The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) presented preliminary 2025 figures at TIFFCOM on October 30, and both Screen Daily and Variety report the same headline: the industry crossed the ¥4 trillion mark for the first time, growing a record 15.8% over the previous year.

Screen Daily puts the total at $28.5bn (¥4.491tn), while Variety reports JPY4.45 trillion ($28.2 billion) — a small gap between the two outlets' conversions of the same yen figure.

The broad number covers everything fans spend on anime: TV, film, video, streaming, merchandise, music, live events and overseas licensing. AJA editor-in-chief Hasegawa Masahiro, who presented the data, framed it bluntly: 'Anime has broken through.'

The striking reversal inside the record is where the money comes from. That makes the third consecutive year in which overseas sales have exceeded local sales, with the gap widening each year since 2023.

Variety reports the overseas share climbed to 57.1% from 56.5%, and notes that 2025 broke an old pattern: for years a sluggish home market sat alongside rapid growth abroad, but this time both sides grew strongly. Hasegawa cautioned that exchange rates and global conditions affect the comparison.

Screen Daily reports that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle earned $793m worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time, with Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc ($191m) and Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback ($162m) adding further hits.

Variety adds that anime dominates global TV rankings, claiming 100 of the 300 most-voted series on IMDb, including nine of the top 20, led by Attack on Titan's 726,000 votes.

The narrower studio measure also set a record: Variety reports studio revenue rose 8.4% to JPY505.5bn ($3.2bn), with the overseas share up from 25.5% to 27.9% as more studios hold their own IP.

The stakes are national. Both outlets report the Japanese government targets ¥6 trillion ($38bn) in annual anime export revenue by 2033 — roughly double the current amount — as part of an 'IP360' push for ¥20 trillion in total overseas content sales.

Hasegawa told the panel that anime has succeeded abroad mainly 'as something to watch,' and the next phase is selling merchandise and services to overseas fans, with family anime a key candidate.

Studios surveyed named localization fitted to local language, culture and law, plus anti-piracy work, as growth priorities, per Variety.

Production I.G says it is cultivating audiences in Saudi Arabia and India, and a new industry-voted anime awards will launch in 2027, with details promised at Tokyo Anime Next on November 2.