Chinese Donghua and Manhua Go Global — 2026-09-24

Top developments

Japanese anime makers go direct to Bilibili as the platform stops buying new Japanese shows

On September 20 at 10am, the official account of "Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun" posted its first video on Bilibili, reaching 66,000 views and over 1,000 comments by the morning of September 21. Local coverage notes this is part of a wider wave of overseas official accounts settling on Bilibili even though the platform has not licensed a single new Japanese series this season, having stopped buying new Japanese anime nearly a year ago. For the donghua slate, this underscores Bilibili's pivot toward domestic (guochuang) originals while remaining a hub where global IP holders court Chinese audiences.

Where to read manhua legally in 2026 — the post-Bilibili-Comics landscape

A guide published within the past five days maps where international readers can read manhua officially after Bilibili Comics shut down, comparing INKR, Comikey, WebComics and Webnovel on free chapters and catalog depth. This matters for manhua platforms: Western access to Chinese comics is increasingly routed through non-Chinese aggregators, signaling an opening for Bilibili's relaunched international app to compete for that readership.

AI manhua-drama tooling pipelines heat up in China

Chinese tech media reported five days ago on a roundup of platforms that convert novels into "AI manhua-drama" (AI漫剧) content, highlighting SenseTime's script-splitting tools as one to watch. The piece stresses script-splitting accuracy and storyboard adaptability as the core bottlenecks for converting back-catalog novels into dynamic-comic video formats. This adaptation pipeline is directly relevant to manhua platforms seeking low-cost content to feed both domestic and overseas distribution.

Crunchyroll donghua spotlight: Super Cube among September binge picks

ComicBook.com's late-September list of best anime to binge on Crunchyroll (published within the last three weeks) features the Chinese title Super Cube, complete with Crunchyroll artwork, evidence that donghua is being slotted into mainstream English-language recommendation cycles alongside Japanese titles.

Local view

Chinese enthusiast outlet SMZDM (什么值得买) frames the fall season through "four accounts to tally" for Bilibili users: with no new Japanese licenses, top previews accumulating 940,000 combined views and not a single "air date confirmed" tag in the bangumi section, fans are being advised to plan memberships carefully. The same outlet reports overseas studios' official accounts are the new arrivals, not new licensed shows.

Context & numbers

• China's animation economy reached 457.3 billion yuan in market size (2022 figures cited in a fact-checked 2026 roundup), with platform ads hitting 30 billion yuan off roughly 500 billion streaming views.
• Chinese animation industry revenue including OTT and video platforms reached 160 billion CNY in 2023, up 25% year-on-year.
• 2023 Chinese animation market size was reported at 31.2 billion yuan (≈$4.3 billion), +12.5% year-on-year; 2022 animation export revenue was $1.8 billion with the U.S. and Japan as key markets.
• 72% of China's Gen Z watch at least one animation episode weekly.

On the radar

• Bilibili's iOS international app rollout, pending following the Android launch of the ID-verification-free global app on September 1 — watch for updates confirming availability.
• The October 2026 season: expect more official international accounts opening Bilibili channels even as Chinese fantasy donghua (e.g., Tencent's dark fantasy "Call Me Lord Eerie Bailiff") continues its 2026 run.
• Guzi (official Chinese anime/game merchandise) commerce from abroad: a guide published one day ago suggests rising overseas demand for official MDZS and TGCF merch, a key monetization leg for donghua IPs going global.