Ok, there's something that really needs to be pointed out here given this idea that no Nanoha TV series has been made since StrikerS since StrikerS was supposedly a commercial disappointment.
Here are pertinent sales figures from
this handy-dandy sales figures thread right here on Anime Suki:
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha *4,312 (5) (Seven Arcs/Geneon USA)
2005/01/26 *4,856 Vol. 1 (Three episodes up to Vol. 3)
2005/02/23 *5,701 Vol. 2
2005/03/24 *3,458 Vol. 3
2005/04/27 *3,432 Vol. 4 (Two episodes up to Vol.5)
2005/05/25 *4,113 Vol. 5
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's 11,251 (6) (Seven Arcs/Geneon USA)
2006/01/25 11,657 Vol. 1 (Three episodes)
2006/02/22 11,539 Vol. 2 (Two episodes up to Vol. 6)
2006/03/24 11,472 Vol. 3
2006/04/26 10,730 Vol. 4
2006/05/24 10,856 Vol. 5
2006/06/21 11,251 Vol. 6
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS 22,720 (9) (Seven Arcs)
2007/07/25 23,688 Vol. 1 (Three episodes up to Vol. 8)
2007/08/22 23,511 Vol. 2
2007/09/26 22,937 Vol. 3
2007/10/24 22,234 Vol. 4
2007/11/21 21,622 Vol. 5
2007/12/26 22,248 Vol. 6
2008/01/23 21,799 Vol. 7
2008/02/27 22,217 Vol. 8
2008/03/26 23,062 Vol. 9 (Two episodes)
The original Nanoha anime sold just over 4,000 DVDs per volume. That's roughly "breaking even" level. Nanoha A's sold over 11,000 DVDs per volume. That's rock solid success level (unless you're talking about an established titan like NGE or Haruhi). StrikerS sold over 22,000 DVDs per volume. That's
MegaHit level, for just about any anime franchise.
Whatever you think of StrikerS quality in general, there's no question it was a major commercial hit.
Nanoha went from 4,000+ to 11,000+ to 22,000+ It's very impressive market share growth. I'm sure many successful entrepreneurs out there would be screaming "Why the hell aren't you making more?!" with a sales growth curve that's borderline exponential!
So yeah, it's a bit of mystery why there haven't been another Nanoha TV series since StrikerS. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this. It's one of the great mysteries of anime for me.
