Via The Japan Times: despite the release of megahits such as Aniplex and ufotable’s “Demon Slayer — Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train” and Kyoto Animation’s “Violet Evergarden: The Movie”, the anime production industry fell 1.8% on year in 2020 — the first drop in a decade. Industry sales peaked at JPY 251.1B, compared to JPY 255.7B in 2019.

The outlook for the future is also unsure, as competition from Chinese animation companies is intensifying. Production companies owned and operated by Chinese video streaming platforms such as WeTV and bilibili are luring Japanese talent and leveraging Japanese production studios to train Chinese animators.

Chinese animation quality has been improving in recent years, with hits such as “NeZha”, “The King’s Avatar”, and “Heaven Official’s Blessing”.