Anime Sales in Japan - 2012

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by something

Ebiten started broadcasting during the Summer season, but only on Niconico, and only in very low quality. It seemed to make virtually no impact and the Vol 1 BD never went above 4,000th place.

Just today it was announced that it will air on multiple TV stations (http://ebiten.jp/entry/1089) and will start right alongside Fall series in October. In addition, the BD release is really late - November 30th, which is very late for a Summer series, and more in line with a Fall series.

With the TV announcement, the first volume shot up from 22,314 to 580 in an hour and is currently 302, having peaked at 283.

This is a very curious data point. The sales bump happened even though the TV broadcast hasn't even started yet (so it's not a case of people wanting to see it before deciding). Is the implication here that having an anime air on TV (regardless of the time/channel) is a way of vouching for its quality in a way that an online-only anime doesn't convey? If so, that's very oldschool thinking... but also, it would support one of my theories that just being chosen for a TV anime is seen as an endorsement of the work, regardless of how the actual anime turns out. I'm curious if the original novels also saw a jump with this news.

[something]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

This is a very curious data point. The sales bump happened even though the TV broadcast hasn't even started yet (so it's not a case of people wanting to see it before deciding). Is the implication here that having an anime air on TV (regardless of the time/channel) is a way of vouching for its quality in a way that an online-only anime doesn't convey? If so, that's very oldschool thinking... but also, it would support one of my theories that just being chosen for a TV anime is seen as an endorsement of the work, regardless of how the actual anime turns out. I'm curious if the original novels also saw a jump with this news.

Agreed, it's a rather strange change. I don't think I saw anything else like an event ticket or whatever accompanying the announcement.

Decided to look at how Upotte responded when its TV broadcast was announced on May 4th. It sort of increased, but only very slightly, and not until 1-2 days later which is when another episode aired. Then again, while Upotte is also ranking terribly, it wasn't as low as Ebiten. Though I doubt there's all that much difference between ranking 2,000th and 20,000th.

[Chipp12]

Aaand it's fallen to the depth again like nothing happened...
【2012年 08月 22日 17時(水)】 *22,314位
【2012年 08月 22日 18時(水)】 ***,580位
【2012年 08月 22日 19時(水)】 ***,640位
【2012年 08月 22日 20時(水)】 ***,572位
【2012年 08月 22日 21時(水)】 ***,572位
【2012年 08月 22日 22時(水)】 ***,865位
【2012年 08月 22日 23時(水)】 ***,538位
【2012年 08月 23日 00時(木)】 ***,345位
【2012年 08月 23日 01時(木)】 ***,545位
【2012年 08月 23日 02時(木)】 **1,189位
【2012年 08月 23日 03時(木)】 **5,654位
【2012年 08月 23日 04時(木)】 ***,283位
【2012年 08月 23日 05時(木)】 ***,302位
【2012年 08月 23日 06時(木)】 ***,335位
【2012年 08月 23日 07時(木)】 ***,349位
【2012年 08月 23日 08時(木)】 ***,372位
【2012年 08月 23日 09時(木)】 ***,372位
【2012年 08月 23日 10時(木)】 ***,403位
【2012年 08月 23日 11時(木)】 ***,437位
【2012年 08月 23日 12時(木)】 ***,474位
【2012年 08月 23日 13時(木)】 ***,574位
【2012年 08月 23日 14時(木)】 ***,574位
【2012年 08月 23日 15時(木)】 **5,844位
【2012年 08月 23日 16時(木)】 ***,217位
【2012年 08月 23日 17時(木)】 ***,246位
【2012年 08月 23日 18時(木)】 **8,075位
【2012年 08月 23日 19時(木)】 **8,889位
【2012年 08月 23日 20時(木)】 **9,695位

[something]

Originally Posted by Chipp12

Aaand it's fallen to the depth again like nothing happened...

Haha, yep, I just logged onto Stalker to see how it was doing, and as I scrolled down the BD list I kept thinking I must have missed it... until I saw it down at 11k+. Jeeze.

I wonder if the rise at the TV announcement was a total coincidence and in reality Amazon had to cancel orders and everyone had to rebuy? Even 50-100 orders i a short span of time can probably get a title in the top 300.

