Anime that popular in internet but sold poorly as DVDs

[Socke]

I may wrong on this one but I think Clannad and its second season DVDs sold poorly despite its popularity on the internet. In fact it still not yet dubbed even though it's already in the market at least two years ago, unlike the unholy trinity of shounen cash-cows, Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. However this only based on data outside Japan. I may wrong for the Japanese market.

Another failure is Ouran High School Host Club. Like Clannad its popularity in the internet don't help much either. It suffered from lack of appeal. As I can see, it only catered shoujo fangirls and female otakus, which is rare outside Japan, if compared with more casual viewers.

Fans argued whether Legend of the Galactic Heroes DVDs ever make way outside Japan or not.

I hate to change the topic but as shit for giggles the first and second volume of second season of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu(which covered the infamous Endless Eight arc) sold pretty well in Japan despite being panned by fans and critics. I also cringe when discovered some Japanese otakus still buying School Days DVDs today. Proof that those Japanese businessmen and businesswomen are milking money out from otakus' pockets, both inside and outside Japan.

[0utf0xZer0]

Eh, Clannad will be the first Sentai Filmworks release to get a dub aside from some reissues of older series that already had dubs available. That indicates to me that it's one of Sentai's better selling titles. And the Japanese market sales for After Story were above 20K, which is very high for Japanese market standards.

As for Haruhi DVDs... well, as ridiculous as it is that people buy Endless Eight DVDs, I like to take comfort in the fact that the E8 DVDs aren't selling even half of what the first season DVDs did. Hell, sales dropped from 37K units for Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody to under 20K for the first E8 volume and went downhill from there.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Socke

I may wrong on this one but I think Clannad and its second season DVDs sold poorly despite its popularity on the internet. In fact it still not yet dubbed even though it's already in the market at least two years ago, unlike the unholy trinity of shounen cash-cows, Naruto, Bleach and One Piece. However this only based on data outside Japan. I may wrong for the Japanese market.

Another failure is Ouran High School Host Club. Like Clannad its popularity in the internet don't help much either. It suffered from lack of appeal. As I can see, it only catered shoujo fangirls and female otakus, which is rare outside Japan, if compared with more casual viewers.

Fans argued whether Legend of the Galactic Heroes DVDs ever make way outside Japan or not.

I hate to change the topic but as shit for giggles the first and second volume of second season of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu(which covered the infamous Endless Eight arc) sold pretty well in Japan despite being panned by fans and critics. I also cringe when discovered some Japanese otakus still buying School Days DVDs today. Proof that those Japanese businessmen and businesswomen are milking money out from otakus' pockets, both inside and outside Japan.

Where are you getting your numbers for what doesn't sell well? Clannad probably sold well if it's getting a rerelease with a dub, which is very rare for series that are initially released as sub only. Ouran seems to have sold fairly well too, considering it's just gotten a rerelease too. Though it had a dub to begin with.

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by Socke

Another failure is Ouran High School Host Club.

FUNi recently said that Ouran sold well for them.

If you want examples that are popular and failed: Higurashi(R1), Rozen Maiden(R1+R2), Haruhi(R1*), Lucky Star(R1) are just a few.
*Failed to meet expectations.

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

As for Haruhi DVDs... well, as ridiculous as it is that people buy Endless Eight DVDs, I like to take comfort in the fact that the E8 DVDs aren't selling even half of what the first season DVDs did.

Not a single series (with a gap between seasons) that got a second season in 2009 sold half of what the first season sold. I believe from glancing at the numbers that Haruhi held up the best of all of them.

Hell, sales dropped from 37K units for Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody to under 20K for the first E8 volume and went downhill from there.

Except around 12k of the BLR DVDs were sold at under $10 each instead of at "full" MSRP.

[-KarumA-]

An anime being popular on an international board and having poor dvd sell ratings can be explained because Japanese fans differ from us in many ways.
Shows that might be mega popular in the US etc. can be less popular in Japan itself

[iwatch2muchanime]

Originally Posted by -KarumA-

An anime being popular on an international board and having poor dvd sell ratings can be explained because Japanese fans differ from us in many ways.
Shows that might be mega popular in the US etc. can be less popular in Japan itself

I.E. Big O

[HayashiTakara]

It's been awhile since I looked at DVDs but I remember prices like 19.99 or 24.99 for like 2 or 3 episodes, what a total rip-off. Mainly why I don't buy a DVD unless I absolutely love the series.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by HayashiTakara

It's been awhile since I looked at DVDs but I remember prices like 19.99 or 24.99 for like 2 or 3 episodes, what a total rip-off. Mainly why I don't buy a DVD unless I absolutely love the series.

