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Originally Posted by cyth
Eh, I've bought anime on R2s and I haven't rewatched one of the series I bought. There are different reasons why people buy anime on physical media, but the most prevalent I've heard from Japanese sources is that Japanese wish for a token of participation, a memorandum of the fun times they had. Obviously some people want to rewatch it, some people just like to support types of things they love.
I once theorized that every show has its audience, whether it be boring or ironic or poorly executed. But the way fans react en masse, for example preordering a show like Hyouka after the first few episodes, is just ridiculous. If the show cannot show its worth, because it hasn't even finished airing, what are the criteria these shows get preordered by fans? I'm genuinely interested in this.
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I suspect it's largely a matter of excitement and anticipation level. My favourite shows in any given season are almost always those I anticipated the next episode of most - and I can usually tell which those are going to be after just a few episodes. Heck, I can usually make a pretty good guess from the previews and that's without looking at the source material (don't like spoilers).
A pumped up base if far, far more likely to buy something as a "token of participation".
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Originally Posted by cyth
Looking over KyoAni's shows alone, Munto TV had a very nice story, but the animation in the first few episodes botched the whole experience. I am not too familiar with Nichijou to know why it wasn't such a big hit in the traditional Blu-ray sales sense--certainly, animation alone isn't the sole reason for sales successes, but it's a very influential one. To think back of all the moe moe shows from 00's, most of them struggled with tight budgets. And yes, everybody likes nice looking animation, but not on a boring show. Or maybe they do.
EDIT: I realize this looks like I'm giving stalker points too much credit, who knows what actual sales will be.
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To be honest I have yet to find Hyouka boring. Granted, the first episode felt a bit like "Haruhi Lite", but I still found it enjoyable and that impression has been having less and less influence as the show goes on.
Does it have the most interesting plot among current moe shows? No, I'd say Sankarea beats it and possibly a few others too. But there's nothing I can see stealing KyoAni's thunder - the competition is competent, not exciting. This is not like Nichijou going up against Hanasaku Iroha, AnoHana, and Stein;Gate last spring.
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Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama
You can sort of see the community experience in play a little bit on AS too for certain shows that are also a hit in Japan. Nisemonogatari comes to mind as does recently Hyouka where you can see people discussing the specifics of girls getting toothbrushes crammed into their mouths and "Dem Eyes" in the most serious business manner such things can possibly be discussed, but when you ask someone to point out the specific qualities they like about the shows typically the response is silence or an admission that they don't really know and that to me is very telling of a lot of things.
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I watch Hyouka for the character interactions and the potential for a amusing opposites attract romance, plus there's something I love about how KyoAni injects atmosphere in their shows (a draw for me since at least Kanon 2006). I watched Nisemonogatari mainly because I love the Monogatari franchise's dialogue, characters, and sense of style, though I felt the Tsuhiki Phoenix arc (episode 8-11) was weak (Karen Bee was great though). Don't care much about toothbrushs or purple eyes.
I'd be the first to argue that KyoAni's ability to pump up its base is a key factor in it's success but that's only part of it. "Nice boat" didn't propel a single volume of School Days past 5K. Meanwhile, you have a show like AnoHana which borrows liberally from the Key-KyoAni playbook doing extremely well, and I'm not aware of it being a bit meme generator. And frankly, I know too many people who like their stuff who aren't part of the meme crowd. That doesn't surprise me. As a moe fan, I seldom consider KyoAni's shows best in category, but they've ranked highly on many, many occassions.