- A Charming Tradition: The History of Christmas Markets in the United States - December 7, 2025
- Gear Up: Your Festival Camping Essentials - December 7, 2025
- Festival Survival Guide: Essential Tips - December 7, 2025
When I first started digging into the financial world of anime, I honestly had no idea just how massive these franchises really are. We’re talking about empires that rival Hollywood’s biggest studios, with revenue streams so diverse they make traditional media companies look one-dimensional. These aren’t just cartoons anymore. They’re global phenomena generating staggering amounts of money through channels most people never even consider.
The sheer scale of success these franchises achieve goes far beyond what happens on screen. While fans debate their favorite characters and storylines, behind the scenes lies a sophisticated business machinery that transforms fictional worlds into real-world financial juggernauts. Let’s explore the titans that rule this incredible industry.
The Undisputed Champion: Pokémon’s Overwhelming Dominance
Let’s be real here. The most successful anime franchise of all time is Pokémon, which has earned $105 billion worldwide as of August 2021, though more recent estimates suggest Pokémon is the highest-grossing entertainment media franchise of all time, estimated to have grossed more than $150 billion in lifetime revenue as of 2024. This isn’t just impressive; it’s mind-blowing.
The genius of Pokémon lies in its diversified revenue strategy. This includes over $30 billion grossed from video games and more than $100 billion from licensed merchandise sales. Think about that for a moment – roughly two-thirds of their entire revenue comes from merchandise alone. We’re talking about everything from plush toys to trading cards, clothing, and collectibles.
The sum also brings lifetime Pokémon revenue from merchandising to $91.6 billion, maintaining its position as the highest-grossing media franchise on the planet. The franchise continues to break its own records, with total revenue from licensing for Pokémon Co. is now over $103.6, making it the highest figure for a media franchise in 2024.
The Surprising Runner-Up: Hello Kitty’s Silent Success
Here’s something that might shock you: Hello Kitty racked up sales of $84.5 billion worldwide since its inception in 1974. Yes, you read that correctly. A simple cat character with no mouth has generated more revenue than most countries’ GDP.
While not technically an anime in the traditional sense, Hello Kitty demonstrates the incredible power of character-driven merchandising in Japanese culture. The franchise proves that sometimes the simplest concepts can become the most lucrative when marketed correctly.
The success shows how Japanese companies understood decades ago what Western media is only now realizing: characters and intellectual properties can be worth more than the original content that created them.
The Traditional Powerhouse: Dragon Ball’s Record-Breaking Resurgence
Dragon Ball just had its best year ever, and the numbers are absolutely staggering. The franchise came in first place by a wide margin, raking in 190.6 billion yen from April 2024 to March 2025. Dragon Ball’s 190.6 billion yen in revenue marks the first time a Bandai Namco IP has reached the 190 billion mark in a single year.
In today’s conversion, this number corresponds to approximately $1.3 billion for a single year. What’s driving this incredible performance? The performance is attributed to two new massive titles getting released recently: the new anime series Dragon Ball DAIMA and the new fighting game Dragon Ball: Sparking!
The franchise’s total lifetime earnings are estimated around $22 billion. With estimated earnings of $23 billion, Dragon Ball stands as one of the highest-grossing anime properties worldwide. Revenue comes from a balanced mix of video games, merchandise, movies, and licensing deals across multiple generations of fans.
The Model Kit Monarchy: Gundam’s Manufacturing Empire
It’s no secret that Mobile Suit Gundam became one of the highest-grossing anime in history thanks to toys. That’s not to say that the classic Mobile Suit Gundam anime and its many retellings weren’t successful, but the franchise owed its entire existence to its model kits (aka Gunplas) that continue to outsell everything else it puts out.
The franchise consistently performs at an elite level, with Mobile Suit Gundam, with 153.5 billion, a difference of nearly 40 billion between Bandai Namco’s top two earners in 2025. When it comes to the company’s toys and hobby business specifically, the Gundam series accounted for a sales value of some 60 billion Japanese yen in fiscal 2023, making it the most lucrative IP within that segment.
What makes Gundam special is its unique position in the model-making industry. In 2024, the franchise experienced record sales, making it Gundam’s most successful fiscal year to date. The franchise has built a dedicated hobbyist community that continuously purchases new model kits, creating a sustainable revenue stream that doesn’t rely solely on new anime content.
The Pirate King’s Treasure: One Piece’s Expanding Empire
One Piece continues its incredible growth trajectory with remarkable consistency. For the first time in the series’ history, One Piece reached the 100 billion yen mark at 112.1 billion yen (approximately US$721,893,733). Previously, One Piece achieved 86.3 billion in the 2023 full-year results, marking a 25.8 billion yen increase for 2024.
The franchise’s success comes from multiple revenue streams, with One Piece has over 1,000 chapters in the source material and another 1,000 plus episodes in its TV anime adaptation, not to mention its slew of anime movies, video games, and merchandise. The sheer volume of content creates endless merchandising opportunities.
