Anime Sales in Japan - 2010

[hissatsu]

So I see no actual BD sales figures for last week yet, except for K-ON!! Vol. 2 (28,000 BD/3,782 DVD), but Tatami Galaxy was #3. FLCL was #2. FLCL... glad I didn't preorder that.

[something]

Originally Posted by hissatsu

So I see no actual BD sales figures for last week yet, except for K-ON!! Vol. 2 (28,000 BD/3,782 DVD), but Tatami Galaxy was #3. FLCL was #2. FLCL... glad I didn't preorder that.

Yeah it's not out quite yet. Too soon so all we have is the preliminary DVD numbers and K-ON!!. Mentioned the K-ON!! here for the 8-16 subthread. Yojouhan getting 3rd definitely shows that its sales were in BD. Though it's hard to guess what 3rd means. Looking back a few weeks, 3rd could be over 10k or could be like 3k. I'd bet a minimum of 5k, possibly a lot more. And I didn't even know FLCL was getting a rerelease, heh.

[hissatsu]

Originally Posted by something

And I didn't even know FLCL was getting a rerelease, heh.

The less you know about it, the better. Horrible packaging, nasty upscale, puts sugar in your gas tank, and gives you chlamydia when you touch the BD. But hey, it does have the English sub/dub, so it's all good.

[something]

For the most part, any given anime home video release comes in two or three varieties: RE-DVD/LE-DVD or RE-DVD/LE-BD or RE-DVD/RE-BD/LE-BD. Sometimes you get all four types in one release but that's very rare for TV anime. They tend to top out at 3 SKUs.

In terms of tabulating sales the LE/RE split has generally not meant much. Take Durarara!! for example. Vol. 1 LE DVD did almost 30k. Vol. 1 RE DVD never charted even though it only needed to sell about 1,500 (like, less than 8% as much as the LE's first week) to guarantee a low spot on the DVD charts in its opening week. This example is repeated over and over, so it's obvious people tend not to buy REs for TV series. I really cannot remember the last time I saw more than one SKU in either the DVD or BD sales lists for an individual volume.

What about movies through? I know I've seen an Eden movie RE listed before. Specifically I'm interested in Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu. It has 5 SKUs on Amazon alone. BD LE steelbook; BD LE; BD RE; DVD LE; DVD RE. Right now on the DVD/BD charts on Amazon, BD LE steelbook is #1, BD LE is #5, DVD LE is #8, BD RE is #28 and DVD RE is #248. Okay so we can dismiss the last. It'll sell a couple hundred maybe. Still leaves four that could potentially ranking-worthy sales.

But would Oricon tabulate the steelbook and non-steelbook LE BD together? If not, the more SKUs, the more divided the sales, the less likely they'll all get on the rankings (or sooner they'll drop below the threshold), and the more incomplete our information about the actual sales of a release.

Anyone know how this is handled?

(Also I'm using "SKU" because I'm familiar with it from US releases, and simply assuming that it's handled the same kinda way in Japan. Could be wrong.)

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by something

For the most part, any given anime home video release comes in two or three varieties: RE-DVD/LE-DVD or RE-DVD/LE-BD or RE-DVD/RE-BD/LE-BD. Sometimes you get all four types in one release but that's very rare for TV anime. They tend to top out at 3 SKUs.

In terms of tabulating sales the LE/RE split has generally not meant much. Take Durarara!! for example. Vol. 1 LE DVD did almost 30k. Vol. 1 RE DVD never charted even though it only needed to sell about 1,500 (like, less than 8% as much as the LE's first week) to guarantee a low spot on the DVD charts in its opening week. This example is repeated over and over, so it's obvious people tend not to buy REs for TV series. I really cannot remember the last time I saw more than one SKU in either the DVD or BD sales lists for an individual volume.

What about movies through? I know I've seen an Eden movie RE listed before. Specifically I'm interested in Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu. It has 5 SKUs on Amazon alone. BD LE steelbook; BD LE; BD RE; DVD LE; DVD RE. Right now on the DVD/BD charts on Amazon, BD LE steelbook is #1, BD LE is #5, DVD LE is #8, BD RE is #28 and DVD RE is #248. Okay so we can dismiss the last. It'll sell a couple hundred maybe. Still leaves four that could potentially ranking-worthy sales.

But would Oricon tabulate the steelbook and non-steelbook LE BD together? If not, the more SKUs, the more divided the sales, the less likely they'll all get on the rankings (or sooner they'll drop below the threshold), and the more incomplete our information about the actual sales of a release.

