Sanrio is also being usurped by smaller, nimbler rivals. The formerly little-known stationery maker San-X has scored two huge hits in Japan with its panda character, Tarepanda, and its bear, Rilakkuma — which has charged up the Character Databank charts, ranking fifth in the latest survey.

而且Sanrio还面对着来自小公司的竞争。San-X之前只是个默默无名的文具生产商，但是最近他们推出的两个新卡通形象大受追捧，这便是趴趴熊（Tarepanda）和轻松小熊（Rilakkuma），其中轻松小熊在CharacterDatabank公布的调查中名列最受欢迎卡通形象第五位。

“The character business is basically a wide-open field,” Hikaru Takayama, chief executive of Fanworks, an animation and character consultancy here, said at a recent convention of the Tokyo Contents Market. “It all comes down to management.”

日本角色设定工作室（Fanworks）是一个制作并提供咨询意见的卡通形象公司，其首席执行官高山光（Hikaru Takayama）在东京Contents Market最近的一次会议上说：“卡通人物市场其实是一个非常开放的领域，它的成功与否归根结底取决于如何管理。”

“Going forward, perhaps smaller companies will be quicker to come out with new ideas,” Mr. Takayama said. “Characters can develop into manga, anime, potentially a big business,” he said, referring to the popular Japanese comic book and animation art forms.

“这样的话，也许小规模的企业能更快的酝酿出新的点子，”高山先生以日本风靡的漫画书和动画产业为例，说，“卡通形象可以通过漫画、动画来塑造，这是一个存在着巨大潜力的市场。”