Anime Sales in Japan - 2011

[something]

Originally Posted by superdry

Am I going crazy or this one of the few times where volume 1 of new shows only the BDs have ranked. I don't remember seeing so many shows (especially 2nd week to get better numbers) not have DVD rank.
That definitely skews overall sales numbers to the lower end unless we can get those low sales numbers.

It's not that uncommon. Anything marked with a [●] in the Vol 1 ranking posts is a dual format release for which we only have one format's data. In some rare cases that's DVD only (like KimiBoku), but usually it's only BD that ranked. Then consider that for a number of shows (4 in summer alone) I've only got both formats listed because the DVDs could be estimated reasonably closely from a >100 list, meaning the DVD numbers were outside the Animation Top 30 or All-Genre Top 100 (the former is usually more comprehensive for anime).

So BDs ranking but DVDs not is common for middle to lower-tier series. Where's it's less common is with series selling over 5k BDs, the most extreme example being Steins;Gate (19,141 v1 BDs, no good DVD estimate available, but likely under 700).

In Summer 2011, 5 of 22 dual format releases only ranked BD, which increases to 9 of 22 if you include those where the DVD number is only an estimate from am >100 DVD list. And since Fall has so many shows with middling to low sales, all coming out the busiest week of the year, it was tailor made to have so many miss out on DVD numbers. If the threshold were, say, 700, probably half these shows without DVD numbers would have gotten them. Shana could be about 1k DVDs (for what that's worth... this was the vol with artbox and mini artbook and this is all it can muster, ugh. It'll be below 2k BDs within a few volumes).

But the most they can be skewed is 1,279, since that was the lowest selling DVD to rank this week. We'll probably get a >100 DVD list at some point.

Are slowly reaching the tipping point where BD sales is where it's at?

Well, Horizon and Fate are BD only. And some other shows might as well have been: Steins is 97% BD, Hanasaku 96% T&B 93%, Ikamusume s1 93%, PingDrum 90%, K-ON!! 88%, Madoka 86%, YuruYuri 86% and that's not including anything that is technically "100%" BD because there's no DVD data ranking, not even reliable estimates. So probably.

But even putting aside fujoshi shows, it's still uneven. For example, why in the world is Dog Days 29% DVD? Working'!! is about 33% DVD. Infinite Stratos was 27%, Hidan no Aria 35%, etc... if those shows all went BD-only, would the quarter-to-a-third of buyers on DVD upgrade formats? How many would just not buy, or buy something else?

[superdry]

Originally Posted by something

It's not that uncommon.

So BDs ranking but DVDs not is common for middle to lower-tier series. Where's it's less common is with series selling over 5k BDs, the most extreme example being Steins;Gate (19,141 v1 BDs, no good DVD estimate available, but likely under 700).

That's why I prefaced my statement with "am I going crazy." If you said, yes, then I would agree. =D I think it the bolding of the V1 sales made me look at it funny glancing at the number. I should have gone back to your older posts of previous v1 sales.

EDIT: I did look at your v1 sales lists of each season for 2011. And, with only one week of sales numbers, Fall 2011 had more show that only had one format rank...then again the previous seasons do have months extra to add to their numbers to possibly rank. So, my statement of seeing more shows only rank in BD is correct, but not a good comparison to make while your statement is the better one.

But the most they can be skewed is 1,279, since that was the lowest selling DVD to rank this week. We'll probably get a >100 DVD list at some point.

Even 800-1000 (maybe even 500?) DVDs makes a middle to low-tier show look a lot better.

[something]

This is a heads up that I'm getting ready to start the 2012 thread. This one is absoluetly massive now (nearly 1.8k posts...) and if I'm going to do it I want to do it in this end-of-year break before Oricon is back in January.

I just finished getting some full-year averages lists together for 2008, 2009 and 2011 that I'll be posting, but I might as well do it in a new thread. This also gives me a chance to organize all the main info posts better.

I'll also repost last week's data (12/19) in the new thread so if there's more discussion on it it can continue there. This thread will stay open and available and be linked in the new one.

The new will be set up one up... um, some time this weekend I guess. Posting here in the meantime is fine.

[Damius]

Well, this is a good time for me to say thank you something for giving us all this valuable information in 2011. 2011 was the first year that I imported from Japan, it was really interesting to see how many units sold for the series that I bought and the series that I loved trough all the year. It's a lot of work for you, thanks to taking so much of your time for sharing this with us. Let's jump to 2012!

[Suzuku]

Hmm, something why aren't you counting iM@S' vol 2 and up sales again? From my understanding the G4U pack can just be seen as a glorified extra for the volume releases. I mean, it's only like $15 more expensive than the standard releases and the only thing buyers can do is take photos of the idols...so I don't think the sales would be too different without the G4U.

[superdry]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Hmm, something why aren't you counting iM@S' vol 2 and up sales again? From my understanding the G4U pack can just be seen as a glorified extra for the volume releases. I mean, it's only like $15 more expensive than the standard releases and the only thing buyers can do is take photos of the idols...so I don't think the sales would be too different without the G4U.

I think something is going to count the G4U bundles, but with an asterisk so at least we know how much it'll sell (then again, neither Media Create nor Oricon track those numbers, but Dengeki can give us at least first week sales numbers).

[something]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Hmm, something why aren't you counting iM@S' vol 2 and up sales again? From my understanding the G4U pack can just be seen as a glorified extra for the volume releases. I mean, it's only like $15 more expensive than the standard releases and the only thing buyers can do is take photos of the idols...so I don't think the sales would be too different without the G4U.

In which post? I just never really got around to deciding how to handle G4U sales. In my own records I have separate listings for Idolmaster BD releases and Game releases just because I'm interested in the information. And in the thread they're being posted under the "Idolmaster Game Sales" subthread as they come out. But I still think that for various reasons, the only thing we can say with confidence is that the sales for Vol. 2 are somewhere between 7,627 and 23,315. Which is quite a range, to say the least.

I think I'll be posting the 2012 thread today, where I'll handle the preliminary 2011 (Fall'10 through Summer'11) sales post by doing two entries for Idolmaster, one without G4U and one with G4U (and heavy disclaimers). As for the 10k+ thread, same thing.

[Suzuku]

Originally Posted by something

In which post?

10k post. I noticed it wasn't up there. Looking forward to the '12 thread.

[something]

The new thread is up: http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showthread.php?t=109291

All discussion can continue there. I think I put together all the most important lists, but feel free to let me know if something else needs to be linked or ported over. I reposted the three most recent weekly lists to that we don't have to jump back to this thread to discus very recent releases.

I will leave this one stuck for a few days, then unstick it.