The hidden price of anime

From the relatively recent box office hit “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba” to the recent final episode of Jujutsu Kaisen season three, one globally established characteristic of modern anime is how jaw-dropping the animation quality of anime has become. From the fluid motion of Demon Slayer's blade work to the explosive creativity of One Piece’s Gear Five’s punches. Surely, to have such a thing should cost a fortune, and yet it doesn’t.

How is it so? Compared to the costs acquired by Western counterparts on their animation projects, the disparity seems absurd. This is one of the most interesting, problematic, and layered economic divides in entertainment.

The numbers

Upon a simple glance of the numbers, it is apparent that there is a significant gap between Western animations and Eastern. A single episode of One Piece, Toei Animation’s flagship series, costs between $85,000 and $95,000 USD (Kohil, 2024). Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba, a rather recent anime movie offering, touted by many as being one of the most visually stunning anime of the past decade, had a budget of $80,000 USD (Damiani, 2022). Such prices wouldn’t even compare to what Western companies would spend on craft services, let alone a whole budget.

Now to look to the West. Amazon Prime’s critically acclaimed adult hit superhero animation show "Invincible" costs approximately $750,000 USD per episode (Frew, 2023). A figure that industry insiders consider to be on the lower side; some would even term it as 'underfunded'. This belief is bolstered when considering that Amazon spends an estimated 20 times more per episode on its live-action series “The Boys”. While other industry players such as Netflix spend roughly $14 million USD per episode (Adam, 2025) for their animated “Arcane” series.

Why does it seem that Japanese studios can do just as much or more whilst spending significantly less? What does this gap say?

The secret power unit: labour

There isn’t some magic spell utilised by studios in the east; the answer is simpler and somewhat more uncomfortable. The labour costs for Japanese anime studios are lower, built on a workforce fuelled by passionate and underpaid animators.

The average “genga” (key animator) in Japan earned around $36,000 USD per year, with lesser animators earning even less (Seibold, 2022). Low salaries, in addition to reports that the animators are routinely working far beyond 40 hours a week, despite there being strict overtime laws established by the government. Enables studios to produce high-quality outputs at a significantly higher rate as well.

When compared to the West, the average animator in America earns around $65,000 to $75,000 USD per year, working under union protections such as SAG-AFTRA and the Animation Guild. Associations which fight to ensure that minimum wages, health benefits, safe working environments, and overtime pay are provided. These added layers make it harder for studios to take advantage of workers, displaying the dichotomy between the two industries, as their Japanese animator counterpart is likely to be making roughly $10,000 USD the same year (Quingley, 2025), working in more hazardous conditions, and receiving fewer benefits.

Streaming influences

One is probable to believe that with the introduction of streaming giants into the industry, such as Netflix and Crunchyroll, there would be a change in the equation that was previously ruled by television networks, who would profit from anime manga writers under-selling the rights to their stories and characters, with aims to recoup losses through merchandise deals. In some ways, there have been changes. One fifth of all late-night anime productions airing in Japan between 2022 and 2023 received significant funding from Crunchyroll (Handaja, 2024), owned by Sony, a dramatic increase in investment in anime from previous years.

However, the extent to which these increases in money circulating within the industry trickle down to the individuals animating the frames is a different question entirely. The Association of Japanese Animations has previously come out and singled out streaming service Netflix for paying only flat licensing fees, excluding royalties or performance bonuses (Nwaenie, 2025), regardless of how well the show performs.

Does budget translate into better animation?

Here is the question that should act as a point of reflection for every fan: Does a budget even buy better animation?

The answer isn’t necessarily so simple. Demon Slayer, with costs around $80,000 USD per episode to make, is from an animation standpoint superior to many Western shows with budgets far exceeding its own. Invincible, despite costing around $750,000 USD, has been criticised for inconsistent animation quality with each instalment.

Big western budgets can buy time and team size and ensure talent is retained. It cannot purchase the culture of craft that has driven Eastern, specifically Japanese, animation studios for decades. A culture, whether for good or worse, has been built on the willingness of gifted people to sacrifice enormously for their art.

The economics behind anime are a miracle and a scandal in equal measure. The next time you find yourself admiring the sheer brilliance of an animated fight sequence, it’s worth asking, 'At what cost did that beauty come?'