Anime Production Costs Revealed

A new article published by Nikkei Business Publications about the common practice of anime productions being financed by groups of investors on the basis of loans based on copyright profit potential may be of interest to English speaking anime fans primarily because it includes a breakdown of how much it costs to produce anime. According to the article:

An average current anime TV episode has a budget of 10 to 13 million yen ($85,000 – $111,000).

A year-around anime TV series (shows like Inuyasha, One Piece, Detective Conan) that airs through 4 “kuru” (a 13 week TV “season”) costs 500 to 700 million yen ($4.3 – 6 million) to produce.

An average theatrical film may cost 100 to 300 million yen ($850,000 – $2.56 million), but big budget films like Innocence, Steamboy and Studio Ghibli films can have budgets as large as 2 billion yen (as much as 17 million American).

Source: Natsume Goushin Ryu Dojo