Well back to waiting for October to see this show get a real airing and see if it's any good. I wonder if Crunchyroll might pick it up alongside its Fall series now...

[something]

http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/bbs/read.cgi...1293278942/448

Full list is out, and the following was added. Original post has been updated accordingly.

2012 08/13~08/19 BD List
-- (41) -- *,430 *10,398 *4 Sora no Otoshimono Tokei Jikake no Angeloid
-- (44) *1 *,414 **6,948 *2 Mouretsu Pirates v6
-- (46) 45 *,404 *25,263 12 Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 v1
-- (50) 33 *,340 **8,550 *6 Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (7/2012 rel.)


Thursday adds a few, including the SoraOto movie, heh. Pretty much all those sales are from Amazon discounting it. Also yay, second week for Mouretsu.


Spring update:
n/a


Winter update:
Mouretsu v6 adds 414 BDs, total 6,948. Still averaging 7k, good stuff.


Past seasons:
n/a

[something]

http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/bbs/read.cgi...1293278942/449

This covers the weeks starting 7/02, 7/09, 7/16, 7/23, and 7/30.

K-ON! Movie +786 RE BD in wk2-3, total 162,128.

Nisemonogatari v3 +1219 BD in wk4-6, total 58,139. So consistent after a small v1-v2 drop: 64.3k > 58.8k > 58.1k > 57.5k

HS DxD v5 +532 BD in wk2, total 9,257.

InuBoku v5 +505 BD in wk2, total 8,813.

Mouretsu v4 +349 BD in wk2-4 (3-4 likely outside top 100 though), total 7,175.

Aquarion Evol v4 +441 BD in wk2, total 6,439.

Eureka AO v2 +518 BDs, total 4,251.

[Hououin91]

HS DxD is really consistent. Never expected to see it sell so well.

@something you forgot to put the numbers increase in Nise.

[something]

Originally Posted by Hououin91

HS DxD is really consistent. Never expected to see it sell so well.

Yeah, at its lowest it's only down 16% on Vol. 1. 10.8 > 10.0 > 10.0 > 9.1 > 9.3. That's like a season of Natsume Yuujin-chou. Though no monthly ranking for v4 and a current average of 9.8k means it''ll be just short of 10k, probably averaging 9.7k or so unless the final volume has some bonus incentive that boosts sales to 11k or better, which seems unlikely.

@something you forgot to put the numbers increase in Nise.

Oops, fixed, added 1,219 BDs.

[superdry]

Originally Posted by something

Yeah, at its lowest it's only down 16% on Vol. 1. 10.8 > 10.0 > 10.0 > 9.1 > 9.3. That's like a season of Natsume Yuujin-chou. Though no monthly ranking for v4 and a current average of 9.8k means it''ll be just short of 10k, probably averaging 9.7k or so unless the final volume has some bonus incentive that boosts sales to 11k or better, which seems unlikely.

It is possible that adjustments later in the year/early next year could bump up the average to 10K. I wonder if adjustments could count for around ~1800 copies if the last volume sells around 9K.

[something]

Originally Posted by superdry

It is possible that adjustments later in the year/early next year could bump up the average to 10K. I wonder if adjustments could count for around ~1800 copies if the last volume sells around 9K.

Mid-year and yearly adjustments aren't worth much these days. Weekly sales are only added to the running total if a release is in the top 100 BDs in the week, and that threshold is probably somewhere around 200 copies. With even 10k shows moving only a couple hundred units max by just their fourth week, the chances of making the top 51-100 enough times to add 1k+ sales beyond the ~2 weeks it'll rank 1-50 is low.

DxD's current monthly BD adjustments have been:
Vol 1: +246 (after charting 3wk)
Vol 2: +226 (2wk)
Vol 3: +186 (2wk)
Vol 4: +*** (1wk)
Vol 5: +532 (1wk)

I think the reporting period for most of those covered 1-2 weeks beyond what ranked in the usual weeklies.

This is all assuming it would even make the yearly list. The Yearly BD Top 200 from 2011 (released late January 2012) had a threshold of a little below 8,340 which puts most volumes of DxD just short, since part of its average is DVD. I also assume the threshold will be higher this year as more releases shift to BD.