China is driving a boom in Japanese animation sales, thanks to video-streaming services hungry for content, tighter controls on piracy, and fans like Gao Jiaqi. Ms. Gao, a 27-year-old cosmetician in Wenzhou, has watched Japanese animation, or anime, since she was a teenager. She favors classics such as the basketball-themed “Slam Dunk”...
Sales of Japanese animation to foreign countries rose by 79% last year, with China taking up more than half that demand. Animation is not subject to the same regulation as live-action material, fuelling the appetites of China's younger, social media-savvy generation, while shows are released at about the same time in both countries thereby cutting down on piracy, according to Masaki Nishida of Dentsu Media Palette. However, Ge Yangqian, head of animation division at Youku Tudou, believes China will soon clamp down on Japanese anime.