Top 25 Anime You Can’t Believe Sold This Badly!
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Apr 10, 2012 03:03 JST
- Tags: Astarotte no Omocha, Blu-ray, DVD, Marketing, Otaku, Rankings, Sales, Statistics
Fans of anime distressed by the pathetically poor disc sales of some much loved titles share their choice of the most disappointing sales performances, some of which are surprising – whether due to their apparent popularity or the expectation that they would ever sell at all…
The rankings, with the number of sales in brackets (unknown sales numbers are usually the result of sales so embarrassingly bad that publishers obligingly refrain from making them public below a certain threshold):
1. Astarotte no Omocha (BD+DVD 1) [1,316]
2. True Tears (DVD 1) [2,869]
3. Ben-To (BD+DVD 1) [2,101]
4. Mirai Nikki (BD+DVD 1) [2,336]
5. The World God Only Knows 2 (BD+DVD 1) [2,266]
6. Arakawa Under The Bridge x Bridge (BD+DVD 1) [2,557]
7. Chihayafuru (BD+DVD 1) [Unknown]
8. Kamisama Dolls (BD+DVD 1) [1,437]
9. Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2 (BD+DVD 1) [2,353]
10. C (BD+DVD 1) [1,640]
11. Kill Me Baby (BD+DVD1) [696]
12. Ikoku Meiro no Croisée (BD+DVD 1) [1,486]
13. Un-Go (BD+DVD 1) [1,546]
14. Kimi to Boku (BD+DVD 1) [1,853]
15. C3 (BD+DVD 1) [2,038]
16. Kaichou wa Maid-sama (BD+DVD 1) [1,101]
17. Mitsudomoe (BD+DVD 1) [1,302]
18. Zettai Karen Children (DVD 1) [2,588]
19. Heaven’s Memo Pad (BD+DVD 1) [1,550]
20. Zero no Tsukaima F (BD+DVD 1) [Unknown]
21. Shakugan no Shana 3 (BD+DVD 1) [2,828]
22. Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu! (BD+DVD 1) [1,158]
23. Fairy Tail (DVD 1) [Unknown]
24. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (BD 1) [509]
25. And Yet The Town Moves (BD+DVD 1) [1,718]
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I can understand why almost all of these have poor sales.
Surprised Kill Me Baby managed to sell at all to be honest.
so true!
I watched like the first 10mins of the first episode and thought like "give me back my 10minutes of lifetime!!"
ugh... worst anime ever
If you decided the show's value in the first 10 minutes, then that speaks volumes of your own objectivity.
they dont need to sell DVDs or BDs to make money, the money is in merchandise, and especially manga (10 euros for a crappy quality black and white SMALL 200 page booklet??!!) thats whi 90 percent of anime doesnt "end" they want you to buy the manga, which is a lot harder to pirate than the anime BTW (yes you can read it online but you dont see anyone selling pirated tomes of series is just not cost effective at small scales, anime on the other hand you can get in beautifull quality 20+ chapters per bluray in 720p, at least in my country is easy an cheap to obtain, even easier than downloading it yourself)
Not really. Kill me baby was polarizing, either you loved it or hated it. I saw two episodes and gave up.
I agree, and I liked it!
It's funny but it's the kind that you just laugh at and then move on from. I probably wont watch it again once I finish.
I'm surprised that Usui didn't buy every copy of Maid-sama.
When I saw that I was a little sad it didn't sell more ;_;
I'm not really surprised though. I love the manga, but the animu is totally shitty.
I feel the opposite. The anime was glorious but the manga was shitty.
iirc, the anime was exactly like the manga, but it didnt end, it just stopped .. and you have to pick up the manga after.
I didn't mean the story itself, but the quality. I don't think the characters are drawn as gorgeous as in the manga, for example.
Same. This is 1 of my favorite anime =/
Especially Shakugan no Shana 3
I think you replied to the wrong comment.
I hate to sound like a jackass, but let's be honest and say if it wasn't for the tits and ass...MOST OTAKU would not be watching anime!!
So you're not familiar with train otaku, military otaku, etc? Or the anime that appeal to them?
@The Vile Smile You clearly don't know what the hell you are talking about. There are MULTIPLE types of Otaku, and most of the best sellers aren't even the ones with T&A.
People are not as simple as to classified in types. It's the other way around. There are different types of anime designed to appeal to people who enjoy that particular archetype.
I had no idea that Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 sold THAT badly. I liked it so much...
If it's not Moe!!!
It's got to go!!!
where is shangri-la? that show was bad
This is about anime that it's a surprise when it sells bad. Bad anime selling badly is not a surprise.
You can practically think of it as a limited edition, one of only a few thousand! It just isn't numbered.
Some of those titles really deserved better.
I blame their prices. Almost a hundred bucks for 2 episodes, c'mon.
I think They could sell a lot more if they just lowered the price a little or but more episodes on a disc, but I highly doubt they will.
