Anime Sales in Japan - 2010

[something]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I guess where all this leaves us (and I hate to make this sound like another homework assignment, so please don't feel at all obligated -- I feel badly that you went through all that work already! )

This kind of digging into of the sales numbers has basically become one of my main anime-related sub-hobbies (like Vocaloid, Danbooru, seiyuu etc), so no worries, I get off on this shit. Although I'm now realizing I should be waking up for work in three and a half hours.

is the overall question of whether the home media market for anime in Japan has actually shrunk over the last 6 years.

Yeah, this would be a lot harder to determine. And it would be difficult to obtain conclusions any more granular than the occasional "anime market expanded/contracted x% year over year in Japan" news stories that go around 2-3 times a year. I suppose being able to separate out massive non-TV outliers like Eva x.xx or OP: Strong World or even Sumer Wars/Gundam Unicorn would be nice. But tough. And prices really need to be combined with those sales numbers.

My general shoot-from-the-hip impression would be that Blu-Ray has sort of given the JP anime market the cushion it needed to prevent the market from continuing to decline (which is why it has been embraced nearly ubiquitously by the Japanese publishers over the last year or so), but "conventional wisdom" suggests that the overall size of the market pool hasn't changed or expanded.

Probably. There's only so far you can go when legal streams and TV broadcasts look markedly better than your home video release (damn you Durarara!!) so BD provides that extra bit of incentive to own, I think. While there are less shows than a couple years ago, it's still slightly more and somewhat better-selling than 7-10 years ago, so I don't think anime is in any kind of a historical low point either. Higher prices lately (I think? BD seems to have upped the average $/ep but I've only been importing for a little over a year) are probably helping. Well, not helping us but...

Overall I guess I don't have it in me to feel pessimistic about the state of anime. Things have been really good for me as a fan for years now and that hasn't flagged at all.

Besides, they'll probably go fully 3dcgshit and drive me out of the hobby before the whole thing crashes. =P

[something]

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

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6751.html

Preliminary DVD numbers.

Only real thing of note is that Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works DVD did 10,997. I assume BD will be (much) higher. Someone in the thread seems to be predicting that a 99% confidence interval is between 52,683 and 70,537. Based on what, I don't know. Preorder data I guess.

Shana S Vol. 4 DVD did 2,350.

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by something

Only real thing of note is that Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works DVD did 10,997. I assume BD will be (much) higher. Someone in the thread seems to be predicting that a 99% confidence interval is between 52,683 and 70,537. Based on what, I don't know. Preorder data I guess.

We're in that 1%. It sold 44,000 BDs according to this Yunakiti post for about 55,000 DVD+BD.

Also of note is a chart of Blu-Ray sales corresponding to the current ranking on Amazon.

Ranking-Sales-Weeks Ranked-Title
**1 447,747 17 EVANGELION:2.22 YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE. LE BD
*10 ***,*** ** The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Amazon LE BD Steelbook edition 12/18
*11 ***,*** ** Mobile Suit Warrior Gundum Unicorn 2 BD　11/12
*17 *80,667 *5 One Piece Strong World Movie 10th Anniversary LE BD
*19 *44,000 ** Fate/stay night UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS LE BD　09/30
*21 ***,*** ** The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Complete Blu-Ray Box　11/26
*28 *37,155 *8 K-On!! LE BD #1　
*30 *36,059 *7 Tales of Vesperia ~ The First Strike ~ RE BD
*32 *34,030 *5 K-On!! LE BD #2
*35 *31,586 *2 K-On!! LE BD #3
*36 ***,*** ** BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER Blu-ray & DVD set w/BRS Nendroid 12/17　
*38 *27,052 *4 Angel Beats! 1 LE BD
*41 *27,011 *7 K-On! Live Event "Let's Go!" LE BD
*48 ***,*** ** Magical Girl Nanoha The MOVIE 1st LE BD 11/26　
*56 ***,*** ** Kara no Kyoukai BD Box　11/02/02
*60 ***,*** ** K-On!! LE BD #4 10/20
*65 *23,808 *4 Angel Beats! 2 LE BD
*70 *27,409 *8 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind BD
*77 *22,143 *4 Angel Beats!3 LE BD
*85 ***,*** ** K-On!! LE BD #5 11/17 　
*86 ***,*** ** Angel Beats! 4 LE BD　09/22
*93 ***,*** ** Railgun OVA BD 10/29

[something]

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

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6838.html

Preliminary DVD 30.

I guess Basara definitely was the fujoshi title of the season, not Kuroshitsuji. 13,992! Easily passes Strike Witches 2. Has a it of a ranking advantage by being DVD-only but that doesn't come into play yet since Strike Witches did rank on DVD first week. It also easily outsold season one Vol. 1 which did 12,014, and then dropped sharply to 8,835 for Vol. 2 before largely stabilizing. Will season two drop a lot as well? Either way a sequel outselling season one is not very common so it clearly did something right.

Macross Frontier: Itsuwari no Utahime movie did 21,040 DVDs so I assume with BDs it should be well over 50k.

[something]

Originally Posted by something

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6751.html Preliminary DVD numbers.

http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/bbs/read.cgi...1168328827/925

Full numbers (yunakichi will presumably post soon). I hope I can manage to locate that thread again when it hits 1000 and gets restarted...

