image source
Rednote ID: 435630433
Japan had long been the hub for the rise of anime and related pop cultures. According to the AJA’s (Association of Japanese Animations) published data in 2025, the Japanese animation market had increased 2.1 times the size of 2015’s market in 2024.
The anime industry is a global phenomenon, with a recorded market value of 25 billion dollars (Ramachandran). However, shockingly, the most lucrative portion doesn’t come from the anime itself but rather hinges on the production of anime-related goods. According to the Grand View research Anime Market 2026-2033 analysis report, it claims that merchandising accounted for over 31% of the overall revenue of the anime industry in 2025. This would also make it the largest revenue segment for the industry itself. In 2024, overseas engagement occupied over half of the market revenue, evidencing success in international expansion.
Although it may not seem like that the anime industry has been gaining a lot of attention in recent years; its rise is a reality. Throughout mainstream media, anime edits and discussions of plots occur frequently. Perhaps being an anime fan may have been considered niche in the early 2010s; however, by 2026, it is afar from an esoteric term, instead, a widely accepted identity and social label.
Why the rise? (Opinion)
Apart from the indisputable fact that they provide immense emotional fulfillment, I believe that it is also inseparable from the shift in consumer habits. Before and around the 2010s, non- essential products were elite-centred and thus unaffordable for middle-class families （Louis Vuiton, Dior, etc.); they also did not cater to the needs of young audiences, leaving that market overlooked.
Anime merchandise became popular because it caters to the needs of younger audiences (who were left out before), and allows them to have an outlet for their adoration of a character they like. Seeing an exquisite merchandise of a character they know provides emotional fulfillment and makes them feel their connection is being visualized, rather than being limited to the dim, cold screen, where they can merely hear the character’s voices and see their faces in a 2-dimensional way.
Characterization of merchandise
Maybe aside from stating the obvious of how the industry is gaining popularity, and how the merchandise sector is especially prominent. More helpful information is actually which merchandise is fashionable: is the revenue completely contingent on which character/series it’s from, or what sort of merchandise it is？ Although numerous anime series have been around for a period of time, anime merchandise doesn’t seem as strikingly important. Perhaps you may ask, who is even buying those, or why do they buy them at all? To address this question, let’s do a case study.
A Chinese case study:
To understand why merchandise has become such a powerful economic force, China provides an especially revealing case study. As one of the largest overseas markets for anime-related goods, it demonstrates how merchandise has evolved from a niche hobby into a mainstream consumer industry.
The anime merchandise industry in China has grown from being 100 billion yuan in 2020 (approximately 14.7 billion USD) to 270 billion yuan in 2024 (approximately 39.8 billion USD) （baijiahao.com).
Due to this rapid rise, China has also been a large contractor to Japan’s anime industry, making it a suitable subject to study.
Firstly, stores that had sold anime merchandise had become much more prevalent in malls, especially in larger cities. Posters and signs of popular characters are also taking over most of the screens at the front of the malls.
Source
The most popular form of anime merchandise is badges, acrylic stands, and dolls. We see that the people who are most enthralled by this culture are Gen Z and Gen A, the younger generation, with the majority being under the age of 25.
I provided this example/case study since it is hard to imagine how popular anime merchandise has become when the shift is most evident in the other half of the globe, and mere numbers seem so bleak when compared to real-world changes for people who have lived there. Anime merchandise had really gone popular in many Asian countries. As someone who has personally lived there, it was fascinating seeing malls that were once populated by fashion products and antiquated stores being rapidly replaced (especially after the COVID period) with these stores and being smoothly integrated into modern culture.
On the bright side, the rise of this merchandise not only created a new prosperous sector of the economy but also allowed people to socialize and express themselves through Comic Con （an event where people get to cosplay characters they like and interact with others who have the same hobbies). In 2025, around 400-412 comic cons were organized in China, with the largest Comic Con hosting over 30,000 attendees. Clearly demonstrating the activeness of the market and the bonding nature of the event.
In conclusion, I really wanted to share this phenomenon since it is an interesting one that has spread from Japan to many neighboring countries in Asia, even though it may seem inconspicuous to people living in North America. It is funny how the success of a product can be embedded in people’s daily lives so swiftly, gain popularity so fast, and really infiltrate the corners of the stores in malls.
Sources:
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1824465934088728531&wfr=spider&for=pc
Leave a Reply