American publishing industry figures for the top selling manga franchises help underline the superior taste of American audiences when it comes to manga, and (rather more surprisingly) the fact that US manga fans have apparently forsaken the shonen manga holy trinity…
The ranking, based on estimated manga sales in the first half of 2011:
1. Naruto
2. Bleach
3. Vampire Knight
4. Black Butler
5. Death Note
6. Blackbird
7. Rosario + Vampire
8. Fullmetal Alchemist
9. Dragonball & DBZ
10. Soul Eater
11. One Piece
12. Maximum Ride
13. Alice in the Country of Hearts
14. Hetalia
15. Yu-Gi-Oh!
16. Pandora Hearts
17. Bakuman
18. Fruits Basket
19. Dendeki Daisy
20. D. Gray Man
21. Yotsuba!
22. Ouran High School Host Club
23. Shugo Chara
24. K-On!
25. High School of the Dead
That One Piece places so poorly, whilst K-ON! and Highschool of the Dead manage to make an appearance amidst the otherwise all but unchallenged shonen and shoujo domination, rather suggests (some) change is in the air.
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This is nothing. If you think this is bad or really old stuff, you should see what's on sale on the anime shelves and stores (online or not).
There's far more anime on sale officially these days compared to having to really hunt for them in the 90s and earlier. But someway, somehow, licensed anime selection is horrid.
Really guys, how many shelf spots can Dragon Ball Z and Naruto really take?
No surprise here. Those who refuse to go with subs naturally limit what they can watch. In doing so they fail to acquire a taste for good Anime. Kind of sad but some of them are bound to eventually find something they want to watch that isn't dubbed, expand their horizons, and maybe even land themselves here.
Yeah, good taste in anime. We can watch fan subs that have horrible grammar, timing errors, horrible literal translations and all for what?
Some generic Moeblob/Harem shit?
No thanks.
And besides there are literally THOUSANDS of shows that have been dubbed/subbed on Blu-Ray/DVD/VHS/Laserdisc over the years to watch.
So our selection is hardly limited.
Are you kidding me? I would rather do some research on which fansub is the best than get bitch-slapped with an official sub whose lines have been altered to be better accepted by the average joe american and his american culture. Fansubs typically have karaoke as well where as official subs don't bother. Fansubs sometimes go to the extent of giving different characters a different colored font. Official subs also have issues with stacking lines on top of each other. Really good fansubs tend to be done by those who want their subs to enhance and not detract from the enjoyment of the Anime. Official subs obviously don't give a shit. Ironic that quality subs are done by those that are not payed.
Are you serious? If you want to stay even *remotely current* (as in, at least within several years), fansubs will let you do that. Also, the translations have improved. Some bad ones, some great ones. Dig around a bit.
Otherwise, it takes years, upon years, upon years for a show to come over. A rare few get brought over to US shores quickly (and I highly stress RARE). But in all likeliness, there's a horrible turnaround time for an official domestic release.
Not to mention, if your taste in anime isn't what's considered "meainstream" in the industry, then you're never going to see an official release.
There's great shows that have never, and I expect, never will see official releases here in the USA.
Macross Zero? Macross Frontier? What about the immense awesomeness of Legend of Galactic Heroes?
Again, just like what I said in my post: Just exactly how much space can Dragonball Z and Naruto take on store shelves in the USA?
Fansubbers provide a service to the fans overseas because the industry won't react fast enough, or worse, just won't do anything.
God help you if you want to see a show that isn't a "Flavor of the Month."
You, sir, have obviously not bothered to watch any fansubs lately.
Either that, or you just don't bother looking around to find out which fansub groups actually deliver quality work. In that case, you deserver to watch your crap quality subs.
he's still probably living in the early 90's, where fansubs are distributed thru VHS tapes and the subs are translated by fans who are noob in video editing.
Where have you been for the last 10 years? Fansub quality has skyrocketed since the 90s. Engrish translations are a thing of the past.
Judging by the Barnes & Noble's throughout NYC and what they tend to have on stock, or what they re-stock the quickest, I would say that this list is pretty accurate (since we are just talking about sales and nothing more).
And seeing HOTD and K-ON was surprising initially, but when I really thought about it, it makes sense. The B&Ns I've been to in NYC (along with Kinokuniya in Manhattan) usually have at least a few copies of each series, and when new volumes come out they have been pretty quick to get them. So I guess it was more than just me buying the HOTD volumes ^_^
I am a bit dissapointed however to not see Negima on the list (and I definitely don't mean Negima!?Neo). It is the series that I collect the most of, and B&N always seems to have a slew of volumes. But once again, this is a list purely based on how well the series sell, not quality or what is "the best". I guess Negima doesn't sell as well as I previously thought.
And now on a completely separate note, I hope that one of these publishers brings the Seikon no Qwaser Manga back to the states now that Tokyopop has folded, as I do really enjoy that Manga (and I do mean just the Manga). However it was a small miracle that the series even came to America in the first place considering it's content. And miracles tend not to happen twice. I just hope that a new publisher proves me wrong. I bought the 1st 2 volumes while it was under Tokyopop, and I'm ready to start buying once again if someone picks it back up.
Negima being missing surprised me as well. Love Hina was very popular, and Negima is honestly a better series then that.
The fact air gear is missing surprises me. The art quality is astounding. It should be bought just to be marvelled at lol. Is negima still running? This ranking is based on volume sales for this year. I know a lot of people that bought negima but the sales being based on this year alone would be a good reason for it not to be on the list if its not s
till in mid run.
Negima (Mahou Sensei Negima as well as Negime Neo!) are both still printing and selling in the US their absence from the list (as well as Air Gear!) is very upsetting, especially since I own like all the copies for both XD Is my contributions in vein!?