Anyone know how this is handled?

(Also I'm using "SKU" because I'm familiar with it from US releases, and simply assuming that it's handled the same kinda way in Japan. Could be wrong.)

It should be counted the same as the "normal"* LE/RE. In 2006, Kyoto Animation sold their own versions of the Haruhi DVDs with a different item code (KYOH-xxxx) and to my knowledge it counted the same as the normal KABA-xxxx releases.

Amazon isn't the only one who's done this. Animate has 6 versions of the Haruhi movie: LE BD Animate exclusive, LE DVD Animate exclusive, LE BD, LE DVD, RE BD, and RE DVD. Chara-ani often puts up different versions as well. Right now they have two listings for both the Haruhi BD-Box and the Taniguchi Goes! Special Edition DVD (with one having their special and one not). They'll likely put their exclusive bonus with one/two of the sets soon, so that'll add some more store SKUs.

It'd be weird dividing the chart by stores, so that's why I'm assuming that it's counted as the "normal" version of the release. I can only speak for Haruhi since that's the series I'm most familiar with the releases.

*normal referring to that version of the release, not necessarily the regular edition.

[something]

Originally Posted by something

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6238.html
Preliminary DVD list. By which I mean K-ON!! and Totoro. Always, always Totoro.

http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6304.html

Full list is up.

So K-ON!! Vol. 2 does 3,782 + 27,861 for 31,643. As mentioned, AB! Vol. 2 did 30,659 in the first week. Vol. 1 adds another 908 BDs to 35,151; with DVD that's 39,132 so far. Oh and season one vol. 1 is back on the charts, again.

Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei manages 2,189 DVD and 2,704 BD for 4,893. Huh, talk about a drop-off from #1 to #3 this week on the BD charts. Thought it'd at least crack 5k, but it should next week. That puts it #9 on the Spring Vol. 1 list, and it should be able to overtake Mayoi Neko Overrun! pretty easily. Only needs 146 more, piece of cake. Also keep in mind this only had 3 days worth of sales counted in its first week so maybe it'll pass kiss x sis too. Way too much of a gap between that and Oofuri though so that's as high as it can go. Looks like it's doing just fine, even if it's not a break-out hit. Too bad Goyou couldn't have sold those numbers.

FLCL BD box gets 4,879.

Seitokai Yakuindomo added a few more. 557 for 4,434 BD and 5,829 total. Not bad at all.

Heroman did 422 BDs, DVDs didn't rank.

Strike Witches BD box. Again. Passing seven thousand to 7,011!

That's all of interest this week. Next full list will give us numbers for Mitsudomoe and Sekirei for Summer, and Rainbow for Spring, if it charts.

Spring Vol. 1 | Summer Vol. 1

[muhootsaver]

I was a little disappointed by the Yojouhan numbers. Hopefully, DVD+BD number will eventually go over 6000.

FLCL did okay. I mean, with that packaging and video quality, I think it deserved megabomb, but too bad that didn't happen.

Heroman was expected to bomb. No surprise there.

About Goyou... it just didn't have any good selling points. Well, other than the fact that the original manga is by Ono Natsume, which doesn't seem to affect the sales much judging from Ristorante and Goyou. I personally enjoyed Ristorante more than Goyou.

[something]

Originally Posted by muhootsaver

I was a little disappointed by the Yojouhan numbers. Hopefully, DVD+BD number will eventually go over 6000.

I think it will if it moved almost 5k in 3 days. Big question is what kind of drop-off it'll have between volumes.

FLCL did okay. I mean, with that packaging and video quality, I think it deserved megabomb, but too bad that didn't happen.

4,879 did sound pretty high until I checked and noticed the MSRP was only ¥15000 (no tax). It's obviously not bad either but a lot of BD boxes charge twice that for a cour.

Heroman was expected to bomb. No surprise there.

One of those where you just know Japan could not have been the primary audience if the creators were sane. Kinda amazed it's not licensed yet though (besides CR streaming). That rather seems like it's only chance of making a profit.

[muhootsaver]

Originally Posted by something

4,879 did sound pretty high until I checked and noticed the MSRP was only ¥15000 (no tax). It's obviously not bad either but a lot of BD boxes charge twice that for a cour.

But FLCL is only 6 episodes?

[something]

Originally Posted by muhootsaver

But FLCL is only 6 episodes?

Oh right, there's that of course. Not so cheap after all then. =P