 fared well, much to the credit of Interpret’s incredible proprietary datasets. A few call-outs from predictions for 2021.

Pandemic-era viewers from 2020 stuck around in 2021. In the US, viewership went up from 9.6% of the 13-65 population in 2020 to 10.7% in 2021, resulting in 11% growth in viewership year-over-year.

The world began to see anime viewers as a multifaceted, far from monolithic community.

Overall my predictions for 2021 fared well, much to the credit of Interpret’s incredible proprietary datasets. A few call-outs from predictions for 2021.

The world began to see anime viewers as a multifaceted, far from monolithic community.

If interest in Interpret’s Animeasure Segmentation is any indication of the need to know who is watching anime, there is reason to believe that key players in the space have questions about a new and existing viewership that continues to diversify.

Major anime streaming services did not implement family-friendly features like content filters or multiple profiles. HIDIVE had already succeeded in carving out these UI features, but this one was a swing and a miss. While it may have been a mediocre prediction, I stand by it as a data-driven recommendation!

Cashing in on Growth in North America and Europe; Sustaining Growth in LATAM

In 2021, Interpret’s data showed modest-to-large gains in most markets around the world, continuing off the spike of growth that 2020 saw in anime viewership. With such strong growth during the pandemic, 2022 will likely be a year that sees more modest growth or possible contractions in viewership as workforce activity, education and other facets of life return to normal in more heavily vaccinated markets. However, opportunities for revenue growth open as anime fans are able to more effectively engage with their passion, especially at live events.

LATAM may see even further growth in 2022. Interpret data suggests that Brazil has experienced a massive spike in anime viewership, with an over 45% year-over-year increase between the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021. Healthy growth in this and other markets seem likely to attract sustained attention from streaming services such as Funimation and Crunchyroll which have, in recent years, expanded their presence in LATAM.

E-Readers in Control: Web-based Comics as Source of Anime Inspiration

As the global appetite for anime grows, web manga and overseas comics on platforms such as Webtoon will be a frequent source of inspiration for animated adaptations that are aired and announced in 2022. Disrupting conventional publication and editorial review, the webcomic domain excels at sifting hits out of many submissions from all over the world, much as Japan’s stalwart periodicals (e.g. Shonen Jump) have done via survey for decades. I would not be surprised to see web manga and comics accounting for ten or more series a season released in the late 2022 – early 2023 anime broadcasting cycles.

Like the Look, Love the Feel: Global Production

Anime is known by its distinctive art style, and many non-Japanese media have emulated it closely. But anime is loved for its willingness to tell stories that Western animation historically hasn’t, with a special focus on memorable, lovable characters that keep viewers coming back for more.

Following the breakout success of series such as Arcane and Invincible in 2021, animation studios in the U.S., China and beyond have proof that more mature audiences will engage with adult animation, even beyond the conventional comedy genre. Future titles in this vein will appeal to anime audiences without necessarily adopting a full anime art style.

2022 is likely to usher in new and exciting anime co-production announcements, as well as hype around titles that continue to seek out that anime fan viewership (like Netflix’s Castelvania) without attempting to fully ape the distinctive look of anime itself.

Ultimately, a lot can transpire in 12 months. Many of these predictions could bud into reality before we realize. Do you think that these predictions will come to fruition? Or is there something else entirely you predict for anime?  

Leave a comment below with your predictions and we will see whose foresight reigns supreme. 

The post Anime & Manga Industry Analysts Give Exclusive 2022 Predictions appeared first on Project Anime.

As the year comes to an end, Project Anime is pleased to launch the U.S. Manga and Anime Landscape series, which will bring you data-backed updates of the market thanks to propriety information from The NPD Group. In this very first feature, we are going to take a snapshot of the first nine months of 2021 together.

Starting off with manga, the top 10 list by print units sold shows a combination of completed legacy series, established ongoing series, and newer series. This list features a wide range of genres from sports (Haikyu!!), horror (Junji Ito’s work), dark fantasy (Promised Neverland) to romantic comedy (Komi Can’t Communicate). This is certainly a welcoming sign of diverse fans’ interests in manga.

Top 10 Manga Series by Print Units Sold (January to September 2021)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba manga has continued its momentum in the U.S. market, bolstered by the release of the film as well as the addition of the anime series to Netflix this January. Meanwhile, My Hero Academia dropped down slightly as Attack on Titan jumped ahead with the release of its last manga chapters and the final season of its anime.

