Home Saudi Royal Family Are Fans of Berserk, Code Geass Anime

Saudi Royal Family Are Fans of Berserk, Code Geass Anime

The fifth International Manga Anime Festival Reiwa Toshima (IMART) event, IMART 2024, was held again this year, bringing together manga and anime industry figures from across the globe. In the keynote speech, made available on YouTube, Japanese broadcaster and panel moderator Hisanori Yoshida spoke about his experience attending Animenia Abu Dhabi in October.

There he spoke to members of the Saudi Arabian royal family and recounted:
It seems that the royal family knows more about Berserk than the average Japanese fan, and when I asked them what other things they like, they kept saying that they like Code Geass. All the works they mentioned have corrupt upper echelons, so I wondered if that was okay.” You can check out it below (16:28):

IMART Keynote Speech panel: Shonen Jump+ editor Shihei Lin, CloverWorks animation producer Yuichi Fukushima, sociologist and journalist Atsuo Nakayama, MANGA General Research Institute chief Ken Kikuchi, and Nippon Broadcasting System announcer Hisanori Yoshida

Animenia Abu Dhabi was attended by voice actors like Kikuko Inoue (Acrobatic Silky in DAN DA DAN), Attack on Titan director Yuichiro Hayashi, and producer Wataru Kawagoe, among many others. The event marks the latest step in Saudi Arabia’s expansion into anime, following co-productions between Manga Productions — a subsidiary of Mohammed bin Salman’s MiSK Foundation — and Japan’s Toei Animation on Future’s Folktales and The Journey (alongside Yokohama Animation Laboratory and ARCH); the former streams on HIDIVE and the latter on Crunchyroll. Manga Productions also helped to produce Grendizer U, which was animated by Gaina and premiered this year.

Saudi Orchestra – Anime Medley at Tokyo Opera City, Japan. Skip to 3:00 for Bink’s Sake (One Piece)

Otherwise, IMART 2024 stacked list of attendees included journalists like Comic Beat’s Deb Aoki, Hajime no Ippo manga creator George Morikawa, Toei Animation producers and staff on Girls Band Cry, Denpa co-founder Ed Chavez, MANGA Plus Editor-in-Chief Shuhei Hosono, Shonen Jump+ editor Shihei Lin (Spy x Family, DAN DA DAN, Chainsaw Man), CloverWorks anime producer Yuichi Fukushima, and many more. The full list of attendees is here.

Overseas Anime and Manga IP Video Market is Estimated at Over $3 Billion

The keynote speech also included acclaimed journalist and sociologist Atsuo Nakayama’s analysis of the overseas video market (streaming, TV, video packages – Blu-ray/DVD, box office) based on anime and manga IP. Using several metrics, he estimated the total revenue generated in 2023 to be 456.1 billion yen or around $3 billion:

  • Streaming: 228.3 billion yen / $1.53 billion
  • TV: 125.8 billion yen / $0.84 billion
  • Video Packages: 51.4 billion yen / $0.34 billion
  • Movie Box Office: 50.6 billion yen / $0.34 billion
Skip to around the 9-minute mark

Estimation basis (English):

The metrics used to calculate the figures. Netflix’s budget was estimated at $17B (as in Billion). Not $178. Silly Google. VP:TV means Video Package to TV ratio.

Source: IMART 2024
© IMART Executive Committee 2020-2024
© Sunrise, Code Geass Project
© Kentaro Miura / Hakusensha, VAP, NTV

You may also like

The comments are temporarily unavailable for maintenance.