Boxsets are the standard now, not individual dvds. Prices have gone way down. The entire series of Aria, that's all of the animation, the natural, the origination, and Areitta, only cost like $150 including shipping. If it had been released on individual dvds it would have been more like $340-510.

[Xion Valkyrie]

You really can't determine overall popularity just from western perspectives, considering most of the times we can't contribute anything towards the sales of those shows until they show up here (usually much later).

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by bayoab

Not a single series (with a gap between seasons) that got a second season in 2009 sold half of what the first season sold. I believe from glancing at the numbers that Haruhi held up the best of all of them.

Eh, no offense, but unless you have better sources than the DVD sales thread here, then you need to recheck your numbers. Gundam 00, Darker than Black II, the second season of Natsume Youjinchou and Railgun - which I guess is more spinoff than sequel - all pulled way more than half of what their predecessors did. Others like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensai's 2009 season were closer to the 50% mark but still considerably above it. it looks to me like some shows like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei also pulled better than 50% of the original.

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

Boxsets are the standard now, not individual dvds. Prices have gone way down. The entire series of Aria, that's all of the animation, the natural, the origination, and Areitta, only cost like $150 including shipping. If it had been released on individual dvds it would have been more like $340-510.

Yeah... just to give a recent example, RightStuf prices the season 1 box set for Spice and Wolf (13 episodes) at $36, which seems to be pretty average by current standards - 26 episodes series just get split into two 13 episode boxes. There are still some multi-volume releases but not many.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

Boxsets are the standard now, not individual dvds. Prices have gone way down. The entire series of Aria, that's all of the animation, the natural, the origination, and Areitta, only cost like $150 including shipping. If it had been released on individual dvds it would have been more like $340-510.

This tells us that Western and Eastern consumers are really different. I mean, I've been spending upwards of 4000yen (about $45) on discs with just 2 episodes each...but I wouldn't say they aren't worth it.

In Japan, I really don't think a show being that good or not really has anything to do with it. Usually, mecha sells A LOT whether it's good or not - as long as the fights are good, a lot of mecha fans will splurge. But other shows can't just rely on being good as in fun to watch for some reason or another (though it helps). The most important factor seems to be marketing, marketing that targets people who are willing to part with their money for some extra or other. Cases in point: K-on, Bakemonogatari, Durarara!! A lot of the sales for these series come from the so-called "limited first press edition." Even though they can get repeat print runs. I've seen a Bakemonogatari DVD go for almost 3x the original price on Yahoo Auctions (because we never know just how 'limited' they are).

Another case of good marketing was probably Eve no Jikan, which was web-distributed in the first place. They only made 3,000 copies of each DVD (one episode each) and they're pretty much sold out, I think. Sure, they could have made more, but due to word of mouth, I bet more people will watch and/or buy the dvd of the cinematic version which is currently in theatres here.

Going back to my original point: at present, outside of specific genres that the casual anime fan might buy, American consumers and Japanese consumers are probably looking for different things in their DVD releases. Anime here is like a lot of movies in the West - extras like director and seiyuu/actor commentary matter a lot, not to mention the music that is sometimes only released with the DVD.

Are people in the West still looking just for enjoyment of the series itself? Do extras make any difference? And if they do, do consumers want the original Japanese commentary translated, or do they want commentary from the American voice actors, translators, producers etc? I don't think licensing companies have actually worked it out yet.

[rogerpepitone]

How are you defining Higurashi to have failed? From what I've heard, Funimation said that box sets sell out very quickly.

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

Eh, no offense, but unless you have better sources than the DVD sales thread here, then you need to recheck your numbers. Gundam 00, Darker than Black II, the second season of Natsume Youjinchou and Railgun - which I guess is more spinoff than sequel - all pulled way more than half of what their predecessors did. Others like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensai's 2009 season were closer to the 50% mark but still considerably above it. it looks to me like some shows like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei also pulled better than 50% of the original.

It was a very heavily clarified and hedged statement so...
Technicality note: Only one of those qualifies as a "gap" show, DTBII which seems to be outselling it's first season. (And I hadn't noticed that one.) Seed and Natsume are just split seasons where it is known beforehand that the show will have a second season delayed by 6 months. Railgun is indeed a spinoff. Other gap shows are: Hayate no Gotoku!!, FMA:B, and the like.

Originally Posted by rogerpepitone

How are you defining Higurashi to have failed? From what I've heard, Funimation said that box sets sell out very quickly.

That would be good, because I heard a different statement from Geneon. However, considering Higurashi's popularity on the internet, there is no way it is doing *that* well given how it was treated.

