Despite Its Global Success, Solo Leveling's Anime Studio Suffers Major Loss

A-1 Pictures, the animation studio behind the globally popular series Solo Leveling, has reported a significant financial downturn, posting a net loss of 178 million yen (approximately USD1.2 million) for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2025.

The announcement was made in Japan’s official gazette on June 30, 2025.

The current loss is the studio’s most significant in over a decade and is a stark reversal from the previous fiscal year, which ended in March 2024 with a net profit of 24 million yen.

Historical data reveals a fluctuating financial past for the studio, with its most profitable year being the fiscal year ending in March 2016, which saw a net profit of approximately 350 million yen.

A-1 Studio profit/loss in the past decade

A balance sheet summary released by the company detailed its financial standing. Total assets were listed at 2.69 billion yen, with total liabilities at 2.02 billion yen. The section for retained earnings indicated the current net loss of 178.45 million yen.

A-1 Studio’s losses came as a surprise to many, given the monumental international success of Solo Leveling, which premiered in January 2024.

The series was one of Crunchyroll’s biggest premieres of the winter anime season. At the 2025 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, the series secured multiple wins, including Anime of the Year. On top of that, Solo Leveling Season 2 aired in January 2025 gaining even more popularity. It is also Crunchyroll’s most watched anime of all time.

Naturally, this has sparked discussion among fans online. Many have pointed to the anime industry’s production committee system as a potential reason for the disconnect between a show’s success and a studio’s profit.

In this system, animation studios are often paid a fixed fee to produce a series and may not hold a significant stake in the committee, which reaps the majority of the profits from streaming rights, merchandise, and other licensing.

During the fiscal period, A-1 Pictures was involved in the production of several other anime titles, including NieR:Automata Ver1.1a (2nd Cour), Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, and Too Many Losing Heroines!. The studio also produced a special animation for the video game Goddess of Victory: NIKKE.

A-1 Pictures is a subsidiary of Aniplex, which is owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

Source:Gamebiz