Air Gear is running on fanservice. The story is lame and the characters don't evolve.
they are seriously deprived
I'm quite surprised as well.
I understand Death Note and so on but, One piece at 11 and soul eater? Something is definitely off.
And yes I agree with VillainousHanacha because MY friend's dad works in that industry.
P.S. MUCH BETTER THAN THOSE SHITTY 2CH TROLLING ANIME POLL LIST. ┐(oーo)┌
It's pretty simple actually. Bleach and Naruto had proper anime runs on TV that kids watch. One Piece was originally mangled by 4kids and likely placed on a timeslot that didn't grab the underage crowd as well. As far as I'm aware, FUNimation hasn't bothered to re-market the One Piece anime as well as Viz has Naruto and Bleach, and that definitely has an impact on manga sales.
one piece deserves to be #1
but theres a lot of reasons why it isn't.
1. exposure
2. length
3. people cant get past the art style
these are the underlying issues why one piece is behind.
but anyone who has no problem going through ALL of it or at least some of it to get hooked, will come to love it!
Lol i loved it as soon as i finished volume one (One Piece). Thank god my school library had volumes 1-54 for me to borrow and read :D Lucky guy arent I?
I also like Naruto, but Bleach? Why? Bleach was awesome until after the Soul Society arc :/
holy shit, someone talking sense.
on the internet.
a far cry from what 2ch would say im sure
aye it is, 4Kids turned it into a stupid pokemon target and most of the people buying the manga's probably grew up seeing that marketing and thus havnt bothered to look into it. Berserk imho is better then bleach and naruto.
wow that is probably the most accurate analysis of why bleach or naruto is on the top and why one piece isn't.
agreed
1 and 2 should be thrown to the garbage
I do like naruto but top 1 it's too much...
bleach on other hand shouldn't even be on this list I don't even know how this still sells... The soul society arc were really good but after that it was only crap after crap
Naruto was fine :) Here in Asia its very popular. It is the top watched anime here (And Japan) so I wasnt surprised. But all of us know One Piece is much better than them all!
It was mentioned in a post above. Bleach and Naruto have proper anime runs that kids watch, therefore, manga sales are higher. And don't forget, this isn't a list of quality, it's a list of top sellers.
Bleach is text book shounen manga
I consider Naruto textbook shounen. At least half the list is entry level stuff. I'm most surprised at Yotsuba! and HSOTD being there even if ranked low.
There are worse ones on that list than naruto and bleach
You obviously dont know about good manga's, Naruto, OP and Dragon ball are great manga's, yeah Bleach is garbage, but not OP or Naruto, even though I dont like DBZ no more and never really like it before but I have to say it was great, my fav anime/manga of all time is Soul eater but is not any better than Naruto or OP, I hate when people hate on something just because they dont like it.
Lol then u must have watched the anime. I didnt like them cuz they took too long and reading is faster :)
Oh yeah, what about Death Note? thats awesome too! Kira FTW!
I think that Bleach should be thrown to the garbage but not Naruto, its just number 1 because people like it more in America but from that list only OP can beat Naruto, or Dragon ball maybe, but not the others Naruto> any manga in that list except for OP or Dragon ball.
naruto dragon ball bleach and one piece are world garbage too annoying
I agree as well...:P
YOU should be thrown to the garbage :)
Bleach,garbage- AYE!..naruto on the other hand is readable, it also has somewhat of a plot,unlike bleach
Just like One Piece ehh? Bleach and Naruto appeal to their demographic, little bitches like you don't matter.
@11:43: If you think that Naruto and OP are "great mangas", you need help or you just don't know about great manga.
If you think that Naruto and OP are garbage you need help or you just dont know about great mangas.
Lolwut ur saying bleach has a strong story? Lol Naruto and OP are the ones that do, not bleach. OP especially, it has sad, funny, awesome, happy all in one!
If you think Naruto and OP are great mangas, you do need help.
So many problems with both of them, so many problems. Bleach as well, but at least Bleach and One Piece have a coherent storyline that one can follow.
Can't say the same for Naruto.
appeal to those with no dreams
SLING AND SCORE
Sad I can't comment, as I'm not an American nor do I live in America. However, the general trend seems to be that the popular Manga are what appeals to the general, casual Manga reading populace and not the niche Otaku.
As mentioned in the article, this trend seems to be changing due to the emergance of more niche titles like K-On! and HSotD.
From this, we can assume that either the number of niche fans are growing or that the general Manga reading audience are becoming more adventurous and in tune to the trends in Japan.
Popular manga are popular.
I don't know Actar. There's some of the popular stuff like Naruto and the like, but I've see a huge rise with the fangirls. Apparently they were starting to become a big part of American fandom with Inuyasha and Gundam Wing (Those shows were basically before my time), but it seems manga-wise they're getting a boost. Like Vampire Knight all the way up there. I see Skip Beat being a great seller and I'm surprised it didn't make the list. And it's very cool to see Shugo Chara selling well too.
I think Western anime/manga fans are savvy, though the habit of buying the items instead of just going online to get them all may be hampering sales a bit. I definitely urge all fans to try to support the industry somehow. So that the more artsy, experimental manga can become localized.
They forgot POKEMON and ....Ben 10 LOL
Ben 10 is an American cartoon and as far as I know, not a Japanese manga!
As for Pokemon...NOBODY cares.
Troll.
it. include in a japan anime convension 2010
u got pwnd
Agreed especially on the Negima bit. Oh and what I want to see relicensed is Karin/Chibi Vampire I want me some novel 9 already I have the rest of it already and I want that one last book.
im even more surprised that maximum ride made it on there, thats pure epic.
naruto my fav im a proud to be called Narutard!!!!!!!
More like fuck-tard.