The anime and manga industry 2016 in numbers

My quest to prove that anime is not dead continues.

Claiming anime is dead is easy click bait material. The only argument, without citation and based on assumption, those bold claimers look at, is the decline in DVD-sales. DVD-sales have been in decline for years. Anime BD and DVD sales have declined 6.9% since 2014 at the beginning of 2016. Welcome to the digital age, I’m glad you could make it so far. Time to break down 2016. For those interested in 2015, you can read this post as well. Note that we’re looking at the fiscal year, which differs from the regular calendar, unless stated otherwise.

2016 was very notable for revenue, especially franchises such as Kimi no na Wa that broke record after record. Kimi no na Wa generated over 200 million dollars in revenue. That’s a very impressive figure and proving that there is still a major audience for anime. In China it has even become the most popular 2D movie of all time.

The One Piece Gold movie earned 10 million USD in 3 days in China alone. The movie earned 46 million USD at the Japanese Box Office. The movie “In this corner of the world” earned 1 billion yen after eight weeks, since its launch on the twelfth of November. As of 27 December, the movie sold over 600000 tickets.

In the chart below we see the estimated raw yen revenue of anime franchises. The period spans December 20, 2015 to December 11, 2016, which is the fiscal year in Japan.

We see Love Live above all, with an estimated sales revenue of above 8 billion yen. 8 billion yen being approx. 68 million USD. It’s not blockbuster money, but it’s a healthy revenue.

Manga sales 2016

Manga seems to be quite steady again. The period in the chart below spans November 23, 2015 to November 20, 2016. I highlight different media, since a franchise spans over multiple channels and solely focusing on physical disc sales doesn’t give a complete picture. Revenue streams come from different places, determining whether a franchise as a whole is profitable or not.

It baffles me how popular One Piece remains, selling over 12 million copies, followed by Assassination Classroom over 6 million copies and Kingdom with also selling over 6 million copies. Although admittedly once a series or any other product reaches its tipping point, it’ll keep growing in popularity.

Light Novel Sales 2016

Light Novel sell less, but that does not mean they are under performers. The numbers are still huge and some even passing 1 million copies. In the below chart we see Light Novel sales spanning the period November 23, 2015 to November 20, 2016.

Your name is really peaking the charts everywhere. It wouldn’t surprise me that sales got a strong boost due to the theatrical release of the movie. Other notable series are Re:zero, who was very well received, KonoSuba and Sword Art Online is still going strong.