One Piece, created by Eiichiro Oda, is a significant landmark in the anime industry. Since its debut in the late ’90s, the franchise has grown considerably, including an ongoing anime series, movies, video games, and extensive merchandise. With around $20 billion in revenue and a dedicated fan base, One Piece is a strong contender for the highest-grossing intellectual property.
The Card Game Champion: Yu-Gi-Oh!’s Strategic Success
With estimated earnings of around $20 billion, Yu-Gi-Oh! stands as one of the highest-grossing anime properties worldwide. The franchise’s brilliant strategy was building an entire entertainment ecosystem around a trading card game.
Yu-Gi-Oh! essentially served as a vehicle for the depicted card game, as it still functions as the wider franchise’s most iconic aspect. Along with the likes of Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! is arguably one of the most successful mainstream trading card games.
The beauty of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s model lies in its self-sustaining nature. The anime drives interest in the card game, while the card game’s popularity fuels demand for more anime content. This creates a powerful feedback loop that generates consistent revenue across multiple product categories.
The Childhood Classic: Anpanman’s Hidden Fortune
This might be the most surprising entry on our list. In the second position comes the late 80s kid’s show Anpanman which is one of the most popular anime series among young children in Japan. As per reports, the franchise of Anpanman has earned collective revenue of US$44.9 billion from several means of media sales.
Anpanman’s success demonstrates the incredible value of capturing young audiences. While relatively unknown outside Japan, the franchise has built an incredibly loyal domestic following that spans generations. Parents who grew up with Anpanman introduce it to their children, creating a self-perpetuating cycle of engagement.
The franchise’s revenue comes primarily from merchandise sales, theme park attractions, and licensed products specifically designed for the Japanese domestic market.
The Magical Girl Empire: Sailor Moon’s Global Appeal
Sailor Moon revolutionized the magical girl genre and created a merchandising template that countless franchises still follow today. The series generated substantial revenue through merchandise being the biggest driving force behind its financial success.
It starts with Usaki Tsukino, a young klutzy girl struggling in school, who eventually sees her life drastically changes as she’s granted the ability to turn into a galactic guardian of Earth from an invading monstrous threat. It’s inspired multiple adaptations in the years since, and it remains deeply embedded in the mainstream even 30-plus years after the manga’s debut.
The franchise’s enduring popularity stems from its perfect balance of action, romance, and friendship themes that resonate across different cultures and generations. This universal appeal has made it one of the most successfully exported anime franchises globally.
The Recent Phenomenon: Demon Slayer’s Rapid Rise
Perhaps one of the most impressive entries on this list is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. It’s only brought in $2.8 billion but that’s after the manga debuted in 2016 and the anime in 2019, making the rate of growth one of the fastest we’ve come across.
The franchise’s success was catapulted by Japan’s highest grossing film of all time is the incredibly popular Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, which also finished in first place on the list of the highest grossing films in 2020. This single movie’s success opened floodgates for merchandise sales and international licensing deals.
What makes Demon Slayer remarkable is how quickly it monetized its popularity across multiple revenue streams, proving that modern anime franchises can achieve massive financial success in remarkably short timeframes when they capture the cultural zeitgeist.
The Gaming Giant: Nintendo’s Strategic Partnerships
While not exclusively an anime franchise, Super Mario ($34.6 billion) demonstrates how Japanese companies have mastered the art of cross-media franchising. Nintendo’s approach of licensing their characters for anime adaptations while maintaining control of the core gaming properties has proven incredibly lucrative.
The success of Nintendo properties in anime form shows how gaming and animation can work together to create synergistic revenue opportunities. Characters that start in games can be successfully adapted to animation, which then drives more game sales and merchandise opportunities.
This model has become increasingly important as the lines between gaming and anime continue to blur in the modern entertainment landscape.
The Digital Revolution: Mobile Games Transforming Revenue Models
Modern anime franchises are increasingly dependent on mobile gaming revenue. Pokémon Masters EX earned $52 million – and reached $300 million in lifetime earnings – in the fiscal year, while Pokémon Go generated an estimated $837 million in the same period. Including Pokémon Unite’s $25 million, Café Remix’s $3.9 million, and Quest’s almost $1 million, mobile Pokémon titles earned just shy of $1 billion in those 12 months.
This represents a fundamental shift in how anime franchises generate revenue. Mobile games provide continuous, recurring income streams that can sustain franchises even between major content releases.
The success of mobile adaptations has become so significant that many anime franchises now develop games simultaneously with their animated content, creating integrated entertainment experiences that maximize revenue potential across all platforms.
The financial empires built by these anime franchises represent something truly remarkable in entertainment history. They’ve created sustainable business models that generate revenue across decades, spanning multiple generations of fans while continuously adapting to new technologies and markets. From Pokémon’s overwhelming dominance to Dragon Ball’s recent record-breaking performance, these franchises prove that great storytelling combined with smart business strategy can create lasting financial success.
What surprised you most about these numbers? Drop a comment and let us know which franchise’s revenue shocked you the most!
Besides founding Festivaltopia, Luca is the co founder of trib, an art and fashion collectiv you find on several regional events and online. Also he is part of the management board at HORiZONTE, a group travel provider in Germany.
