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Japan Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Japan can ride the anime wave to become the new soft superpower
In today's rapidly evolving entertainment landscape, Japan is in a unique and privileged position. As global streaming giants battle for market share, Japan has something that can't be manufactured overnight: Decades worth of cultural content that has proven its global appeal. Anime has become Japan's most powerful soft power tool and provides a springboard for further expansion. This is a pivotal moment for "Peak Japan" — a term used by some to signal that the country has passed its prime and by others to indicate its stellar global popularity. Japan possesses the creative foundations to become a dominant player in global streaming content, but this requires coordinated action between government and industry. For a nation that has often struggled to project soft power proportional to its economic might, the streaming revolution offers a rare second chance. It is estimated that a small fraction of Japan's vast manga catalog has been made into animation, allowing room for immediate growth that could establish Japan as an entertainment powerhouse for decades to come. Japanese anime captured $19.8 billion in global revenue in 2023, according to data from the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), which brings together dozens of production companies, and New Zealand firm Parrot Analytics. And this industry that has finally been recognized by the government as one of strategic importance and as an economic multiplier in the recently revised "New Cool Japan Strategy." This success is the fruit of decades of creative development and artistic innovation that has resonated across the world, laying the groundwork for peak cultural awareness of Japan internationally. As Japan considers its position in the global media ecosystem, it needs to acknowledge a fundamental shift: Content is no longer constrained by national borders or language barriers. Streaming platforms have democratized access to entertainment and Japan sits in an enviable position with a vast array of compelling content ready for global consumption. Another consideration is that Generation Z viewers differ fundamentally from previous cohorts. These young consumers don't see foreign-language content as "foreign" but, instead, as compelling stories worth experiencing. As digital natives, they have grown up watching YouTube, Netflix and the like and don't mind subtitles or dubbing. Japanese storytelling, with its distinctive narrative approaches and aesthetics, has found remarkable resonance with international Gen Z audiences. This demographic, which is just now growing into its significant purchasing power, isn't merely consuming Japanese content but embracing it as part of its identity. From anime-inspired fashion to Japanese vocabulary seeping into everyday English, we are witnessing cultural influence that extends far beyond mere entertainment. Famously, American sprinter Noah Lyles celebrated his gold medal in the 100-meter dash at the Paris Olympics last summer by making the "Kamehameha" gesture — an energy-blast attack from "Dragon Ball Z." The world's fastest man on the world's biggest sporting stage used this Japanese cultural symbol to mark his win. Yet while anime leads in Japanese soft-power exports, it should be viewed not as a destination but as a gateway to expand other areas. For example, according to the AJA and Parrot Analytics survey, merchandise sales typically generate three times the revenue of streaming anime itself, representing a significant economic opportunity. Last year, FX's 'Shogun' was one of the world's most popular TV shows, making history as the production with the most Emmy wins in a single year. However, the historical drama set in Momoyama Period (1573-1603) Japan is an American production written by a Brit and filmed mostly in Canada. To fully realize its potential, Japan should be taking the big swings with its own stories and content. It would be wise to study South Korea's Hallyu wave carefully. This involves promoting not just K-dramas but K-pop and South Korean fashion, beauty products and cuisine as well; an approach that offers a blueprint for comprehensive cultural influence. It is no accident that South Korean content has risen to the top of the global entertainment business. This is the result of a thoughtful, well-funded strategy that allows for failures while generating huge successes, such as the film 'Parasite,' the TV series 'Squid Game,' the boy band BTS and girl group Blackpink, to name a few. Japan must position its film, television, music and merchandise for coordinated global distribution, with creative industries aligning around this shared objective instead of operating in separate domains. Partnerships with global streaming platforms represent a key opportunity as these services actively seek international content to differentiate themselves. Japan's production ecosystem, with its established studios and talent pools, offers advantages compared to Western markets struggling with rising production costs. Washington's recent threat that it will slap tariffs on movies coming to the United States from abroad only increases the urgency of a deeper involvement with streamers around the world, including in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Asia-Pacific, with its rapidly expanding middle class and high level of digital adoption, should serve as Japan's primary expansion target. Starting with a regional focus allows for strategies to be refined before broadening horizons to the