By Mark Seavy

Previously a niche category in many territories, anime has grown to become a global pop culture phenomenon. Now, the challenge is determining which of the thousands of available titles is fodder for licensing.

In the same way the film industry relies heavily on evergreen IP for licensing, classic anime titles like Dragon Ball Z and One Piece are now retail staples. But with close to 200 series released annually, the challenge for manufacturers is divining which of those titles launching across theatrical films, TV, and streaming will take hold for licensing.

“Every anime fan is going provide a different answer as far is what is the best IP to go with and pursue from a licensing perspective, so it is really hard to narrow down and determine which one will be right for retailers and their customers,” said Matt Kavet, President of candy tin and energy supplier Boston America, which has licenses for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Bleach, and others. “The category is performing well but the problem is there is so much content out that it is unpredictable.”

And while many companies are scrambling to take advantage of the category, it’s crucial to make sure the IP has a strong tie to the category for which it is licensed. The gory Chainsaw Man was pitched to Boston America for food and beverage licensing, Kavet said, but the company instead developed a tin containing “senzu beans,” a fictional food that is central to the story in Dragon Ball Z.

“It has been a very challenging genre to stay on top of because it is different on a monthly basis as far as what is and is not selling,” an anime licensing executive said. “At some retailers, customers aren’t picking up anime merchandise as much as they used to. It might be because you can now find it at mass retailers, and it has lost some of that cutting edge allure.”

Any concern about oversaturation isn’t stopping companies from continuing to invest in the category, however.

Sony’s Crunchyroll is a well-established anime streaming service with more than 13 million subscribers as of January and Netflix has developed a library of more than 100 titles, including original productions like Aggretsuko and Yasuke. Scholastic Corp., best known for brands like Clifford the Big Red Dog and The Magic School Bus, is releasing Octa Inc.’s manga title Unico: Awakening, the first in a multi-title series.

And earlier this year, anime post-production company MediaOCD acquired AnimEigo, which was among the first anime distributors in the U.S. In buying AnimEigo, MediaOCD inherited nine anime titles, one of which, Bubblegum Crisis, it plans to reissue this fall along with limited-edition apparel that it will source and sell direct to consumers, said MediaOCD CEO Justin Sevakis. The company is also weighing computer accessories, gaming, and home goods for various anime titles.

“The merch will allow us to slowly build word of mouth, and that creates as much awareness for these titles as whatever social media ads you can run,” Sevakis said.

With content that can be in development for three to four years before being released, mounting licensed merchandise programs can be challenging. Additionally, there can be delays tied to the approvals from content creators and production committees in Japan, which are required before licensed merchandise can be released. That means merchandise may not reach the market until six months after anime content is released, compared to products that often hit shelves six to eight weeks in advance of a major film release, for example.

“Many times, with international partners, it is not clear that a show will be streaming anywhere until a couple weeks before it debuts,” Sevakis said. “Sometimes you can’t pursue any merchandise deals when you don’t know what the availability will be like for the content.”

Sevakis argues the approval process need to be sped up because the delays are preventing interesting designs and unique ideas from reaching the market. This is especially important as unique offerings will be necessary to appeal to the growing number of devoted fans looking to signal their love of (and expertise in) anime brands.

“As anime mainstreams, products like figures are not as appealing. We will have apparel that doesn’t act as a giant billboard [as] we are after the secret handshake for recognition,” Sevakis said.