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 Dentsu Media Palette of Dentsu Media Palette . However, Ge Yangqian , head of animation division at Ge Yangqian , believes China will soon clamp down on Japanese anime.