Anime and manga are being increasingly introduced by global companies from McDonald¡¯s to Lego and Gucci to Amtrak to promote their products and convey their corporate messages, banking on the global appeal ¡ª and risk-free nature ¡ª of the Japanese art form.

Amtrak, for one, has an ¡°anime conductor¡± featuring in manga-style safety posters that are displayed in railway stations around the U.S. as well as in manga social media content, which was initially brought about after anime-inspired Amtrak fan art gained traction online.

¡°Anime is known for its world-building and beautiful art style,¡± said Nicolle Lopez, the company¡¯s director of brand social, calling it ¡°the perfect medium¡± for the company to create fictional characters, while including accurate information about the routes, trains and destinations.

¡°Our fans now recognize the characters and are invested in their storyline,¡± Lopez said. For Amtrak, the plan is to continue to grow its Japanese-inspired content.

McDonald¡¯s, meanwhile, released short-form anime-style videos to promote products, as well as redesigned packaging and an ¡°immersive dining experience¡± using projection mapping, while Gucci featured Japanese anime series including Bananya and Doraemon for its clothes and accessories.

Roland Kelts, author of ¡°Japanamerica,¡± said that anime better reached millennial and Gen Z consumers, who were less receptive to traditional celebrity-fronted advertisements. Anime figures were also seen as less fallible than humans.

¡°They¡¯re not going to make political statements, they¡¯re not going to get caught in drug busts, or in the Jeffrey Epstein files. They¡¯re not controversial, and on top of that, they don¡¯t age,¡± he said, adding that anime characters also possessed a ¡°stateless¡± quality, meaning they appealed to audiences in different countries and lacked the need for localization.

Kelts said that while the context of using anime characters matters ¡ª they are unlikely to appear as brand ambassadors for large financial institutions, for example ¡ª their adoption by brands was likely to grow.

Japan¡¯s manga market reached (about $4.7 billion) in 2024, with manga accounting for 44.8% of Japan¡¯s publishing industry. In 2023, anime value surpassed ?3 trillion ($19.36 billion) in total market value, the Association of Japanese Animations said in its latest report.