global stage. Despite all these opportunities, significant challenges remain. Japan must adapt its traditional, domestic market-focused business practices to international standards, particularly when it comes to licensing, release windows and distribution rights. In addition, digital transformation in the Japanese entertainment industry — including embracing big data and using advanced analytics — isn't optional; it is essential. Japanese creators — traditionally underpaid compared to their global counterparts — need to receive fair compensation as their work reaches increasingly international audiences. The traditional production committee model also requires reconsideration: While streamers like to negotiate for global rights, production committees have many stakeholders and may want to divide rights by region. This makes negotiations slower, difficult and less efficient, ultimately pushing streamers to opt for making their own products instead. Investments in technical infrastructure such as subtitling, dubbing and, critically, data analytic capabilities will determine whether Japan controls its destiny or merely supplies content to foreign platforms that capture most of the value. These investments should come from the Japan side, either from government or industry, to ensure a modicum of control. Meanwhile, competition is intensifying. China, South Korea and, increasingly, Southeast Asian players are investing heavily in content production, threatening Japan's current advantage. The No. 1 animated box office success of all time is China's 'Ne Zha 2,' which grossed over $2 billion worldwide. Monetary gains of this scale allow the Chinese entertainment industry to reinvest and adapt its products to achieve even broader appeal. The soft-power game is a big money investment and Japan must be willing to pay to play. The global streaming revolution offers unprecedented opportunities to share stories with the world while building economic strength through cultural exports. The question is whether Japan will seize this moment or watch as others, such as the streaming and digital platforms, capitalize on the foundations it has built by becoming the gatekeepers of our attention. Increased efforts to bring together studios, streaming platforms and government agencies to develop coherent strategies for global expansion will be needed. For a nation at the height of its cultural influence, the time to act is now. Japan shouldn't play a supporting role in its own story. Douglas Montgomery is an entertainment and retail researcher and analyst who splits his time between Los Angeles and Tokyo. He is the founder and CEO of Global Connects Media, a global entertainment and retail consultancy.
Express Tribune
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
One more snorting menace
Praise be, Peppa Pig's parents have welcomed a brand new baby! Is it possible for anyone of sound mind to be able to contain their joy upon getting word of this auspicious occasion? Perhaps not – but let us see if we can carry on amid all this excitement. For those of you who do not keep up with important global current affairs, the announcement of Evie Pig came on May 21, with the proud new 2D animated parents posing before the real-life Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital. As Kate Middleton has exhibited on three separate occasions throughout her parenting career, this particular private maternity wing is the one favoured by the poshest of the posh, so Mummy and Daddy Pig must have climbed up the social ladder in secret when no one was looking. Things are truly looking up for them. Who on earth cares? It transpires that a mystifyingly large number of people care, as was evidenced by the fact that the BBC saw it fit to cover Mummy and Daddy Pig's exciting family update. One anonymous poster on Soul Sisters Pakistan even pondered over what sort of delivery Mummy Pig endured. Of course, there may be some of you out there hazy on just who or what Peppa Pig is. If you are amongst this blissfully unaware crowd, do not tamper with that bliss by peering down this awful rabbit hole. Flee now and never return. The rest of us will at some point have been duped into believing that five-minute segments of this British preschool television show centering on a young family is a reasonable exchange for a quick shower. On the surface, a few minutes of Peppa Pig appears to be a harmless way of washing your hair in peace. Here is a family-friendly show where the children bond with their parents, go to school, make friends, and go to the park. Plot-wise, with sports day races and car keys falling down gutters, it is as edge-of-the-seat stuff as it can be for its demographic of preschoolers. As a survey by entertainment consulting firm Parrot Analytics demonstrates, since debuting on May 31, 2004, Peppa Pig is now the world's fourth most popular children's television series. Ergo, do not be consumed with guilt if you have fallen prey to Peppa's dubious (or rather, non-existent) charms. You are not alone. So far, so normal Like so many animated fictional characters – SpongeBob, Dora, Mickey Mouse – Peppa has remained immune to the march of time. The only hint of any sort of clock in her universe is the arrival of baby Evie. For now, Peppa remains frozen at age four, ostensibly providing comfort for the next generation of frazzled parents of young children, but really only perpetuating her love of muddy puddles and bratty behaviour until someone tapes her mouth shut. If there is one thing people know about Peppa Pig, it is that she and her parents are drawn to muddy puddles like a lioness without breakfast is to a herd of