A-1 Pictures Reports Historic Loss Despite Solo Leveling Success

Tokyo, Japan – The renowned Japanese animation studio A-1 Pictures has reported a staggering financial loss of 178 million yen for the fiscal year 2024–2025. This news comes despite the global success of its flagship anime, Solo Leveling, which has broken streaming records on Crunchyroll.

According to Japan’s Official Gazette, A-1 Pictures, a subsidiary of Aniplex and part of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, experienced its largest financial downturn in a decade. The studio had previously enjoyed steady profits over the past ten years, with only minor losses recorded in 2020.

The latest fiscal year shows a sharp contrast from the previous year, which concluded with a modest profit of 24 million yen. The most profitable year for A-1 Pictures remains 2016, when it achieved a profit of 350 million yen.

Released in 2024, Solo Leveling is based on a bestselling Korean web novel by Chugong. Its stunning animation and compelling storytelling quickly made it a fan favorite, leading it to become the most-viewed anime on Crunchyroll. The popularity was further solidified with Season 2’s Episode 11 surpassing other major titles like One Piece and Demon Slayer in viewer rankings, and even earning multiple top awards at the Anime Awards.

However, despite this overwhelming fanfare and high visibility, A-1 Pictures has not seen a corresponding increase in profit. The studio was also busy managing other projects during this period, including NieR: Automata Ver1.1a, Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!, and a special adaptation of Goddess of Victory: NIKKE. Analysts cite that the simultaneous production of these projects may have stretched the studio’s budget and resources too thin.

The animation industry is under scrutiny as rising production costs and talent expenses become increasingly prevalent. The disparity between A-1 Pictures’ unprecedented anime success and their financial struggles raises questions about the sustainability of modern anime economics. Fans and industry experts alike are left wondering how a studio with such a strong title could suffer significant losses at such a pivotal moment.