Anime DVD/BD Sales in Japan: Discussion

[hyl]

Originally Posted by 7Th

Err... I know that. But nobody would buy it for G4U alone. Unless you want the anime, you won't be buying the bundle. It's not worth 90 dollars. In G4U Vol 1 you already have everything G4U has to offer. Maybe if they actually changed poses and dialogue I could see people buying the bundle for G4U alone, but they don't. Either way, your reply is irrelevant to my original post. This is what I was replying to:

>So it's hard to tell whether the game fuelled most of the sales or if they will persist without the game.

There is no Idolm@ster volume released without a G4U Bundle.

That's wrong, the g4u bundles are a seperate (and more expensive)bundle. They are even more limited than the normal limited edition, because it's the limited edition with the g4u in it as well.
There is the regular edition (i don't think there is a blu ray version of the regular edition, just the dvd version), the Completely Limited Production Edition (both dvd and blu ray)and a Completely Limited Production Edition (blu ray only) with the g4u in it.
Seeing all the different versions, the g4u version only stands out because it has g4u in it. So in a sense you are actually buying it for the g4u because people could have bought the other less expensive versions.

small example from amiami when it comes to volume 2
regular dvd
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...MED-DVD2-13292
limited edition dvd
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...MED-DVD2-13291
limited edition blu ray
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...MED-DVD2-13290
limited edition with g4u
http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/det...e=TVG-PS3-1053

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by hyl

That's wrong, the g4u bundles are a seperate (and more expensive)bundle. They are even more limited than the normal limited edition, because it's the limited edition with the g4u in it as well. [...] So in a sense you are actually buying it for the g4u because people could have bought the other less expensive versions.

I don't think that's quite what he meant, but I see what you're saying. In the end, you're both kind of right.

1. Many people are choosing to buy the G4U bundle over the anime-only Limited Edition.

2. Every volume of the anime is being released as a separate SKU with the game bundle, so we will never know how many people would have bought the anime on its own if not for the game bundling.

The only other thing I would say is that it's always possible for people who only want the G4U bundle to sell the anime discs in the used market, though they'd certainly be taking a loss. I do think it's quite possible (and likely) that some people are buying the bundle even though they don't really care about the anime that much or at all. The drive to collect is strong, especially in this market...

[Last Sinner]

Haganai does 10k. Not bad considering the competition it had.

[7Th]

Originally Posted by hyl

That's wrong, the g4u bundles are a seperate (and more expensive)bundle. They are even more limited than the normal limited edition, because it's the limited edition with the g4u in it as well.

What I mean is that all there are 9 volumes of G4U, so all the volumes of the anime will have an SKU-bundle with G4U; my point was that if sales didn't go down with volume 3 they won't be going down with furher volumes.

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

I don't think that's quite what he meant, but I see what you're saying. In the end, you're both kind of right.

1. Many people are choosing to buy the G4U bundle over the anime-only Limited Edition.

2. Every volume of the anime is being released as a separate SKU with the game bundle, so we will never know how many people would have bought the anime on its own if not for the game bundling.

The only other thing I would say is that it's always possible for people who only want the G4U bundle to sell the anime discs in the used market, though they'd certainly be taking a loss. I do think it's quite possible (and likely) that some people are buying the bundle even though they don't really care about the anime that much or at all. The drive to collect is strong, especially in this market...

How different is that from regular anime LEs? I just saw G4U as an expanded LE for the anime.

Originally Posted by 7Th

You really don't know what Gravure 4 U is, right? It's not actually a game. We don't know how much the game bundle sold. G4U is glorified DLC, ALL anime volumes come bundled with it.

Actually, this isn't true. The sales are published by Dengeki. For example:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...&postcount=311

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by OceanBlue

How different is that from regular anime LEs? I just saw G4U as an expanded LE for the anime.

You're basically right. The only thing that makes it different is that, because it contains piece of PS3 software (mini-game though it may be), it's being sold through game distributors as opposed to anime distributors, so is being tracked as if it were a game. Meanwhile, the SKUs that don't contain the PS3 bonus disc are sold through normal anime distribution channels. Because there's a large community of really-hardcore game fans, some "sales-tracking geeks" (for lack of a better term... ) argue that you can't really fairly compare Idolm@ster's sales with other anime (i.e. we don't know how it would have sold if not for the game-bundling)... which doesn't really matter, except to people who really really like to talk about sales figures. In the end, it is basically a LE like any other; you can't really say how any anime would sell if not for the LE goodies, as that's a big reason people are willing to pay those prices.

[ahelo]

Does anyone have a record for the pre-order sales/stalker points or just those things that predict what anime will have good sales for this season?

I'm kinda guessing stuff like Nisemonogatari/Aquarion EVOL/Zero no Tsukaima would be dominating and out of the new series. . . maybe Mouretsu Pirates or Another (Just guessing out of internet popularity).

