Japanese advertising giant Hakuhodo DY Holdings is betting on artificial intelligence to tackle the anime industry’s mounting labor crisis with a new subsidiary focused on automated animation production.
The new venture, ZETTAI WORKS, plans to streamline the creation of animated advertisements through automation of key processes from storyboarding to finishing work. The unit will receive an initial investment of 84 million yen ($560,000) from Hakuhodo’s venture arm by November.
The move comes as Japan’s anime studios struggle with workforce shortages, driving up costs for advertisers seeking to reach younger audiences through animated content. Traditional anime production remains labor-intensive, limiting its use in advertising campaigns despite growing demand.
Three executives from Hakuhodo’s digital marketing division will lead ZETTAI WORKS, which emerged from an internal venture program started in 2023. The company plans to partner with multiple Japanese animation studios, using their cleared content data to train its automation systems.
Industry observers note potential risks in the business model, warning that aggressive cost-cutting could disrupt the traditional animation market. The venture’s success may hinge on how many studios agree to share their proprietary data for system training.
