Quote:
Originally Posted by Vexx
I am less hopeful for a third final season anime adaptation ... the final volume has been out a few months now and not a flicker from Japan. The industry has developed a nasty habit of racing for the "new next thing" rather than "more of what the fans already show they like".
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Well, for whatever reason, the market seems to have either conditioned the industry to act that way, or the industry conditioned the market to purchase in that way. There's a huge amount of "sales rot" for anime; sequels habitually sell 30%-40% less than their predecessor, and the discrepancy increases as time passes. While the first season sold around 9,000 copies/volume (over 6 volumes, so 50,000+ discs), the sequel averaged around 5,000 copies/volume (over 4 volumes, so ~20,000 discs), and that after only 18 months. Now that it's been 2 1/2 years, and the novels have ended, they probably figure the anime audience is largely gone, and they may not be wrong. Recent experiments with bringing franchises back for a last hurrah (Shana, Zero no Tsukaima) have shown similar "sales rot".
I suppose part of this may be because, in Japan, the anime serves to advertise the novels, but once people get hooked on the franchise, they dig into the novels and engage in the story that way. Unless an anime adaptation finds some way of adding significant value to the experience (either through creative direction, excellent production values, or some other way of distinguishing itself), there may not be a huge draw to buying the anime when you've already bought and read the novels. It's different for people in the rest of the world who don't have easy access to the novels (at least not that far ahead), because the anime remains the primary (and sometimes only) point of entry.
Anyway, am in the process of finishing a re-read of all the English novels released so far, and am eagerly anticipating Novel 6. June can't come soon enough...