Anime Sales in Japan - 2011

[MelancholicMariya]

Originally Posted by something

I only follow TV series.

Whoops! I apologise. Sometimes I forget that.

[something]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Anyway, yeah Dog Days tearing it up. Even when it started to go up on Amazon last week I only thought it would sale about 5k copies total, maybe 6k if it got lucky. Even just Sunday after we saw the daily rankings I still thought it would only hit about 7k, but this is just...wow. How the hell did that happen? It was never a very popular show on the internet, and with it being a late night show I figured that would be an indication it wouldn't sale too much...

The Dog Days girls are actually pretty popular (and plenty cute), from what I can gather. I haven't been following Saimoe but I believe Millhi won her preliminary group. There's also been very consistent chatter about DD in the livedoor sales thread. Not sure if anyone has done an update to the "most threads on 2ch" lists but Dog Days was #6 of Spring back in late May when I last saw one. I'd be curious where it stands now.

Extremely cute (and sexy) girls, just enough fanservice to be titillating without turning off people who dislike full-on ecchi shows, an actually rather likable male lead (shocking!), absolute seiyuu ear sex, generally good animation, Mizuki Nana OP, and a way better plot, both in content and execution, than anyone could have expected at the start, plus a solid ending that deftly manages to feel conclusive while leaving possibilities for a sequel wiiiide open. Put that way it's almost more surprising it didn't come off as one of the season's potential big hits right away.

But all that said, I still rate this as quite possibly the single most surprising 'Expectations I had for the sales a few days before release' vs 'Actual first week sales' differential in all the time I've been following sales, simply because it never ranked all that highly. But it was solid for a good while at the end there. It's the 3k+ DVDs that really put it over the top. I think we focus enough on BDs to miss how important DVDs can be to some series.

[something]

http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/bbs/read.cgi...1293278942/143

Hah, just as I was complaining about the lack of >100 posts...

2011 07/18~07/24 >100 DVD
100　*,822
102　*,812 Nintama Rantarou 18th Series v3
106　*,799 Super Robot Taisen OG The Inspector v2
112　*,*** Crayon Shin-chan 20th Anniversary DVD Memorial Box 1992-1993
113　*,*** Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? v5
119　*,*** Samurai Champloo DVD Box
120　*,*** Hanasaku Iroha v1
124　*,*** Nichijou v2
131　*,650
133　*,644
135　*,*** Inazuma Eleven Tora no Maki v2
136　*,628
142　*,613
143　*,609
149　*,*** Inazuma Eleven Tora no Maki v1
152　*,*** Suite Precure v2
158　*,579
163　*,*** Soukou Kihei Votoms Pailsen Files DVD Box
169　*,*** Inazuma Eleven Tora no Maki v3
174　*,538
181　*,*** Gosick v4
186　*,*** Koukaku Kidoutai Solid State Society Another Dimension
187　*,*** Toriko Kaimaku! Gourmet Adventure!
189　*,510
208　*,*** Baby Princess 2D Paradise v0
215　*,453
230　*,431
253　*,383
269　*,365
285　*,349
290　*,344
274　*,*** Meitantei Conan Part 19 v7
***　*,*** Deadman Wonderland v2
***　*,*** 30-sai no Hokentaiiku v2
***　*,*** Fractale v4
***　*,*** EMOTION the Best Mahou no Princess Minky Momo DVD Box v3
***　*,*** EMOTION the Best Midori no Hibi DVD Box
***　*,*** Element Hunter DVD Box v1

We can estimate:
Zombie v5 - ~750
Hanasaku v1 - ~710
Nichijou v2 - ~690
Gosick v4 - ~525

There are enough guideposts that those should be off by no more than 25-50 at most. Close enough that I'm going to count them in the totals, as I try to do when we can get a reliable estimate within 50 copies or so. Better to be within a couple dozen than to dismiss 500-750 full copies.

Confirmation as well that 30-sai and Deadman were total bombs.

I'll update the main post and all that after work.
Edit: Original post updated.

[Fencedude]

Originally Posted by William K

Mizuki Nana fans pushing up Dog Days sales?

I'd say that Hocchan's fanbase would be more likely to have given it a boost.

[Suzuku]

Originally Posted by something

They pushed the OP single, but usually that doesn't have a direct effect on anime sales. She has only a somewhat minor role in the show too.

The first volume did come with an event ticket to a Dog Days fan/seiyuu event but I don't know if that made a big difference. Guess we'll know with Vol. 2?

Do you know if the ticket can be purchased separately? If so, then I doubt it made that much of a difference.

[Draneor]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Once again, you completely misunderstand what I'm clearly saying. Late night anime are discussed a lot on 2ch and other parts of the internet--> discussion levels on 2ch and internet = early indication of popularity (normally). I know this market, you don't need to school me about how timeslots effect sales, or lack thereof.

You said "and with it being a late night show I figured that would be an indication it wouldn't sale too much." Whatever you meant to say, that statement definitely means you (partially) wrote it off as a potential decent seller because it was a LNA. My point was this is not a relevant factor as most top sellers are, in fact, late night anime. Note I did not take issue with the other part of your reasoning (lack of discussion on the internet). Mainly because I didn't follow it.

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Oh hey look taking my words out of context, seems like a pattern here. When I said "neckbeard otaku" I was referring to people who buy shows only for the cute girls, not people with your tastes or w/e.

