A study by Teikoku Databank has unveiled a concerning shift in the anime industry.
A study released by Japanese financial research company Teikoku Databank has revealed that eight Japan-based anime production companies have either shut down or declared bankruptcy from January to September 2025, the reasons cited being “busy but unprofitable”.
This study has shone a light at the fast decline of the anime industry, even if the medium has enjoyed a boom in global consumption since 2020.
Anime production companies struggle with demand, burnout
Although the production companies in the study were not named, Teikoku Databank revealed that two declared bankruptcy, with debts of over JPY10 million (US$65,127), while the remaining six have suspended operations or have been dissolved.
The closures are expected to still rise within the remaining months of 2025, as it also includes specialised production companies that provide help in production, like CG and other vital animations. Freelancers and small subcontractors may also contribute to the alarming number.
Teikoku Databank posits that the closures may rival that of 2018, which saw 16 production companies go down the drain.
A probable cause that Teikoku Databank cites is Japan’s severe shortage of manpower, leading to a “profitless boom” within the industry. The ratio of anime titles being produced versus the number of workers are incredibly disproportionate to one another, effectively outpacing the capacity of a production studio. Other companies, in response, have turned to outsourcing to overseas studios, which in the face of the depreciating Japanese Yen against the US Dollar, has ballooned the cost of production so much that the companies can do little to keep up.
Furthermore, the current extreme workplace culture of studios, an often-discussed topic when it comes to animation quality, has led to increased mental and physical decline in studio employees and directors, leading to their resignations.
Anime has seen quite a number of successes this year, with Demon Slayer Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man the Movie: Reze Arc breaking global box office records. However, at the face of industry struggles, these achievements only do so much to ease the growing tensions within the professional sphere of the medium.