It will also be a mistake not to mention the impressive jumps to the top of the chart by Jujutsu Kaisen, Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun, and especially Chainsaw Man, of which the first book volume was published in the U.S. in October 2020.  The anime adaptations of the first two became available for streaming between 2020 and 2021, which likely has boosted fans’ discovery and enthusiasm for the manga series, while the highly anticipated Chainsaw Man anime dropped its first official trailer this June.

To a certain extent, manga sales are also indicative of viewership on the small streaming screens. We can see familiar names from the manga chart (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Attack on Titan and My Hero Academia) among the most-watched anime on Netflix and Hulu, according to data from NPD’s Subscription Video Track.

Top Anime Series and Movies by Hours Watched (January to September 2021)

Generally, it is easier for the audience to notice new series and movies, or existing series upon the release of their new seasons or episodes. For example, the release of The Seven Deadly Sins’ final season (in 2 parts this summer and fall) sparked a considerable level of previous season re-watching and potential discovery by new fans. It should be noted that the 2 new Netflix Originals movies – New Gods: Nezha Reborn and The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf – are classified as anime by the streaming platform itself. On the other hand, several legacy series and movies show persistent popularity to their niche audiences, such as the 1988 anime classic Akira or the family-friendly Pokémon franchise.

Most of the top streaming anime series and movies are action-packed and fantasy-filled, varying from the ninja world of Naruto / Naruto Shippuden and their spin-off sequel Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the Straw Hats Pirates’ adventure in One Piece, the augmented reality video game setting of Sword Art Online: The Movie – Ordinal Scale, to the electrifying fights in Dragon Ball Super, and so on. Setting itself apart from the action titles, the heartfelt and endearing coming-of-age drama A Silent Voice has certainly captivated many viewers. The movie was first released on Netflix in June 2019, and its stay has been extended after the initial announcement of its removal this June. Given the stable level of audience since its premiere, retaining A Silent Voice was conceivably a good call from Netflix.

What are the manga and/or anime titles that you have enjoyed the most so far in 2021? This upcoming holiday season is the perfect time to check the new popular titles off your list and revisit your all-time favorites. After the New Year, Project Anime will return with an in-depth discussion of manga and anime trends during the year. Until then, Happy Holidays!

NPD BookScan is the gold standard in POS tracking for the US publishing market, covering approximately 85% of all the print books sold in the US with trend data back to 2004.

NPD’s Subscription Video Track provides title-level insights about the movies and TV content U.S. audiences are watching on Subscription-Video-on-Demand platforms. Hours Watched is defined as “the amount of time the content was watched in hours during the reporting period”.

The post U.S. Manga and Anime Landscape: Year-to-Date Q3 2021 Snapshot appeared first on Project Anime.

While no one knows for sure what to expect in the next 12 months, we’ve assembled a panel of industry analysts and experts to provide their forecasts for the year ahead.

Below you’ll find predictions from Anime News Network CEO & Publisher Christopher Macdonald, NPD Books’ Executive Director of Business Development Kristen McLean, Journalist & Scholar Roland Kelts, AnimeTrending.com Editor-in-Chief Kwok-Wai Hanson, and Interpret Research Manager John McCallum.

Christopher Macdonald, Anime News Network

The Future of Sony’s “Fourth Pillar” of Anime

This is probably one of the biggest questions in the anime industry network. I don’t expect any consolidation of the Funimation, Crunchyroll, or Aniplex brands. I expect the three companies to continue to exist independently, but I expect Funimation and Crunchyroll to work very closely behind the scenes. Whether Aniplex will be as involved remains to be seen.

What’s Next for Netflix and Crunchyroll Originals

Netflix has been very successful with it’s “originals” and will continue to make more pretty much in the same vein as they are now. I also expect more “originals” to be made outside of Japan with a similar look and feel to anime. Crunchyroll on the other hand hasn’t been nearly as successful with its originals, but seeing Netflix’s success I think will motivate them to want to continue. What remains to be seen is if Funimation and Sony will allow it, and if they do, will Crunchyroll learn from its past failures. Also, will they work closely with Aniplex and their in-house studios?

