There are two things on the rise in the world in 2025:
Uncertainty.
Despite the recent news, let's block out the stench of Elon away from anime.
As a culture watcher, two things interest me about anime: the why behind it's global rage today and the ecosystem it has spawned.
It's been good to catch-up with old friends, do some deep work with clients and generally savor the feast that is Tokyo. I practice reading everything I see on the trains (that's not in kanji) and my ears are opening up a lot more to Japanese in my meetings. With the right context, I can gather 10-20% of what's being said. To all interpreters and translators out there - you're my heroes and champions. And no, AI (I've tried all of them) is nowhere close to replacing them. The real treat comes in the evenings when we're unwinding - we can access the latest and greatest in anime across streaming services without futzing with VPNs. I'm working my way through Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. Yes, that's six 'u's. Behind the creative team is Hideaki Anno, the director of the legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion. I, for one, am glad he's back.
Yes, it's about giant robots. But, it's not really about giant robots. One of the reasons I think it has appealed to audiences is that it feels like a series for our time: what does it mean when adults who start wars intersect with kids who have to suffer through it?
This "of the times"-liness is what explains the rise of Anime.
While Crunchyroll represents the core of this subculture with an impressive 17M subscribers, we can all thank Netflix for the unprecedented reach it has afforded anime. More than 50 percent of its members now watch anime. That's like...150 Million!
But why?
Why are so many of us into this genre? And why are more people joining the club?
Anime has always had a subculture that was devoted to it, but the pandemic shifted it into the global consciousness. When Demon Slayer, a well loved series, released it's first movie in late 2020 it went on to become the highest grossing movie in the Japan's history! Think about the timing - millions of people braved the pandemic to go watch this movie. We're not in "casual fan" territory anymore.
The pandemic was a boost for any and all screen based entertainment so anime was just one of the boats on this rising tide. But it was also different from the last, and seems like it was stickier too. No other form of entertainment afforded people this level of escape: visually, conceptually and emotionally.
Japanese society is one where overt show of emotions is self-censored. So Japanese pop-culture evolved to absorb and express all these unreleased emotions as a proxy. During the pandemic, where we were starved for other human expression - from stunted zoom calls to lockdowns to masks everything - anime was here to fill the void, and leave us ravenous for more. Anime is life with the saturation dial set to a 100.
Isekai is a sub-genre of anime where a protagonist is usually transported to or reincarnated in a different, unfamiliar world. To most people, anime itself is a form of Isekai. Untethered by conventional storytelling.
The burden of the ecosystem
Anime doesn't exist in isolation. There's the manga industry that feeds a lot of its storylines, there's gaming industry that expands the lore and there's even music. To truly understand how deeply this industry is embedding itself into the global psyche, you should look at YouTube's latest Culture & Trends report:
Anime’s popularity has grown globally as creators and fans have connected over it. [YouTube] has played a key role in elevating anime music in particular. Eight anime songs have charted globally, six of which reached the top 40 on YouTube’s Global Top Songs chart, with two reaching the No. 1 spot.
Exhibit A: Creepy Nuts. Yes, what a great brand name! We discovered them through two incredible anime opening credits in the last year. And now we're on our way to Fuji Rock Festival to see them live.
The core engine that keeps this industry chugging are a few thousand odd individuals: animators, directors, production peeps. The cruelty of it all is that this anime boom hasn't turned into these people having a better life than before - it's that the pressure on them is higher than ever. Some estimates put the animator gap at around 30,000. We have ~5000 people doing the work of 35000 people. Incredible pressure. Ridiculous deadlines. Unsustainable work culture.
Things have gotten so bad that the UN has had to step in. Yes, THAT United Nations!
The anime industry, despite recent unprecedented growth across the board thanks to worldwide fans diving further into the medium, is still struggling with some major issues. While more money than ever is rolling in, conditions for animators and those responsible for some of your favorite anime series continue to deteriorate. While some conditions have been made better by certain studios, the problem has grown so severe that even the United Nations is warning of a potential “collapse” of the anime industry. In a new report, the U.N. shared what is currently taking place and the best way that studios can prevent the medium from imploding in the future.
Kadokawa, a major Japanese publisher and owner of many famous animation studios, is looking to raise the production value of anime. They want the revenue to trickle down to actual animation staff, with the goal of “making all their animators able to afford a Benz.” It feels like a casual remark but I think it is exactly the right ambition to have. We've seen this play out before - a global glut for coffee hasn't made the lives of coffee farmers better, and matcha farms are running dry.
Remember the silly episode of social media hysterics with OpenAI and Studio Ghibli? While I found most of the debate around it rather dull, what it did point to was the inevitable commodification of anime. Exactly like what happened to coffee. Commodities depend on their production staying cheap, and producers being exploited. It even has an economic theory associated with it: Dependance Theory.
We need more people doing what Kadokawa is merely wishing. Our insatiable hunger for nice things at the expense of others is exactly why can't have nice things.
Finds for this week that go deeper on this
1 Longer anime is becoming more difficult
"Because anime's popularity has risen to such a degree, budgets have become far bigger than they ever were. And along with higher budgets comes an expectation of a higher quality product. Though the flashy and incredibly animated shows that have been released in recent years are a sign of growth in the industry, they simply cannot work over a two-cour length. The strain that would be put on those producing the anime would be far too great, and shows would take far too long to release if a staff went about working on them in a healthy way."
"It’s always fun when an ancient, stuffy, and controversial organization realizes they are losing touch with the youth and desperately scrambles to appeal to kids who have zero interest in it....Luce, pronounced “loo-chay,” means “light” in Italian. She symbolizes hope and faith. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the chief organizer for the jubilee, hopes Luce will help spread the evangelical message of hope to kids raised on Dragon Ball Z. "
Oshikatsu — a Japanese word meaning to vigorously support someone or something, whether by cheering them on or buying goods to help support them — has become big business domestically and abroad. This way of showing enthusiasm has long been a staple of the music idol and anime realm, but a growing number of people came around to this eager fandom during the pandemic, with a 2020 Cross Marketing survey finding that 40% of respondents in their 20s discovered a new idol during COVID-19. In Japan, it’s become such an economic force that politicians and economists are keeping an eye on it.
China's market for 2D character fandom has doubled in five years and spans an estimated 500 million people, with the growth fueled by intellectual property imported from Japan and created at home...China's "2D market" hit 597.7 billion yuan ($83.3 billion) in 2024, according to Shanghai-based iResearch, which is roughly double the 2019 scale. The market is expected to expand to 834.4 billion yuan by 2029.
The terms may sound like Gen Z slang, but the culture behind them has become a billion-dollar force in China — one centered around guzi, a fandom term adapted from the English “goods” and shaped by Japanese fan culture....Last year alone, China’s guzi economy was worth 168.9 billion yuan ($23.5 billion). By 2029, it’s projected to nearly double, a scale reshaping how China consumes. Shopping malls are retooling around character merchandise and immersive fan experiences to build loyalty and draw foot traffic. Pop-ups, specialty stores, and anime-themed events now fill spaces once dominated by fast fashion and food courts.
I wish I could watch these for the first time again
These are our recommendations for you:
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- JoJo's Bizzarre Adventures
- Apothecary Diaries
- Kaiju No. 8
- DanDaDan