In the same way the American porn scene is a shadow to the mainstream entertainment industry when it comes to ideas (see: Columbia Pictures’ “The Da Vinci Code” and Hustler Video’s “The Da Vinci Load”), so goes the Japanese animation industry.

Much of the output of illustrated purple-haired hotties, tentacle sex and outrageously-sized bazooms is related to the more acceptable and popular cartoons revolving around giant robots, schoolgirls with magic powers and angst-y teens. Whether it’s Dōjinshi that’s based on mainstream series or pros who pen the X-rated stuff on the side, porn-related anime is joined at the hip with its more acceptable counterparts.

With the rise of anime in popular culture, one would expect all fortunes are rising. However, AltJapan reports that this is not the case. About a quarter of the anime industry works significantly below the poverty line, it’s spread increasingly thin and studios are often losing money.

Scary stuff, and hopefully something the anime industry can turn around.

State of the Anime Industry 2009