Live-Action Adaptations to Continue

Live-action adaptations took on a life of their own in Japan years ago, they aren’t seen as being secondary to anime in any way. Thanks to Netflix, this is becoming the case overseas as well. I don’t expect any big change in 2021, just continued growth of the sector.

Kristen McLean, NPD Books/NPD BookScan

U.S. Manga Sales Will Continue Their Double-Digit Growth Trend in 2021

Last year Manga was the largest graphic novel category in the traditional U.S. trade channel, growing nearly 43% in 2020, 1.5X faster than total graphic novels, and contributing to 3/4 of adult graphic novel gains for the year. This meteoric growth will continue in 2021, as the pandemic continues to juice SVOD streaming, and new fans continue to discover a wide range of anime series on platforms like Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll, and then buy the corresponding Manga.

Roland Kelts, Journalist & Scholar

Fan Phenom: VTubers (Virtual Anime YouTubers) Take Off

VTubers, anime avatar performers on YouTube, exploded in 2020. With anime fans stuck at home during the pandemic, the phenomenon took on fiscal heights, dominating Super Chat’s top 10 in donation dollars. Anime VTubing is now catching fire globally, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves. Leading Japanese VTuber Kizuna Ai’s videos are now all subtitled in English, and the first major American VTuber producer, VShojo, launches this year. 2021 will be another string of canceled cons and postponed idol events. Expect more VTubers to flourish.

Streaming Anime Comes of Age

It’s a surprise to no one and no longer even a story: anime is now a cornerstone of global streaming media platforms. With Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, and HBO Max pressing more skin into the anime game, and Sony the proud owner of Aniplex, Crunchyroll, and Funimation, there’s almost no room for consolidation—but there’s acres of space for competition. I expect greater rollouts and awareness of two new categories: “anime-inspired” co-productions, with bigger budgets, more CG graphics, and global creators, and straight-ahead “anime”, made for pennies right here in Japan.

2D Dynamism

2021 will see the US releases of box office franchises “Demon Slayer” and “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time,” both of which blend high-octane CG graphics with 2D imagery into action-packed epics. But it will be interesting to see where the 2D anime model lands on quieter footing with an anime feature that is both old-skool and weirdly prophetic: “On-Gaku: Our Sound.” My friend Matt Schley, a terrific journalist, turned me on to this film, which will be released in the US this spring by GKids. It’s a marvel of quiet daily-life storytelling, with iceberg emotional cues conveyed in simple, hand-drawn eloquence. It’s a heartbreaking wondrous anime, the kind that could be made only in Japan. I’ve also just seen “Poupelle of Chimney Town,” the latest epic from Studio 4°C from the picture book by multi-talented comedian Akihiro Nishino. This film will blow you away. Stunning.

Kwok-Wai Hanson, Anime Trending

Anime Streaming War Goes Global with a New Possible Player

The streaming war on a region-by-region level will likely end after Crunchyroll is acquired by Funimation Global Group, a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Aniplex. With Netflix announcing at least 16 anime titles set for 2021, the fight for more anime and titles will intensify and go global. Disney is most likely the newest player to enter the global streaming war and may acquire anime for its streaming platform Disney+. Disney has already signaled an interest with 10 animated Star Wars films by Japanese anime creators set for 2021. The details behind how involved anime creators are vague at this time. But I expect Disney to be involved, possibly acquiring full TV anime series or adapting their own property into anime series, following the success of Netflix original anime series.

Disney is also no stranger to anime and has an established track record with Studio Ghibli films. Walt Disney Japan has active relationships with various Japanese companies, including Aniplex. Additionally, Walt Disney Japan and Aniplex launched a new mobile game called Twisted Wonderland, which depicts multiple villains and groups from the Disney franchise in a visual novel style. The game is currently available in Japan but bolsters over 1.5 million users. I anticipate it could be a jumping-off point for Disney to dive deeper into the anime ecosystem.

John McCallum, Interpret

Anime Production Will Go on Despite the State of Emergency

The Summer 2020 anime season saw an almost unprecedented production downturn, with only 25 new anime series premiering. In an industry accustomed to debuting upwards of 50 new series per season (a rate of production that makes anime highly desirable to content-hungry streaming services), the anime industry (like the rest of us) appeared to be unprepared for a global pandemic.

