What 2025 Looks Like for Anime Production

The anime industry at the end of 2024 is in an interesting position: global demand is higher than it's ever been, and the production pipeline is more strained than it's been in years. Those two things are not unrelated.

Production volume is up; animator conditions aren't improving fast enough

The number of anime series in production in 2024 was significantly higher than in 2019. More shows means more work distributed across studios that haven't proportionally scaled their workforces. The result — schedule delays, outsourcing to satellite studios, variable episode quality within single series — has been visible to anyone watching seasonal anime attentively.

This isn't a new problem, but it's getting harder to ignore. Several high-profile delays in 2024 were directly attributable to production strain. Whether this gets addressed in 2025 depends partly on streaming platform investment and partly on whether the industry can attract and retain animators more effectively than it currently does.

Streaming deals: what's changed

The Netflix-anime relationship has stabilised after a difficult period. The "Netflix dump" model — releasing all episodes at once — has shifted for several productions toward weekly simulcast, which is a better fit for how anime audiences engage with content. Whether this reflects strategic recalibration or just pragmatic response to criticism depends on who you ask.

Crunchyroll's market position remains dominant for simulcast. The consolidation of Funimation content into Crunchyroll finished with less disruption than expected, though the catalogue gaps were real and annoying.

What this means for viewers

Realistically: more content, more inconsistency, and more occasions where a visibly unfinished episode airs before being corrected on streaming. The Blu-ray correction model persists for precisely this reason. It's not ideal, but it's the current equilibrium. The practical upside is that simultaneous international access has genuinely improved.

2025 announcements so far suggest a strong slate for adaptations of popular manga — sequels, continuations of existing series, and a few originals from studios with track records worth paying attention to. Specific titles and seasonings get covered on our seasonal preview pages.