Weekly News Digest
産経オンライン英会話 ニュースディスカッション教材
Japan's popular anime industry continues its growing trend.
In 2017, for the first time ever, the anime market broke through the ¥2-trillion mark. Overseas markets have continued to expand along with the global popularity of anime, and video distribution businesses have also enjoyed an extended upswing.
Meanwhile, sales of DVDs and related goods in the domestic market were sluggish, declining for the third straight year.
According to the Anime Industry Report 2018, compiled in December 2018 by the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), a business organization in the anime sector, the size of the anime industry market in 2017 stood at ¥2.1527 trillion JPY. This is an increase of 8% over the previous year and exceeding the previous highest-recorded sales for the fifth consecutive year. These broadly-defined statistics cover a range of related genres, including music and live entertainment.
The market for the animation industry itself — narrowed down to anime production — also achieved a record high in 2017, growing to ¥244.4 billion JPY, up ¥14.8 billion JPY over the previous year. Video distribution reached ¥54 billion JPY, doubling the ¥27.2 billion JPY figure of five years ago.
Overseas sales alone amounted to ¥994.8 billion JPY, a 29.6% increase, making this sector the greatest contributor to the anime market's growth. Compared to 2012 when the market was valued at ¥240.8 billion JPY, the global anime market has more than quadrupled in five years. In addition to the increasing popularity of anime overseas, the spread of video distribution services such as Netflix and the rapid growth of Japanese-invented smartphone games are also contributing factors.
The rise of the Chinese market has been a major factor, tracking the rapid growth in popularity of anime in China. Japanese brands such as Dragon Ball have been highly influential and in recent years some anime have been produced in Japan on commission from China. Hiromichi Masuda, lead editor of anime industry report, said, “Growth in the Chinese market has been tremendous and the ‘binge shopping’ has even included anime.”
Meanwhile, after peaking at ¥1.1579 trillion JPY in 2014, the Japanese domestic market has declined for three years straight. Stagnating sales of DVDs and related goods has been a factor. The possibility of a reversal of the decline has emerged, however, as the overseas market approaches the one trillion-yen mark.
While the Chinese market is one key to expansion of the Japanese anime market, many have raised concerns over the “China risk” — the factor by which business in China can be heavily influenced by the political situation. Beijing is expected to soon introduce new regulations on Japanese anime aimed at protecting China’s domestic industry, causing concern about the impact on the Japanese market.
An industry representative asserted: “For a while, many believed the Chinese market would save Japanese anime. But the risk of becoming dependent on China is too great. We need to work on a strategy for global expansion so in the future Japan will not be resigned to serving as a ‘subcontractor’ for the rapidly growing Chinese market.”
日本のアニメ産業の成長が続いている。平成29年の市場規模は初めて2兆円を突破。世界的なアニメ人気を背景に海外市場が大幅に伸び、動画配信事業も右肩上がりを続ける。一方、国内市場はDVDやグッズ販売などが振るわず、3年連続で下落した。
アニメの業界団体である日本動画協会が今月まとめた「アニメ産業レポート2018」によると、29年のアニメ産業市場は前年比8％増の2兆1527億円で、5年連続で最高額を更新した。この統計は、「音楽」や「ライブエンタテイメント」など関連ジャンルを含めた広義のもの。アニメ制作に絞った狭義の「アニメ業界」の規模も、前年比148億円増の2444億円となり、過去最高を記録した。動画配信は540億円で5年前（272億円）から倍増した。
規模拡大に最も貢献したのは前年比29.6％増の海外分野（9948億円）だ。24年（2408億円）と比べると、5年で4倍以上に跳ね上がった。海外でのアニメ人気の定着に加え、ネットフリックスなど動画配信サービスの普及や、日本発のスマートフォン向けゲームの急成長が要因とみられる。
中国市場の台頭も大きな理由だ。同国でも人気のアニメ市場が急成長。「ドラゴンボール」など日本ブランドの影響力もあり、近年は中国から委託を受け日本で制作されるアニメが出てきた。同レポートの編集統括を務めた増田弘道さんは「中国市場の成長は目覚ましく、アニメでも『爆買い』が行われた」と話している。
一方、国内市場は1兆1579億円で、26年をピークに3年連続で後退。DVDやグッズ販売が伸び悩んだことなどが原因で、1兆円に迫った海外市場との逆転も見えてきた。
市場規模拡大のカギの一つは中国市場だが、政治情勢でビジネスが大きく左右される「チャイナリスク」を危惧する声も多く、業界では、国内産業の保護を理由に近く日本アニメの規制が始まるという見方も広がっている。業界関係者は「一時は『中国市場が日本アニメを救う』といった意見もあったが、やはり中国頼りはリスクが大きすぎる。日本のアニメ産業が将来的に、発展著しい中国の『下請け工場』に甘んじないよう、戦略的に世界展開する必要がある」と語った。