Anime Sales in Japan - 2011

[Suzuku]

Originally Posted by Westlo

Hmmm at this current rate Horizon, Hagani and Guilty Crown aren't going to outsell Working 2 and Persona 4 is top dog for some reason.. fans will be fans...

Safe to say that's the top 5 for the season. 3 Aniplex, 1 Bandai, 1 MediaFactory,

Well the fact that Guilty Crown, Haganai, and Horizon all have a later release date than P4 and Working, therefore more people are buying them faster. That said, P4 will still be the top dog.

[MelancholicMariya]

Quick question, I feel like this is a better time than any to ask this, but has any BD-Box been in the Top 20 of Amazon Japan sales rankings as long as Bakemonogatari has?

I've only recently been following sales of series sales and within this time I've never really saw any huge series' BD-Box or followed it as closely as this one before.

The only big named BD-Box I remember is Clannad After Story and that was at the top for a little while, I think it dropped down from the 20's and it came back up as soon as it was released/orders were being shipped.

Any info?

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by MelancholicMariya

Quick question, I feel like this is a better time than any to ask this, but has any BD-Box been in the Top 20 of Amazon Japan sales rankings as long as Bakemonogatari has?

I've only recently been following sales of series sales and within this time I've never really saw any huge series' BD-Box or followed it as closely as this one before.

The only big named BD-Box I remember is Clannad After Story and that was at the top for a little while, I think it dropped down from the 20's and it came back up as soon as it was released/orders were being shipped.

Any info?

The answer to that is simple once you look at the overall sales for BD-Boxes. Haruhi's TV BD-Box didn't drop out of the top 20 for nearly a full month (a few hours short) after solicitation. Bakemonogatari dropped out after 17 days, but has come back like Haruhi did.

[MelancholicMariya]

Originally Posted by ultimatemegax

The answer to that is simple once you look at the overall sales for BD-Boxes. Haruhi's TV BD-Box didn't drop out of the top 20 for nearly a full month (a few hours short) after solicitation. Bakemonogatari dropped out after 17 days, but has come back like Haruhi did.

I figured Haruhi's BD-Box did something similar, I was just wondering if Bakemonogatari is doing something which no other BD-Box has really done as I have very little situations to actually compare this to.

I've noticed Bakemonogatari dropping off and on because of stuff like Transformers 3 and several musicians live tours and such, but it, and Persona 4 actually, keep pushing on. It's kind of crazy to see.

[Damius]

Well, I usually start a new anime season 1 month after it airs in Japan. But, recently I did buy for the first time a series (Hanasaku Iroha) without subs from Japan. So, to be sure to get the First Press edition of a series I do prefer to pre-order it. So, knowning that normally BD comes out 2-3 months after the initial airing, I thought there would not be any problem. But I did realize that WORKING'!! first BD comes out 1 month after the initial airing. It seems to be unusual, but does that happen often or not? Because it it does, I would have to rethink about when I start watching a new season. Thanks

[something]

Originally Posted by Damius

But I did realize that WORKING'!! first BD comes out 1 month after the initial airing. It seems to be unusual, but does that happen often or not? Because it it does, I would have to rethink about when I start watching a new season. Thanks

It's not the norm. Working!! season one did the same thing, as this season: pre-air first ep a month early, release discounted first volume early with that episode.

And yeah, I usually don't make import decisions all that early, but I should have put Working'!! v1 in the order I just placed... damnit. Wasn't thinking about that,.

[ndm]

Originally Posted by Damius

So, knowning that normally BD comes out 2-3 months after the initial airing, I thought there would not be any problem. But I did realize that WORKING'!! first BD comes out 1 month after the initial airing.

Not only that, but the second volume comes out just three weeks later. Working'!! is really being fasttracked.

[Suzuku]

I wonder if the price of Fate/Zero's BD-Box (39,000 yen) is effecting the sales of some other shows this season? I was expecting both Haganai and Guity Crown to be doing much better than they are (granted, both have been somewhat disappointing ).

[something]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

I wonder if the price of Fate/Zero's BD-Box (39,000 yen) is effecting the sales of some other shows this season? I was expecting both Haganai and Guity Crown to be doing much better than they are

Fate/Zero's price isn't fully confirmed yet, and even the (likely correct) rumor is only two days old so I'm not sure it's really having any more effect than the show would have as a normal release.

But I personally don't put too much stock in the "one super popular show drastically depresses sales of all others" effect. I think the simple fact that competition is at least as fierce as Spring if not fiercer is more significant. I could go all the way up to 6 imports this season and still have to pass up on some top tier stuff, the way things are looking right now...

Still lots of time for both though.

(granted, both have been somewhat disappointing ).

I don't plan to continue Guilty Crown past ep 2, but I wasn't super excited for it either so I don't know if I'd say I'm disappointed per se. Haganai however has been phenomenal. I expected it wouldn't make my import list with so much else this season, but right now it's on the top, although sequels (Shana and Working in particular) do get some incumbent advantage.