mouth-watering, unassuming impala. They see a puddle, their brains command them to go and jump. The subtext is that yo-yoing in puddles with reckless abandon is the very essence of a happy childhood. Perhaps Mummy Pig is also secretly in cahoots with makers of detergents – except that science has not yet invented a detergent potent enough to eradicate all the mud Peppa encourages those in her orbit to accumulate. It would be somewhat acceptable if Peppa's errant behaviour was limited to dirty laundry, but her problems run far deeper. Unlike SpongeBob, who can inexplicably light a fire underwater, but at least cherishes a noble goal as he eyes the dizzying heights of retail management, Peppa has achieved what very few understand to be possible: she has become more irritating than Dora and Mickey and his cohorts combined. Having witnessed Dora's ruler-cut fringe and nails-on-a-blackboard voice, you may scoff at the prospect of Peppa (or literally anything) outranking her. You could not be more wrong. Does she deserve the hate? Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. This is not just because she is of the porcine orientation and often communicates via the medium of snorting. Although having said that, Reddit forums illuminate the existence of Muslim Pakistani parents grappling with the fear that introducing their children to Peppa Pig will segue into an undying love for pigs. However, these parents can lay those fears to rest: whilst there is no denying that their Peppa-addicted children may develop an affinity for pink snouty farm animals and take to random snorting, they are hardly likely to hanker after a haram bacon sandwich or an equally haram pork pie, which is the real underlying cause for aforementioned fears. At least, not unless Mummy Pig reaches the end of her tether and her parenting takes a very dark turn. Fears of bacon sandwiches aside, a lesson that desi parents very quickly learn is that whatever entertainment surveys show, Peppa should be kept very far away from their precious offspring. Classics such as Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes have come under fire for promoting unrelenting violence, but at least Tom, Jerry, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck used such ludicrous means of revenge (hurling a grand piano as a weapon, using giant U-shaped magnets, and so on) that no human – adult or underage – can hope to emulate, no matter how much they may yearn to. Peppa's sins, on the other hand, are far more achievable for the average child seeking fresh ideas for bad behaviour. She is prone to frequently calling her father 'silly daddy' (a verdict that yields tears of unstoppable mirth from the surrounding adults), bullies her brother George with ruthless tenacity, and has no idea how to offer a sincere apology to any of her friends. She shows no interest in learning manners, and the sanguine Mummy Pig and serene Daddy Pig show even little interest in teaching any. There is no denying that had they been of the desi persuasion favouring outdated parenting methods, Peppa would almost assuredly have been a regular target for an airborne chappal. Sadly, Peppa's parents do not subscribe to chappal-inspired discipline, so it is futile hoping that baby Evie will be any better behaved than her elder sister. Still, for seasoned parents who have thankfully exited the Peppa Pig stage of their lives, news of this new baby kindles a strange form of nostalgia. Today, we may deal with hormonal adolescents (who would rather die than ever admit to their peers that they once craved this mortifying show), but news of Peppa's burgeoning family is a beautiful reminder that those trying days of early childhood are a speck in the rearview mirror. Mummy and Daddy Pig may be stuck in time, but we are not – and for that, we are more grateful than anything else.
The Hindu
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Andor' crosses $300 million in streaming revenue, outpaces ‘Ahsoka' and ‘The Book of Boba Fett'
Andor has brought in more than $300 million in global subscriber revenue for Disney+, according to data released by Parrot Analytics. The Star Wars series has outperformed other recent live-action titles from the franchise, including Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett. The estimate covers the period from Andor's premiere in September 2022 through the end of 2024 and includes anticipated impact from the release of the show's second season, which debuted on April 22. Parrot's report attributes the show's performance to several key factors, including its 12-episode format and weekly release schedule, which helped keep audiences subscribed and engaged over a longer period. Unlike some Star Wars series that experienced early viewership peaks, Andor saw demand increase over time, with its finale drawing the highest level of audience interest. The show also appeals to a slightly older demographic, with 60% of its viewers over the age of 30 — higher than the franchise average of around 50%. Its gender split is similar to the broader Star Wars audience, which unsurprisingly remains over 70% male. Set five years before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Andor follows Cassian Andor's early involvement in the Rebel Alliance. The series has been noted for its focus on political themes and character development, distinguishing it from other entries in the franchise. Despite Andor's strong performance, Disney has been reevaluating its strategy for streaming originals. The company is scaling back investment in high-budget series from major franchises amid ongoing concerns about profitability in the streaming market.
