Key points
- Eighteen anime and manga organisations declared that AI operators must obtain rights-holder permission at training and generation stages.
- The statement explicitly criticised Sora 2 for enabling Ghibli-style generation without permission.
- It is Japan's industry-level counterpart to the US union AI positions the repository already holds.
Summary
In October 2025, eighteen anime and manga industry organisations in Japan, led by the Japan Cartoonists Association and the Association of Japanese Animations, issued a joint statement asserting that generative AI operators must obtain rights-holder consent at both the training and generation stages. The statement singled out OpenAI's Sora 2 by name, criticising its capacity to produce Ghibli-style images without permission as an infringement of creative rights. The statement is Japan's most authoritative industry-level position on generative AI to date, and functions as a non-Western counterpart to the US union AI positions already held in the repository.
Related items
- Netflix and WIT Studio: The Dog and the Boy (AI backgrounds)
- General Understanding on AI and Copyright (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan)
- Measures for the Administration of Labelling of AI-Generated and Synthetic Content
Source
Source: Japan Cartoonists Association and Association of Japanese Animations (English coverage: Animation Magazine / Anime News Network) ↗ (Sector Org)
Cite this item
Japan Cartoonists Association and Association of Japanese Animations (English coverage: Animation Magazine / Anime News Network) (2025). ‘Japan anime and manga industry joint statement on generative AI’, Japan Cartoonists Association and Association of Japanese Animations (English coverage: Animation Magazine / Anime News Network). Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/2025/10/aja-reports-record-year-for-japanese-anime-issues-genai-statement/
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