A couple of months ago, I started working full time as an anime consultant. It’s simultaneously gone by in the blink of an eye, yet it’s also felt like it’s been much longer. Taking the moment in, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned in my first two months on the job.
- The demand for acquiring licenses for anime properties is bigger than ever. Anime has really broken out internationally these past five years, so it only makes sense that licensees’ demand for products has followed suit. I think there are going to be some real exciting opportunities to bring anime licenses to truly new places you’ve never seen before.
- The demand for investing in and acquiring companies related to anime is bigger than ever. In addition to the obvious plays on companies that create value with anime licenses, I’m seeing interest in companies that play in the broader anime space (e.g. anime mobile games, generative AI, etc.). I fully believe 2024 is going to be the year of anime corp dev.
- New ways are needed for companies doing business with anime to better reach fans. We have this confluence of anime being “bigger than ever” and changing consumer behaviors from the start of the COVID era, so the old playbooks for reaching anime fans have changed. I see some real opportunities for experienced people who understand anime to help companies build or even rebuild their marketing infrastructure.
The trend across these learnings is that anime being bigger than ever is creating this whole other set of unexpected opportunities. And while it really doesn’t feel like it’s just been two months of doing this, it also feels like I was made for this. Let’s keep going!