This is not out of context. You insulted a group I identify with and reinforced (negative) stereotypes about personal hygiene. If you must comment on the sales of shows you didn't find appealing, I don't think it's too much to ask to leave out such snide comments about its fans.

Originally Posted by Suzuku

I was saying I didn't see how the show would appeal enough to them because from what I watched of it (6 eps) there isn't a lot of fanservice scenes.

Something provided a good explanation, but I think good characters drive sales far more than fanservice. It is difficult to predict precisely which characters will be the most popular beforehand--but execution always helps. The other thing is I wouldn't put Dog Days as attracting the same kind of fans as say Queens Blade. There's obviously some overlap, of course.

Originally Posted by Suzuku

Yeah I get this, you can't explain the popularity of some shows, although I could very easily explain why K-ON is so popular. Those were rhetorical questions and mulling over possibilities. Sure is serious in here.

To say Japanator though? My point was more that it's impossible to explain to someone who hates K-On! in a way that will make them think it doesn't suck. There are, to a point, fundamentally aesthetic philosophical differences. To many Americans, the fact that it sold so well will always be considered strange (if not worse). I'll never understand the appeal of Gundam, for example. Granted, I am a serious person.

Originally Posted by Suzuku

my point is that Amazon is the primary source that most otaku use to buy shows.

Do you have a source for that statement? I have not yet encountered any data concerning the distribution of sales and/or how it is changing.

[something]

Originally Posted by Draneor

My point was this is not a relevant factor as most top sellers are, in fact, late night anime. Note I did not take issue with the other part of your reasoning (lack of discussion on the internet). Mainly because I didn't follow it.

It was a two part point he was making: anime that sells is either more mainstream (i.e. not late-night anime) or is late-night anime that has a lot of internet buzz. Dog Days was a late-night anime without a lot of internet buzz.[*] Therefore, he didn't think it would sell well, let alone this well.

[*] Though as I noted, I do think it was decently discussed, being the 6th most posted about on 2ch as of late May. I'd like to see updated thread counts if possible. But Suzuku's claim was based on his perception that it was a low-key series.

This is not out of context. You insulted a group I identify with and reinforced (negative) stereotypes about personal hygiene. If you must comment on the sales of shows you didn't find appealing, I don't think it's too much to ask to leave out such snide comments about its fans.

Agreed about it being better not to use such words, it feels so... disrespectfully dismissive. On the other hand, Suzuku plans to finish Dog Days and doesn't seem particularly "anti-moe" (or whatever), and has rated some of the shows you and I like highly. I think he just has a blunt way of speaking...

I'm not really interested in taking sides here, I'm just trying to point out that he's probably not intending to be as antagonistic as you interpret him to be, and maybe he could be more careful about some wording too... either way, I just want to minimize arguments like this in this thread.

[something]

Originally Posted by MelancholicMariya

Whoops! I apologise. Sometimes I forget that.

Although to go and contradict myself, what I'm most interested in next week is the K-ON!! Come With Me concert release. It's averaged #23 even with so many huge releases out, which is right on par with the first concert which averaged #22. It's back at #2 again, while the first concert topped off at #6 during release week. I'm guessing we won't get numbers until next Thursday though, since live concerts don't get reported in the preliminary lists. Probably ought to end up 40k by the time it stops ranking.

It would definitely be #1 right now if UC weren't busy being #1 from the moment it was listed, and at every single hourly update since without exception for almost 13 days straight.

[Suzuku]

Originally Posted by something

It was a two part point he was making: anime that sells is either more mainstream (i.e. not late-night anime) or is late-night anime that has a lot of internet buzz. Dog Days was a late-night anime without a lot of internet buzz.[*] Therefore, he didn't think it would sell well, let alone this well.

[*] Though as I noted, I do think it was decently discussed, being the 6th most posted about on 2ch as of late May. I'd like to see updated thread counts if possible. But Suzuku's claim was based on his perception that it was a low-key series.

This.

Agreed about it being better not to use such words, it feels so... disrespectfully dismissive. On the other hand, Suzuku plans to finish Dog Days and doesn't seem particularly "anti-moe" (or whatever), and has rated some of the shows you and I like highly. I think he just has a blunt way of speaking...

I guess I forget where I'm at. I'll be on /a/ for 30 minutes and come post here, so my language sounds harsher than what I intend, I guess. Although, from my perspective it seems pretty obvious that I don't mean people here or anyone who likes those types of shows are creepy landwhales or w/e, especially since I hold a lot of the shows that you (referring to Draneor) probably think I loathe or something in high regard. I think I've expressed my opinion of "moe" and what some consider to be "moe shows" several times already.

Anyway, yeah, the arguments are repetitive and ridiculous so I apologize if I somehow came off as antagonistic.

Originally Posted by something

It would definitely be #1 right now if UC weren't busy being #1 from the moment it was listed, and at every single hourly update since without exception for almost 13 days straight.

I'm kind of thankful for that, this way other anime discs' pre-sale points won't be skewed by sitting at the top for a long time.

[Draneor]

Originally Posted by something

I'm just trying to point out that he's probably not intending to be as antagonistic as you interpret him to be [...] I think he just has a blunt way of speaking...

Suzuku, I apologize if I am interpreting your comments as a bit more antagonistic than they are intended it to be. Part of it may be because I don't change my tone depending on the website (i.e., if I did post on 4chan, I'd still write like I do here).

I still want a source for they claim that Amazon.jp is the primary retailer for anime though. Mainly because I haven't encountered any data whatsoever on where anime is bought, and I'm interested in the topic.