Many anticipate the continued stalling of production following the most recent state of emergency in Japan, but evidence suggests that the often-conservative anime industry has modernized its approach to allow for a more flexible response. If production sustained at pre-pandemic levels for the next season or two, I would be impressed. But even with emergency restrictions in place, I expect these new, modern methods – which allow for a greater share of production to be undertaken remotely – will result in upwards of 30-40 new series debuting per season throughout 2021 while the state of emergency persists.

Anime Proves a Hard Habit to Kick

Interpret has seen as much as a 50% year-over-year increase in anime viewership in 2020.  This may be bolstered by broader pandemic viewing trends, but this growth has the potential to transform casual viewers into devotees. I expect anime viewership to continue to grow in 2021, rather than recede to previous levels, due to greater exposure during the pandemic and its aftereffects. However, higher viewership per series may not translate into higher industry revenues due to COVID-related production delays resulting in a reduced volume of new content.

If live-action productions are stalled by COVID restrictions, these anime gains could prove quite sticky. As fewer live-action series queue up for production, anime may continue to fill the void and meet unmet demand. This factor could further boost the production estimate above, simply based on funding and priority. 

Anime Fans Will Be Seen as a Market, Not Just a Single Segment

For much of anime fandom’s history, anime fans have been imagined as a monolithic, minimally differentiated, niche segment within the larger entertainment market. The dedicated viewer seeking new series might be drawn to the trafficking of bootleg VHS tapes at fan cons, or (more recently) to niche anime-only streaming services. As these narrow forms of consumption held, fans remained somewhat homogenous in their identities and viewing preferences.

With anime now increasingly mainstream (and becoming more so in 2021), the major players, non-endemic partners, and anyone looking to cater to this market will increasingly speak to segments within the anime fandom, rather than “anime fans” at large.  This reality will be reinforced by the influx of more casual pandemic-era viewers that Interpret has identified in its segmentation of the anime market.

U.S. Streamers Lean Into the Female Market

With nearly half of anime fans in most markets identifying as female, it is high time for the U.S. to catch up. 2021 will be the year that sees streaming services message more aggressively to the one-third of all U.S. anime fans who identify as female. This underserved segment represents a key opportunity for differentiation in the competitive anime streaming landscape.

Family-Friendly Features Finally Come to Anime Streaming

When logging into Amazon Prime or HBO Max, people are greeted by two user pathways— that of the adult audience member or a family-friendly experience.  As adult users, my wife and I can watch the same show on separate profiles at our own pace. But as new parents, we are reassured to know that we can restrict the menu once our little one begins to wield the remote. Anime-only streaming services lag behind in the implementation of these family-friendly features (shout-out to HIDIVE for being ahead of the curve).

Interpret’s research indicates that parents occupy key segments in the anime market, and it seems unlikely that user options will remain undifferentiated as these segments grow. This is especially true now that major streaming players like Funimation and Crunchyroll are no longer competing with each other, but with broader streaming services that have these features by default. An increasingly mainstream anime fandom will expect the user experience on these platforms to mirror that of larger competitors in terms of quality and ease of use—not only for the grownups but for all members of the household.

Less Anime-related M&A in 2021

Hard to believe, but it was only a few years ago that we remarked upon how frustratingly fragmented the anime streaming market was! Not so in 2021. As of last year, Sony has joined the two leading US anime streaming services – Funimation (in 2017 valued at $150m) and Crunchyroll (in 2020 valued at $1.2b) – under one roof, in addition to French Wakanim (in 2015) and Australian Madman Anime (in 2018).  This is all on top of Sony’s own Aniplex.  Safe to say, 2021 will see less M&A activity. 

Sentai (and its streaming platform, HIDIVE) might seem like a likely target for M&A, but the Houston-based anime company seems to value its “independent status [which] which makes it a rarity in North America”. And with recent investments upwards of $30 million from the Cool Japan Fund, it has the means of maintaining this independence for some time even in this highly competitive niche market. 

Sony’s stable of anime streaming services puts them in a position to not only compete with other niche anime licensers, but with streaming heavyweights like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime that also compete for anime licensing rights. 

Familiar Faces Drive Streaming

Reboot and remake-related announcements will continue in 2021. With returns to Bleach and Shaman King already in the pipeline, safe-bets and a pandemic-driven desire for the familiar will further fuel the fires of nostalgia. This retrospective turn promises immediate payoff as well as renewed engagement with the back catalog — no small thing in the anime space. Newly-minted fans may find themselves tumbling down a rabbit hole hundreds of episodes long, translating to hours of engagement. 

