Seasonal Japanese anime in Mainland China has ground to a halt while the global anime market hit an all-time high of $25 billion in 2024. In order for Japan to achieve sustained growth for anime as growth in China slows, Japanese companies will need to expand the genre’s influence by building relationships with fans and media from the ground up.Since 2020, China’s interest in Japanese franchises has gradually decreased among younger generations, as overseas content censorship has increased, even before the current spike in political tensions. Six years ago, internet users in China viewed less Japanese anime compared to local…