AnimeJapan 2024 Business Report

April 03, 2024

Saudi Arabia on a Roll

I know as a fact that pretty much no overseas cons had a booth for this year's AnimeJapan 2024 despite the fact that it was the first face to face version since 2019. I have asked the Association of Japanese Animators who provided anime concierge services during the event about this and the answer was: "since COVID the event organizers have created online channels with the stakeholders, so they don't plan to come visit during AnimeJapan."

Well, I guess if your rivals are not coming, you can stand out if you come? Saudi Arabia's Manga Productions was there and did the opening session for the business sessions. They are on the offensive. I can see that Saudi Arabia is really serious about its content business strategy and soft power. Saudi Arabia ranked 19th in global soft power and Japan 4th. UAE was 10th, according to the session. Well, the US is the 1st, but I can see that the power balance is shifting. The message was clear: the Middle East is serious about its soft power.

Manga Productions business day booth, with its iconic Grendizer

(they have a 33m metal statue in Saudi Arabia, an icon there with a Guiness record)

Manga Prodution's public day booth

The same Grendizer in Public Day

Well, I just opened this with Saudi Arabia since they seemed to be onto something and was memorable.

BTW, the business day this year was on Monday and Tuesday after the public days and were at a separete venue. So, you didn't have a sneak peak to the public day booths... But we did get a ticket for the public day as well in the business day tickets, so I guess it was ok.

Manwa and Anime

Otherwise, I guess the Solo Levelling session by Aniplex was pretty interesting on Business Day 2. This was the first South Korean manga or Manwa adapted into Japanese animation. The producer's opinions were pretty interesting to hear.

Solo Levelling is one of South Korea's most popular Manwa that is read across the globe. It's popularity is not too high in Japan and its anime too, but globally the producer says the numbers and views are good. I kind of felt the producer was uncertain if the anime is a success due to its reception in Japan. I too am not sure as I am in Japan, so I guess people overseas can show the Japan team if they do appreciate the work:) Crunchyroll numbers are very good, they say. They are also being more flexible with the merchandise overseas since it is not Japan and they believe the locals know better.

They also mentioned having an SNS account per language since it is not effective to have one account announce something in English just once while communicating in Japanese most of the time. I could see how the Japanese company is accumulating knowhow to navigate the global market.

A question regarding the future organizational structure of Aniplex with potentially more global content to come was raised. The producer hesitated to answer at first as it was more of a corporate level decision, but the MC rephrased the question as a desire from the people working at the forefront. The answer was: "the South Korean side has Japanese speaking staff and we don't have issues in communication. However, it would be nice to have someone closeby that can speak Korean." Perhaps there is a future for global talent in the anime industry... !

Adding to the above, Aniplex receives advice from Crunchyroll staff regarding merchandise, etc. for the US market since Crunchyroll knows better about these things. Maybe if you know about the US fandom, that could help you join an anime company in Japan. The Japanese companies are finally globalizing, maybe...!

AI Translation Era...!

Finally, as a translator and interpreter that AI translation, VoicePing used during the business sessions was an eye opener. That technology has made great leaps! Well, I still plan to hang on to my profession, but this technology is going to help people communicate globally for sure. Perhaps you may want to check it out:)

A few pics for y'all!