[solomon]

Originally Posted by karice67

This tells us that Western and Eastern consumers are really different. I mean, I've been spending upwards of 4000yen (about $45) on discs with just 2 episodes each...but I wouldn't say they aren't worth it.

In Japan, I really don't think a show being that good or not really has anything to do with it. Usually, mecha sells A LOT whether it's good or not - as long as the fights are good, a lot of mecha fans will splurge. But other shows can't just rely on being good as in fun to watch for some reason or another (though it helps). The most important factor seems to be marketing, marketing that targets people who are willing to part with their money for some extra or other. Cases in point: K-on, Bakemonogatari, Durarara!! A lot of the sales for these series come from the so-called "limited first press edition." Even though they can get repeat print runs. I've seen a Bakemonogatari DVD go for almost 3x the original price on Yahoo Auctions (because we never know just how 'limited' they are).

Another case of good marketing was probably Eve no Jikan, which was web-distributed in the first place. They only made 3,000 copies of each DVD (one episode each) and they're pretty much sold out, I think. Sure, they could have made more, but due to word of mouth, I bet more people will watch and/or buy the dvd of the cinematic version which is currently in theatres here.

Going back to my original point: at present, outside of specific genres that the casual anime fan might buy, American consumers and Japanese consumers are probably looking for different things in their DVD releases. Anime here is like a lot of movies in the West - extras like director and seiyuu/actor commentary matter a lot, not to mention the music that is sometimes only released with the DVD.

Are people in the West still looking just for enjoyment of the series itself? Do extras make any difference? And if they do, do consumers want the original Japanese commentary translated, or do they want commentary from the American voice actors, translators, producers etc? I don't think licensing companies have actually worked it out yet.

I think for most, it's just the enjoyment of the series itself. Only certain series have any real extras on their DVDs to get excited about these days.

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by bayoab

It was a very heavily clarified and hedged statement so...
Technicality note: Only one of those qualifies as a "gap" show, DTBII which seems to be outselling it's first season. (And I hadn't noticed that one.) Seed and Natsume are just split seasons where it is known beforehand that the show will have a second season delayed by 6 months. Railgun is indeed a spinoff. Other gap shows are: Hayate no Gotoku!!, FMA:B, and the like.

Hayate also sold a much greater percentage of its first season sales (65% vs. about 45% for Haruhi). Still, I can agree that it would be unrealistic to expect Haruhi to match its season one sales regardless of how people reacted to Endless Eight.

Originally Posted by karice67

Going back to my original point: at present, outside of specific genres that the casual anime fan might buy, American consumers and Japanese consumers are probably looking for different things in their DVD releases. Anime here is like a lot of movies in the West - extras like director and seiyuu/actor commentary matter a lot, not to mention the music that is sometimes only released with the DVD.

Are people in the West still looking just for enjoyment of the series itself? Do extras make any difference? And if they do, do consumers want the original Japanese commentary translated, or do they want commentary from the American voice actors, translators, producers etc? I don't think licensing companies have actually worked it out yet.

From what I've seen most American anime DVDs tend not to offer much in the way of extras. Generally, Americans buy anime DVDs either because they want to see the show or because they want to replace the fansubs they downloaded with a legitimate copy.

Honestly, I think it's just that Americans aren't willing to pay Japanese market prices for anime. A lot of them wouldn't be able to afford them anyway, since a large portion of the American anime fanbase is high school and university students. Plus DVDs are cheaper here in general, so the idea of paying $45 for a two episode disc sounds insane to most people.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

From what I've seen most American anime DVDs tend not to offer much in the way of extras. Generally, Americans buy anime DVDs either because they want to see the show or because they want to replace the fansubs they downloaded with a legitimate copy.

Interesting. I'm pretty much the exact opposite. If I absolutely love a show/film etc enough to see it multiple times (i.e. own a copy of it), then I'll want extras too. And one learns to be picky, because otherwise you'd want way too many series. If I just want to watch it, then I'd go to a rental store or borrow it from someone.

Originally Posted by solomon

I think for most, it's just the enjoyment of the series itself. Only certain series have any real extras on their DVDs to get excited about these days.

But what kinds of extras would American fans get excited about? The simulcast and streaming direction that the industry is now taking can only mean that extras will get more and more important if licensing companies want people to actually buy the dvds...

[RisArk]

That would be good, because I heard a different statement from Geneon. However, considering Higurashi's popularity on the internet, there is no way it is doing *that* well given how it was treated.

Because Geneon was part of the old era of 30 dollars per 3 episodes. Everything sells better when you do a complete collection for 50 bucks.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by karice67

<snip>

Well obviously I can't speak for everyone in the west, but my thought process goes like this:

Spoiler:

I guess I could have made that easier to follow.