TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Sony Group Corp. lifted Tuesday its net profit forecast for the year ending next March to 1.05 trillion yen ($6.8 billion) from the earlier estimated 970 billion yen, helped by the popularity of aminated film "Demon Slayer" and strong image sensor demand.

It expects a less severe impact from higher U.S. tariffs on its hardware, such as the PlayStation game consoles and displays, with operating profit now forecast to reach 1.43 trillion yen, up from 1.33 trillion yen estimated in August.

Entertainment has become one of the key business areas for Sony in recent years. The film "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -- Infinity Castle Part 1: Akaza Returns," has become a global hit, contributing to the earnings of Sony. It is set to be released in mainland China soon.

Sony raised the fiscal 2025 revenue outlook to 12 trillion yen, up from the previous estimate of 11.7 trillion yen.

Sony said additional U.S. tariffs are now expected to push down its operating profit by 50 billion yen in the current business year, rather than the 70 billion yen expected earlier.

For the April-September period, Sony said its net profit grew 13.7 percent from a year earlier to 570.45 billion yen on sales of 5.73 trillion yen, up 3.5 percent. Its operating profit jumped 20.4 percent to 768.93 billion yen.

Sony said it enjoyed higher revenues in the six months through September than a year earlier, also due to strong demand for image sensors used in mobile products and digital cameras.

The company said it benefitted from "higher unit prices resulting from larger sensors being used in new products by our major customer," without giving further details.

After U.S. President Donald Trump's administration imposed "reciprocal" tariffs with a baseline duty of 10 percent for nearly all countries in April and threatened additional duties, Sony, which ships products from various production bases, estimated a tariff impact of 100 billion yen on its operating profit as of May.

But Japan managed to negotiate down the "reciprocal" tariff to 15 percent on U.S.-bound Japanese products under a bilateral trade deal with the United States in July, while other countries exporting products to the world's largest economy also clinched deals.