Ask John: How Much Anime is Released Annually?

Question:
How many new anime titles air each year in Japan, on television and the big screen?

Answer:
This is partially a difficult question to answer because numerous anime television series run for so long and tend to last for multiple years. The current issue of Animage magazine lists close to 60 different anime TV series currently on air on Japanese television, including long established series like Sazae-san, Chibi Maruko-chan, Anpan-Man and Doraemon. At very rough estimate, at least 75 different brand new anime television series or new named seasons of established series have premiered on Japanese television within the past 11 months. Many of these series are still broadcasting new episodes right now, and many of them were “half season” 10-13 episode long series that have already concluded. Within the same period of time, Metropolis, Pokemon movie 4, Arete-hime, Gensomaden Saiyuki: Requiem, Cowboy Bebop, Sham Neko, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, and the Toei Film Festival triple feature of Digimon Tamers, Doremi, and Kinnikuman short movies have all played in Japanese theaters. WXIII Patlabor and Armitage: Dual Matrix have also premiered in Japanese film festival theatrical screenings, but won’t premier in Japanese wide release until next year. And next month the Tottoko Hamutaro, Inuyasha and “quad-feature” of Sakura Taisen, Slayers Premium, Di-Gi-Charat and Azumanga Daioh movies will hit Japanese theaters. The OAV market is even more difficult to keep track of mainly because the adult anime market releases as many new titles each year as the entire rest of the anime industry combined. So while the Japanese industry may release 100 or more new anime titles each year, each of these titles may have anywhere from one to dozens of episodes, and this doesn’t include home video releases of older series.