In the age of the binge-watcher, a sequel or reboot of the original may prompt fans to seek out a particular streaming service just to see what they’ve missed, reaffirming the appeal of IPs with seasons to spare.

The post Anime & Manga Industry Analysts Share Their 2021 Predictions appeared first on Project Anime.

Project Anime provides some of the latest news in the Japanese pop culture industry during January 2020.

[Anime News Network]

Digital Manga Sales Up 29.5% in Japan in 2019

[Verge]

Netflix has ordered a live-action show based on One Piece, which will add to the current live-action adaptations roster to court manga and anime fans

[Anime News Network]

Funimation will shut down access to its FunimationNow streaming service for users in Australia and New Zealand on March 30

[Business Insider]

Youtube nabs exclusive streaming rights for Activision Blizzard’s Global Esports Competitions

[Publishers Weekly]

Vertical and Kodansha Advanced Media have been consolidated under Kodansha USA Publishing, with Alvin Lu named as the CEO and president

[The Japan Times]

Four NTT group companies and two others to set up Japanese esports firm

[Variety]

Netflix secures international rights to Studio Ghibli animated films

[Anime News Network]

As only the second time in its history that it ran for four days, Comic Market (Comiket) 97 broke its winter and all-time attendance records

[Cord Cutters News]

Thomas Overton (previously VP of Engineering at VentureBeat) joins Crunchyroll as CTO

[The Hollywood Reporter]

Sony’s Funimation Adds Key Hires to Grow Anime Distributor

The post Industry News Roundup – January 2020 appeared first on Project Anime.

Manga revenue growth outpacing the general graphic novel category and print book sales

Santa Ana, Calif. (May 24, 2019) – The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) in conjunction with Nonlinear World is pleased to announce the release of their first white paper on the current state of manga publishing in North America. First presented at Project Anime: Tokyo earlier this year, this marks the first time it has been made widely available.

The paper paints a positive picture for the health of manga publishing in the U.S. and Canada, indicating a market that has grown for the past five years and that is growing at a higher rate than the overall graphic novel category itself, as well as the rate of print book sales.

Highlights include:

• Manga revenue was up 7.24%
• Anime remains the strongest driver of manga success
• Manga represents roughly 25% of the North American graphic novel market
• Viz Media continues to dominate the list, while My Hero Academia is a massive hit

The report was assembled by Dallas Middaugh, a long-time member of the manga publishing industry. He plans to present an updated version at Project Anime: Los Angeles 2019. The networking event to be held July 2 and 3 will feature two programming tracks, one focused on providing guidance and expertise to anime event organizers attending from all parts of the world, and the other on the convergence of Hollywood and anime.

Project Anime: Los Angeles attendees will interact with producers, creators, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and more from across the globe, all committed to the integration of Anime in film and strategies for businesses and events.

Complete the form below to download the white paper:

[contact-form-7]

Project Anime: Los Angeles (July 2-3, 2019)

The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles

404 South Figueroa Street

Los Angeles, CA 90071

About SPJA

SPJA is a non-profit organization dedicated to popularize and educate the American public about Japanese entertainment and pop culture, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. For more information, please visitwww.spja.org.

About Project Anime

Started in 2012, Project Anime began as a single two-day event in Los Angeles. It is now an international brand hosting events around the world. Our mission is to facilitate communication, inspire vision, and promote growth surrounding the Japanese Pop Culture Business and Events Industry. For more information, please visit http://project-anime.org/.

About Nonlinear World

Founded in 2018, Nonlinear World is a pop culture consultancy working with clients in manga, comics, and anime. Owner Dallas Middaugh is the founder (or co-founder) of several manga publishing companies and imprints, including Penguin Random House’s Del Rey Manga, Seven Seas, and Kodansha Comics. Before founding Nonlinear World, Middaugh spent four years at Crunchyroll managing the manga program, overseeing events, and creating and/or executing Crunchyroll Expo, Crunchyroll Movie Night, and the Anime Awards.

###

Media Contacts:

Don Williams                                                          Carol Knight

The Frame Shop                                                  The Frame Shop

don@frameshoppr.com                              carol@frameshoppr.com

760-707-4589                                                          760-450-7475

The post White Paper: State of the U.S. Manga Market 2018 appeared first on Project Anime.