Japan’s animation-related market is estimated to be worth 1 trillion yen, including the production of animated TV shows/movies, sales of video titles, and sales of merchandise featuring animation characters. The Japanese anime market is composed of animated films for cinemas, cartoons for television, videocassettes and DVDs, and branded-character goods.

Pokemon was anime’s first major commercial success outside Japan and the Pokemon TV series is now broadcast in more than 60 countries. Nevertheless, the first feature-Iength 3D animation made in Japan didn’t appear until 1999. Called A.Li.Ce, it was a far cry from the technical sophistication of the following year’s Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Leading Japanese animation production companies include Studio Ghibli, GDH K.K, Toei Animation, Nippon Animation, and Production I.G. Driven by high labour costs in Japan, many of these corporations have been outsourcing anime production to other countries such as China, Taiwan, Philippines and South Korea. Key work such as planning and direction is done in Japan and routine operations such as animating and colouring are often outsourced.

  • More than 250 animation programmes per week are aired on television
  • About 60 per cent of all TV animations viewed around the world are made in Japan
  • About 23 per cent of the total printed material in Japan is comics and about 2200 animated television programmes are produced every year
  • There are more than 440 animation production companies in Japan. 65 per cent of which, are based in Tokyo
Japan

The source: 3D World (text) + Digital Vector (statistics)