So, you want to learn how to invest your money in anime and manga and other Japanese companies? Why would you want to? If you live in the US, investing in these companies isn’t as easy as popping onto a stock trading platform and clicking buy. In fact, most publicly traded anime, manga, and Japanese culture companies aren’t available to us in the West. However, you still have options.

This article focuses on investing, which differs from trading. Trading is when you buy shares of a company and sell them shortly after in order to generate profit. Investing involves buying shares of a company so you can benefit over the long-term from that company’s profits and growth. Investing ties up your money for years at a time; whereas trading has money flowing in and out in far shorter intervals.

First, let’s get the disclaimers out of the way. I’m just a random guy who writes on the Internet. Whenever you invest, you have to do your own research and not blindly follow advice or articles from randos like me. Next, you have to remember that with investing you can lose money. You only want to invest the amount of money you can afford to lose. Likewise, the money is tied up for decades if you invest well, so you have to not need the funds. You also want to make sure your holdings are diverse. It’s not wise to only invest in your favorite anime company. I own shares in all the companies I will discuss in this article, and those shares are only a small percentage of my investment portfolio.

With the disclaimers out of the way, why would you want to invest in these companies? Well, if you like the products the companies make, it’s only natural to want to benefit from the sales of those products. Investing in these companies offers another way for you to support them. Putting your money to work for you is nice. You don’t do anything and you make more money! At least, if everything goes well.

If you trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), you don’t have direct access to Japanese companies. However, you can still invest in these companies using American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). An ADR is a certificate issued by a U.S. depositary bank that represents a share of a foreign company’s stock (Hayes, 2023). ADRs allow companies to easily and cheaply list their shares on the NYSE. The bank acts as a third party that buys these shares on the foreign stock exchange. So let’s say you buy shares of Nintendo (NYSE: NTDOY). The bank owns Japanese shares of Nintendo and sells them using dollars. That way you don’t have to hassle with converting dollars to yen and other hijinks. The bank does all that work for you. In the end, ADRs function just as if you bought shares of a Japanese company directly. ADRs can have extra fees, however, for the services the bank does. This fee is listed in the ADR prospectus and typically ranges from 1 to 3 cents per share (Hayes, 2023).

You can find ADRs and other stocks on your favorite investing platforms such as Charles Schwab and Fidelity.

Now as I’ve mentioned, anime and manga companies aren’t listed on NYSE. In fact, many aren’t public companies at all. However, you can still invest in manga and anime and Japanese products indirectly.

Sony (SONY)

Sony owns Crunchyroll and Funimation (Sony, 2021). Purchasing shares of Sony indirectly purchases shares of both Sony’s anime companies in addition to everything else Sony owns and does. Crunchyroll is the largest steaming anime platform. As such, it has a large impact on anime studios. Of course, Sony has an enormous reach in Japan, so investing in Sony offers a broad reach into Japan’s economy. If you want your dollars to have the maximum impact on anime and manga, and the largest benefit, Sony is where you need to look.

Tencent (TCEHY)

Tencent is a Chinese company that created WeChat and has other holdings. However, since 2020, Tencent has also been investing in anime and video games (Vena, 2020). Anime and manga are popular in China, and anime studios offshore some of their tweening to China.

AMC Networks (AMCX)

AMC Networks bought Sentai and its streaming platform HIDIVE in 2022. HIDIVE offers an alternative to Crunchyroll and joins AMC’s entertainment portfolio which includes Acorn TV, Shudder, and other streaming services. Sentai owns the rights to anime such as Akame go Kill, Food Wars, Is it Wrong to Try to Pick up Girls in a Dungeon?, and others (Maas, 2022).

Nintendo (NTDOY)

While not anime or manga related, Nintendo stands as a household name. Nintendo’s Switch and other gaming platforms have long allowed companies to produce anime-and-manga-themed games. Nintendo owns part of the Pokemon Company which produces the anime and the games. So by purchasing Nintendo shares, you are supporting that franchise too.

Other Options

You can also invest in Roku (ROKU) as a way to indirectly support and benefit from anime streaming. Mattel (MAT) produces anime figures, such as Naruto, along with other toys.

Conclusion

I have to reiterate: investing carries risks along with rewards. If you want to invest in anime, manga, and other Japanese culture products, you have to invest indirectly. Sony, AMC, Mattel, and the other companies on this list feature anime and manga as just a sliver of their business.

You may be wondering why VIZ isn’t on the list: it’s not publicly traded. Most manga and anime companies are private companies rather than publicly traded companies.

Investing indirectly into anime, manga, and other Japanese culture offers you the chance to financially benefit from your fandom. Just be certain to consider the risks.

References

Hayes, Adam (2023) Understanding American Depositary Receipts (ADRs): Types, Pricing, Fees, Taxes. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/adr.asp.

Maas, Jennifer (2022) AMC Networks Acquires “Made in Abyss” Distributor Sentai and Anime Streamer HIDIVE. Variety https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/amc-networks-made-in-abyss-anime-sentai-hidive-1235147279/.

Sony Pictures Press Release (2021) Sony’s Funimation Global Group Completes Acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T. https://www.sonypictures.com/corp/press_releases/2021/0809/sonysfunimationglobalgroupcompletesacquisitionofcrunchyrollfromatt.

Vena, Danny (2020) Tencent Believes Investing in Anime and Manga will Boost Its Global Growth. The Motley Fool.https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/06/10/tencent-believes-investing-in-anime-and-manga-will.aspx.