Anyway, current BD list for anyone wondering:
***,*13位 ★ (*27,422 pt) [*,851予約] 2011年11月23日 Persona 4
***,*16位 ★ (**8,934 pt) [*,155予約] 2011年11月02日 Working'!!
***,*20位 ★ (**4,340 pt) [*,131予約] 2011年12月22日 Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
***,*96位 ★ (**4,036 pt) [*,*21予約] 2012年01月13日 Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
***,119位 ★ (***,527 pt) [*,**3予約] 2012年01月25日 Guilty Crown
***,153位 ★ (**1,234 pt) [*,*28予約] 2011年11月25日 Maji de Koi ni Shinasai!!
***,167位 ★ (**1,524 pt) [*,**8予約] 2011年12月21日 Tamayura ~hitotose~
***,226位 ★ (***,328 pt) [*,*43予約] 2011年12月22日 Mirai Nikki
***,235位 ★ (***,*35 pt) [*,*13予約] 2012年01月25日 Last Exile Ginyoku no Fam
***,296位 ★ (***,849 pt) [*,**5予約] 2011年12月22日 Shakugan no Shana III
***,303位 ★ (**1,289 pt) [*,**5予約] 2011年12月22日 Maken-ki!
***,317位 ★ (**1,591 pt) [*,111予約] 2011年12月21日 Shinryaku!? Ikamusume
***,377位 ★ (***,333 pt) [*,**3予約] 2011年12月21日 Chihayafuru
***,419位 ★ (***,268 pt) [*,*22予約] 2011年12月21日 Ben-To
***,798位 ★ (***,547 pt) [*,**0予約] 2012年02月10日 Kidou Senshi Gundam AGE
***,903位 ★ (***,369 pt) [*,**5予約] 2012年01月25日 Mashiro-iro Symphony
***,944位 ★ (***,309 pt) [*,*11予約] 2011年12月21日 C3
**4,800位 ★ (***,**0 pt) [*,**1予約] 2012年01月27日 Phi Brain
*17,755位 ★ (***,154 pt) [*,**3予約] 2011年12月21日 Kimi to Boku

As far as DVDs go, only Persona and Working!! are putting up numbers worth mentioning.

Top tier (Vol. 1 20k+)
Persona 4
(Fate/Zero?)

- Persona is in a class entirely of its own. Its staying power in the top 20 is godlike. Do note it's a priced-down first volume with nice extras, so like Working!! it's probably very very inflated. But Vol. 2 has had a strong showing too so it still seems like it'll be huge. Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see Fate outsell it, average. If only we could predict how a boxset release will change things.

Second tier (Vol. 1 10k+)
Working'!!
Horizon
Haganai

- I feel like Horizon and Haganai could go mid-teens, which is where Working will settle after it gets the inflated v1 sales (not as extreme as S1 but surely similar) out of its system. So early to call anything for sure though.

Hard to categorize stuff beyond those.

- I have no idea if Shana and Ikamusume will equal, exceed or drop below their previous seasons.
- Guilty Crown hasn't been solicited long enough to guess. The story seems like the sort of stuff the Index crowd would eat up (might be why it's not working for me), and the animation is just too gorgeous, but I guess it isn't tearing into the top 20 right off the bat. Maybe being anime original is going to make sales come in more gradually, since there's no built-in fanbase to preorder day 1 and it's got a lot of episodes left.
- Tamayura and Majikoi could collapse and barely make the Manabi Line, or be nice surprises as 5-9k sellers.
- Mirai Nikki and Last Exile are sitting in that really ambiguous 200-300 seat. You can never tell where a show like that will go... will they pull a Yuru Yuri and shock everyone with a 10k? Or fade away to the forgotten realms of 3-4k?
- Maken-ki, Chihayafuru and Ben-To are similar to the above, but replace 10k with ~6k.
- Gundam AGE looks like it isn't escaping the virulently hateful reaction it got before it even aired. A shame, as it's quite good so far.
- C3 doesn't seem to have impressed buyers with its sudden (pretty awesome) shift in tone. I think it's a pretty good show find the pacing quite bad, which is hurting it for me.
- We can probably write Phi Brain and Mashiro-iro's obituaries now. hell I wrote Mashiro-iro's before it started. Manglobe curse + romance visual novel adaptation = screwed. I like it, though.
- KimiBoku obviously isn't interesting the fujoshi (and the fact that it's in a shounen magazine still boggles my mind because male otaku sure are not going to buy it in any significant numbers), who are the ones ones I would have expected to pick it up. In fact, after two very strong seasons for fujoshi, there isn't a big stand-out hit for them this season, is there? I guess they've still got T&B, UtaPri and Natsume to buy.

[Suzuku]

Originally Posted by something

***,*20位 ★ (**4,340 pt) [*,131予約] 2011年12月22日 Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon

Horizon's success really makes me happy. It's now at 17.

- Gundam AGE looks like it isn't escaping the virulently hateful reaction it got before it even aired. A shame, as it's quite good so far.

Given, it's a Nichigo show so it was going to rank in the sub 100 range for a while. Gundam 00 had that pattern as well, but I don't think it was ever in the 700 range like AGE. Meh, as long as Gunpla sales and ratings are good disc sales shouldn't be as big a factor for AGE, although the first episode's rating definitely wasn't within the standard expected of Gundam...