Join Dylan Teh as he explores Doujin Market 2025 to investigate how the oversaturation of merchandise for big franchises affects the wider community.

Ever felt exhausted after seeing one after another of the same two or three franchises? For attendees of Doujin Market 2025, this has been a worrying trend.

Every year, Doujin Market— better known as Doujima, draws in thousands of pop anime lovers, artists and collectors. It is a vibrant showcase of talent, where creators from all backgrounds come together to showcase their artwork. 

At first glance, it is easy to be blown away and enthralled by the rows of masterfully created fanart for chart-topping video game franchises like Genshin Impact, and hit anime such as Demon Slayer. However, these same few titles seem to oversaturate the market, leaving little to no room for lesser-known works to gain traction.

So, what’s driving this trend? Is it just a love for these better known franchises, or are artists simply following what sells?

The Creative Process

In order to understand what’s happening, we started off by asking two artists who were exhibitors at Doujin Market 2025 how they decide what merchandise to create.

Kisa, an artist who goes by the moniker Shironiji, has been in the business for a decade. She creates merchandise for video games like Guilty Gear and Granblue Fantasy Versus. 

She describes her decision making process as a numbers game, taking into account community sentiments. 

“I have to… think in my head that I can sell to at least ten people before I decide to make merch. And if I cannot think of ten people, then yeah, there’s no point.” 

She also compared the market of Singapore’s anime and manga scene to that of other countries, mentioning how artists are more passion-driven in overseas conventions.

In fact, this disproportionate representation of lesser known franchises that she’s observed was what motivated her in the first place. “That’s my main goal … [in] making fighting game merch. No one else was doing it, so I decided to serve the community myself.” 

In contrast, Billy Yong, an illustrator, began his creative journey by drawing for children’s books, before expanding into anime and manga merchandise in the form of shirts, keychains, and shaker charms. 

“I like it, I draw it. That’s about as deep as it goes.” He said.

While Billy understands that his products don’t cater to the mainstream audience, he claims he’s willing to try anything and everything as a newcomer. 

Is It Even Legal?

An aspect of selling merchandise that the average person might not consider is the legal side of things. After all, fan artists don’t own the intellectual rights to the franchises they make merchandise for. 

Despite this, the culture of creating merchandise for your favourite anime or video game is so ingrained within the community. 

This is where companies who own the franchise establish a set of guidelines surrounding fan works, merchandise, and other types of fan made content. These are commonly referred to as a “fan works policy” or “derivative works guidelines”.

A lenient set of guidelines allows greater freedom for artists to explore their creativity, whereas a strict one might stifle a community’s growth. 

Hoyoverse, the company that owns Genshin Impact, has a very open fan works policy.

According to a post on their official forum, artists do not need to ask the company for permission to sell their merchandise as long as the total amount of copies made to sell does not exceed five hundred. 

However, Sanrio, the company that owns Hello Kitty, has guidelines that do not allow artists to create merchandise. 

Do these policies affect how artists consider what franchises to make merchandise for? 

“Perhaps at a deeper level, but I think most people who do fanart just do it because they love it,” Billy claims. “I love the fact that they are lenient about it… It encourages people to ‘spread the gospel’ of Genshin Impact and by doing so it makes them more popular.”

Kisa thinks so as well. “I would say yes, because it gives the artist more freedom to not think about the rules.” 

However, she points out how these fan works policies are not the be-all and end-all, noting that there are still people selling Hello Kitty merchandise at Doujin Market despite Sanrio’s zero tolerance stance.

While it seems like most artists are not affected by the leniency or strictness of guidelines, having a company acknowledge their anime or video game’s community helps to build goodwill between the company and fans. 

All About Community

At the end of the day, the expansion of big franchises are inevitable, leaving smaller ones in the dust. 

While money will always be a driving factor for artists, passion will still play a significant role. Artists like Kisa and Billy will continue to create merchandise for the anime and video games they love. And as long as they are surrounded by a supportive community that values their work, they feel content. 

“(After) boothing for so long, it’s not so much about my popularity anymore. I just want a homely community to rely on.” Kisa reflects.