Anyway it's kinda sad to see Chihayafuru get low DVD sales. I guess it won't be the next Kimi ni Todoke in terms of popularity. I'm kinda surprised though that Shana III really hit the fan in sales. I thought that had some solid backing being a long term franchise.

[Katapan]

Originally Posted by ahelo

Does anyone have a record for the pre-order sales/stalker points or just those things that predict what anime will have good sales for this season?

This is the Bible you're looking for: http://www27392u.sakura.ne.jp/index_news.cgi

Scroll down, and below the top 100 you'll find the recap of all vol. 1 for series that are already registered on Amazon and haven't been released yet (or are about to be). The first column is their current ranking, and the third one gives the Stalker points (updated every day).

It's still too early to really tell anything for sure, but as for the major trends:
- Nisemonogatari is obviously slaying the charts. (It finally stepped down from the #1 spot!)
- Natsume Yuujinchou is being its usual 10k seller-self.
- Ano Natsu de Matteru was at the very top of the charts for its first few days too, but it's starting to slowly drop so it's hard to tell if it's going to pull a Penguindrum and never really get back up, or actually sell great.
- Lagrange, EVOL and High School DxD are all doing pretty good, and are likely to move maybe as high as 10k units if they keep going.
- Zero no Tsukaima F is likely suffering from a mild case of Shana III. Not very good news.

The rest is even more uncertain so I'll keep quiet about it, though it looks as if Kill Me Baby is set to bomb hard.

[totoum]

Thanks for the link,I'll be sure to bookmark it

Originally Posted by Katapan

- Lagrange, EVOL and High School DxD are all doing pretty good, and are likely to move maybe as high as 10k units if they keep going.

That's all I wanted to know , Maru!

[TJR]

While Shana III might be the most notable example, sequels in general have seen some significant declines in sales. Whether it's an on-going trend or merely a blip (2011 saw plenty of hot new releases that might've left less room for sequels) remains to be seen.

[Last Sinner]

So by that chart, Fate/Zero is close to 34k and Nisenmonogatari is already around the 30k mark?

[Suzuku]

Originally Posted by Last Sinner

So by that chart, Fate/Zero is close to 34k and Nisenmonogatari is already around the 30k mark?

Nise's sales are probably inflated a good bit from staying in the number 1 spot for so long.

[ahelo]

I guess internet reception isn't everything.

Looking at Ano Natsu, it looks like it might be the new big seller this season. That's awesome since I do like this series a lot.

Looks like Another and Dansei no Nichijou is gonna bomb. Horror was never a big seller in anime and for Dansei, I guess people confused it as Kimi to Boku 2. Kinda sad for PA Works since they haven't bombed anything since true tears (in terms of sales)

[totoum]

Originally Posted by ahelo

I guess internet reception isn't everything.

Especialy on an english speaking website,I'm sure something like Milkey Holmes is more discussed in japanese forums for exemple.

Originally Posted by ahelo

Kinda sad for PA Works since they haven't bombed anything since true tears (in terms of sales)

Does this qualify as bombing or not?

CANAAN *1,240+*2,957=*4,197 (6) (P.A. Works/Sentai Filmworks)
2009/10/21 *1,240 Vol. 1 (Two episodes up to Vol. 5)
2009/10/21 *3,559 Vol. 1
2009/11/27 *3,102 Vol. 2
2009/12/25 *2,695 Vol. 3
2010/01/29 *2,622 Vol. 4
2010/02/26 *2,819 Vol. 5
2010/03/17 *2,742 Vol. 6 (Three episodes)

[Pocari_Sweat]

IIRC, True Tears actually made a small profit later on with the bluray boxset in 2010 which set the DVD + Bluray sales of the series to 5k+, which is pretty modest.

As for Canaan, I think it may have barely broken even, which I think makes it PA's worst selling series. That or Professor Layton movie (I'm actually not sure about the sales figures for this).

[fertygo]

True Tears have decent selling BD-Box though.

[Marcus H.]

http://www.rankbank.net/amaran/histo...sin=B006VY9M8K

Welp.
That little blip on the right of the graph represents 284 preorders. Fractale had 883.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

http://www.rankbank.net/amaran/histo...sin=B006VY9M8K

Welp.
That little blip on the right of the graph represents 284 preorders. Fractale had 883.

For what it's worth, given the staff and cast involved, I would venture to guess that the business proposition for this show is a lot more about CDs than it is about Blu-Rays. Already, the OP Single ranked quite well on the charts likely by artist association alone. That isn't to say BD/DVD sales don't matter... but I wouldn't say this is the main product in this case.

[bhl88]

Looks like it would not reach breaking point...

[Suzuku]

GC did 10k first week. Ha, just like I said, Stalker was underestimating the numbers, even if only slightly.