Anime Sales in Japan - 2010

[Suwako Moriya]

Originally Posted by something

Assuming it plays out like I'm guessing, this might be a fairly successful strategy for other shows. 1. Catchy OP, 2. Bundle with cheap Vol. 1, 3. Make show awesome, 4. Profit!

A strategy that almost worked on me. It really only failed for the obvious reasons. I even considered just getting Working!! Volume 1 for the sake for the OP song and not worrying about the rest. However I ultimately decided against it for now.

[Draneor]

Originally Posted by something

Working!! is still charting. 1,932 more for 27,099 total. Hot damn. Honestly, I don't think we're going to see much of that drop-off between volumes we wondered about. I foresee working easily joining the 20k+ avg club when all is said and done.

Mahiru's a pretty popular character.

[something]

[Update - Link to full DVD100/BD50 list here]

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-5422.html

The usual preliminary DVD numbers before full DVD/BD hits.

Eva 2.22 adds another 38k on DVD alone, heh. BDs are probably at least 50k more.

Guess I was wrong about Working!! not dropping off. I had just assumed it would initially, but as time went on I thought maybe it really would stay over 20k and that it wasn't just the OP and price point driving sales. Doesn't seem likely though: Vol. 2 "only" netted 13,492 first week. Still damn good of course, and I'm sure it'll add a few thousand more in the next two weeks. But yeah, I thought maybe it'd end up around Drrr!! levels.

Nothing else of interest really.

[Draneor]

Originally Posted by something

Guess I was wrong about Working!! not dropping off. I had just assumed it would initially, but as time went on I thought maybe it really would stay over 20k and that it wasn't just the OP and price point driving sales.

Nana did something similar. The first volume was 700 yen for one episode. It sold ~63,200 copies. The second was 3800 yen for three episodes and sold ~11,000 units. The 17th had one episode for 1800 yen; it sold ~1,800 units. Nana is, of course, a more mainstream show so it may not be applicable.

Interestingly enough, using the latest numbers and excluding tax, the first volume of Working!! grossed ¥81,297,000 whereas the second grossed ¥83,652,000 yen. Going by first week sales alone, it would be ¥43,173,000 and ¥83,652,000 respectively. Assuming the second volume continues to sell like the first did and accunting for the expected dropoff between volumes, price may not have been a factor for Working!!'s sales. On the other hand, if the second volume does not sell in the second week at the same (or close to the same) rate as the first volume, perhaps the trick is to release all anime one episode at a time.

The price per episode didn't change regardless.

[something]

Yeah, I remember the fairly hilarious Nana discrepancies between the cheap first and subsequent volumes... heh.

Originally Posted by Draneor

Interestingly enough, using the latest numbers and excluding tax, the first volume of Working!! grossed ¥81,297,000 whereas the second grossed ¥83,652,000 yen.

Well, right, but as you mention the second volume had 2 vs 1 episodes.

Assuming the second volume continues to sell like the first did and accunting for the expected dropoff between volumes, price may not have been a factor for Working!!'s sales.

If you mean you anticipate Vol. 2 getting much closer to 27k than it is now (not sure of that myself), then in that case it's arguable that price wasn't as much of a factor. Although low price (yeah I know it's the same per ep, but most people don't see that when buying) could still have helped hook a lot more people than it would otherwise, and when the show got so popular otaku stuck around for what they intended to be a one volume OP purchase. ::shrug::

But really, I'd say it's the bundled OP that really did it, and I put more of the credit for Vol. 1's numbers to that than the price anyway.

Well, in the long run it's not like Working!! is all that cheap regardless. 3150/ep (thats with tax but whatever) still puts you over $400 ($300 after discounts but before S&H) for a one cour SD/DVD series. Assuming 12 eps anyway.

[Draneor]

Updated sales. Now with BD goodness.

The Kamichu BD box sold 5,000 units. I didn't realize it was that popular.

[something]

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-5468.html

Oh Eva. 718,119 total so far. I wonder how long 2.22 will dominate the list. Surely it's blown through a far, far higher percentage of its lifetime sales in the first couple weeks than 1.x did, what with the massive preorders. Although I expect it won't be dropping down any time soon. I wonder if it's possible for it to pass 1 million? Seems like a stretch, but can't underestimate Eva.

Working!! 1 is up to 28,722 now. Jeeze, it's going to top 30k. We already noted Working!! 2's 13,492 1st week.

Durarara!! 3 is just short of 20k. By 4 copies. Well, in reality it's over it by now but I can't see it staying over 20k across 13 volumes.

Another 206 BDs for Sora no Woto for 4,367 DVD/BD combined. Every bit counts.

The Kamichu BD box sold 5,000 units. I didn't realize it was that popular.

Yeah that's kinda... unexpected. Looks like it averaged high 5k's on the initial release.

[Ingraman]

Originally Posted by Draneor

Updated sales. Now with BD goodness.

The Kamichu BD box sold 5,000 units. I didn't realize it was that popular.

If the comments about the Kamichu! BDs had been positive, I probably would have placed an order. I did buy the R2 DVDs as they were coming out, along with the Geneon R1 release (which probably one of their series that sold pathetically, but I felt that it was a mostly-great show).

[something]

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-5491.html Straight to the full list this time, I guess.

Working!! Vol. 2 adds 2,086 to 15,578. So yeah it'll be a lot, lot less than the nearly 30k Working!! Vol. 1 (29,796) has amassed.

Speaking of 30k, Eva 2.22 adds that much more this week, for 748,131 total (410691/337440 BD/DVD). 1.11 adds another 4.5k.

Kamichu BD box seems to have done its sales in the first week, adding only 187 more to 5,689. Still damn good.

And because it's a slow mid-month week, K-ON! (3 vols) and Bake (4 vols) chart yet again, each adding another 150-160 per vol. Also, it seems like Nadeko has come within a few hundred volumes of Hitagi. Impressive.

Someone seems to have dug up cross-media sales for Totoro (となりのトトロ) for the heck of it:

VHD
**1,410　となりのトトロ(1988)
***,777　となりのトトロ(1989)
LD
*17,242　となりのトトロ(1988)
**6,317　となりのトトロ(1989)
VHS
*11,082　となりのトトロ(1988)
233,984　となりのトトロ(1997)
*79,242　となりのトトロ(1998)
*43,947　となりのトトロ(1999)
*24,790　となりのトトロ(2000)
*29,732　となりのトトロ(2001)
*29,228　となりのトトロ(2002)
*23,784　となりのトトロ(2003)
*14,919　となりのトトロ(2004)
DVD
1,002,456　となりのトトロ

All Media:　1,518,910[/code]

And back in 2001, its first DVD chart ranking...
　　2001/10/8付 DVDTOP50
　　　**2　*72,068　　*72,068　**1　トトロ
...It's been on the list 442 of the weeks since then. I think it's only missed 11 of the ~453.

[Westlo]

So dvd sales are out.

*4, 11,360 *11,360 Angel Beats! vol.1 DVD

And they twittered that AB Bluray sold 15,000 copies on day 1.