This pattern of low quality competitors upping their game and taking over a large chunk of an industry has occurred again and again and difficulties associated with that pattern feel a bit inevitable. The best situation for Japanese producers might be to get smaller and refocus as content creation over large scale production.

There's other areas to innovate as well. Studio Ghibli, the acclaimed studio behind Spirited Away, is collaborating with critically acclaimed video game studio Level 5 on a video game.