As mentioned, Fate/Stay Night UBW did 43,621/10,997 for 54,618.

Summer updates:
Kuroshitsuji II added 1,670 and was able to just barely cross the 10k mark to 10,049. That means we have 3 series over 10k this season for Vol. 1.

I didn't think Strike Witches 2 Vol. 1 would chart again for DVD but the threshold was really low this week (750) so it got a bit lucky and squeezed in at 788 more for 3,327, plus the 2,427 BDs it added for 11,965, making 15,292. Guess it's getting up into the range predicted after all, since this is a strong 2nd week BD showing and I expect it'll add at least another 1000 BDs. It also goes ahead of Basara but two weeks vs one isn't fair and I'm guessing Basara will add a few thousand 2nd week DVDs.

Nurarihyon increases to 5,203.

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin added 379 to 2,713 (BD ranking only).

It'll be a few more weeks before we get another Vol. 1 number. Densetsu first, Shiki a week later, and that wraps up summer. Then it's into Fall... where I don't have any good predictions for what will dominate, other than OreImo.

Spring updates:
Angel Beats! Vol. 4 increases to 30,590 in its second week.
K-ON!! charts all three volumes, showing its remarkable staying power just like season one. Vol. 1 is on the charts for the 9th time and is up to 41,485, Vol. 2 is up to 38,237 and Vol. 3 is at 36,794.

OVAs, Boxsets etc:
Shana S final OVA does 2,934/2,350 for 5,284.
Sora no Manimani BD box sells 1,408

Spring Vol. 1 | Summer Vol. 1

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by something

Macross Frontier: Itsuwari no Utahime movie did 21,040 DVDs so I assume with BDs it should be well over 50k.

Sold 152,699 copies but...

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=265890

[something]

Originally Posted by Westlo

Sold 152,699 copies but...
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=265890

Oh, haha, yeah that's not really a fair comparison. It'd be akin to (but not nearly as extreme as) counting BRS' magazine distribution.

I wonder how it would have sold under normal circumstances. Modestly more than F/SN UBW I wager. Maybe 70k combined sales first week?

[gundamseed]

It's not even much of a game .
Still if you can some stuff and sell twice as much why not do it .

[Westlo]

Originally Posted by something

Oh, haha, yeah that's not really a fair comparison. It'd be akin to (but not nearly as extreme as) counting BRS' magazine distribution.

I wonder how it would have sold under normal circumstances. Modestly more than F/SN UBW I wager. Maybe 70k combined sales first week?

I reckon it would've pushed over 100k combined for both formats easily, to go out on a limb I would say 100,000 bluray alone.

Also some quotes from Neogaf

Originally Posted by duckroll

Macross Frontier shows that if you bundle a demo or a throwaway interactive experience into a blu-ray movie which would have sold pretty well on its own, you can increase the sales even more. It also indicates that the otaku fanbase in Japan are well informed enough that it doesn't matter whether you sell the movie in video stores or game stores - they'll know where to buy it.

also

Some comments about sales...

02. / 00. [PS3] Gekijouban Macross F: Itsuwarino Utahime - Hybrid Pack (Bandai Namco) - 152.699 / NEW
Fucking ridiculous. Previous best selling Macross was:
PSX Macross: Digital Mission VF-X - 100.978 (LTD: 255.185)
Back in 1997! Its also not just above PSP games debuts, but also nearly both their LTDs (161k and 149k). Not bad for a macross demo with extra movie

[something]

Originally Posted by something

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6838.html
Preliminary DVD 30.

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6884.html

Full list.

Summer updates:
Thought Strike Witches might grab another 1k tops but it added 569 BDs for 15,861. Very nice at any rate and noticeably above season one.

As previously mentioned, Basara 2 did 13,992 first week. Will probably pass Strike Witches next week, though it might end up being pretty close.

Seitokai Yakuindomo debuts Vol. 5 at 3,839/1,515 for 5,354, so it's staying really strong despite (or because of?) the rapid release pace.

Arakawa is sitting at 1,539/1,303 for 2,842 as of Vol. 4's first week. I have to wonder how Shinbou/Shaft manage to do sequels for low selling shows like this and Arashi. I guess they're clearly funding 2 cour from the start, regardless of sales...

Koihime Musou 3 does 1,252/1,111 for 2,363. Yeah, definitely the last season of Koihime. Sadness!

Just noticed I totally missed the Amagami placeholder in my Summer Vol. 1 list. Added it in, with a 10/20 release date so it'll be in the same list as DenYuuDen

Spring updates:
Angel Beats! Vol. 4 increases to 31,089 in its third week.
K-ON!! charts all three volumes again. Vol. 1 is on the charts for the 10th time and is up to 41,829, Vol. 2 is up to 38,593 and Vol. 3 is at 37,427. And Vols. 1, 2, and 7 of the first season are charting... again. That's the 22nd time for Vol. 1. That is just completely ridiculous. I think there might be ~200 really rabid K-ON! fans out there that rebuy the volumes every week.

OVAs, Movies, Boxsets etc:
F/SN UBW increases by 4,758/2,443 to 61,819.
Gundam UC Vol. 1 should be passing 100k BDs next week.
Katanagatari chugs along at 4,258/2,456 for 6,714 first week Vol. 7, so it's been staying consistent as time goes by.

Spring Vol. 1 | Summer Vol. 1