@Anon 03:46: You've just hit the nail on the head. Prices for DVDs and Blu-ray discs are indeed scandalously high in Japan. This list just proves the point of consumers being careful buyers. Prices really need to come down to earth.
That is a joke. The prices I mean.
If I like an anime series, I'll just use RealPlayer Downloader to download it to my flash-drive. For FREE.
That way, the show won't be profitable, so it won't get a second season! Aren't economics fun?
He's not hurting sales when these shows are being sold ONLY in Japan.
If you can't profit from your product, you are using the wrong business model. That's how free market economics works.
pay 80 dollars for 2 episodes
/derp
This is really odd, Mirai Nikki is still airing on TV and disc are here like 6-8 weeks so its no that bad I think.
Yeah, this only proves the theory that sales/ratings of anime without tits are poor.
I think that theory is correct because, just why buy them?
I mean in most of these, they have really nothing added from the time when they rolled out from TV. If there is no uncensoring to be done they should just add lot of extras into them... Like those short DVD specials(Yuru Yuri), commentaries like they did in Ore no Imouto or something like that.
They have a collector value for some people, but yeah, that's how it goes typically.
Lower those fucking high prices about 25% - 40%.
And maybe they will make some more money.
2 EPISODES FOR $60 - $90 BUCKS CONVERTED TO YEN IS INSANE!!!
They did try to lower them a few years back. It turned out that sales didn't increase by much. Or at least not enough to justify the discounts.
@Loli Can't Wait
When was this? And by how much was the price lowered?
Unfortunately, The Vile Smile and the upvoters clearly have no idea about the anime industry's business model.
It's quite simple - the DVD/BD sales are the main money-making vehicle for the production. The market for them is beyond tiny (a fraction of one percent of the population), so cutting the retail price won't increase sales all that much. Cutting them by 40% would turn just about every anime into a loss-maker.
@16:43 Well then the anime industry needs to change their business model. I don't know exactly what that would entail----probably a shift toward lots of sponsors---but there are other entertainment industries in Japan that aren't so DVD/BD-reliant, so it's not impossible.
Then make stuff that people besides otaku will buy? It's crazy, I know!
In the first place the prices are only so high because otaku were buying them, when no one expected them to.
Startet with VHS and stuff, that were sold to, what were they called again.. this place were you go to, to rent VHS for a weekend..
Anyway, turned out not only those places that made a living of renting out VHS bought these anime, but otaku also. And they continue to.
Damn, if they didn't start to buy at these prices we probably wouldn't even have an anime market as we know it. Because, funny thing is, they started buying around 1982 and guess when anime as we know it started out?
Arakawa Under The Bridge x Bridge, Chihayafuru, Kaichou wa Maid-sama, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Mirai Nikki, The World God Only Knows, and Astarotte no Omocha(to some extend) should have sold higher. What the fu%$ is wrong with Japanese Otaku...
I think almost all the shows in the list should have sold 10 times higher. But the price of getting even one DVD filled with only 2 or 3 episodes is absurd. Even if you are a fan of the show, buying it is just not really an option if you don't have money to throw around (or live off of parents' allowance)
Have you seen Kamisama Dolls? Tits are two of the main characters.
It has less to do with "tits" and more do to with the "price" and"extras." The Animation industry in Japan had low expectations for "YuruYuri" and it outperformed all of these show 3-1. And none of those in the cast have large busts. Its a moe-gag show with middle-school lesbians all over the place.
I suspect the reason why Yuruyuri sold more was because of its low price(yes 5000-6000 yen is "low" in Japan) and the extras it came with it(interview with Seiyus,hand-drawn illustrations, etc).
The committee behind the YuruYuri animation were smart. They knew that by being attentive to their fans, it was going to sell. Its was a big risk but it turned out well for them.
Yep, the high prices are what's killing their sales. Maybe the most popular anime can make a decent profit selling at those price levels, but most people aren't going to consider purchasing anime when it costs a week's wages for a season, especially anime they are only moderately interested in.
Maybe they have experimented with lowering the prices before, but I think this is something where the prices need to stay significantly lower over time to get more people in the habit of collecting the shows they watch. Otherwise, you just have otaku buying anime on a regular basis, and they only have so much money to go around.
Perhaps digital sales could take hold in the near future, with a much lower price point coming with the new medium. Without having to invest in manufacturing discs, they could offer anime for something more like 500 yen an episode or less, and keep them available at the virtual storefront for years to come. Maybe they could offer a lower-resolution streaming rental for something like 100 yen per episode, and allow viewers to upgrade to a permanent HD copy for a few hundred yen more. It might take a few years to fully catch on, but this kind impulse-priced model could greatly expand the market in the long-term.
Yes, c'mon Funimation this is your chance to make some money if you do this!
But first, let your services be worldwide, I don't like missing out :( I really do wanna buy some anime
Moe is obviously a big selling point in anime as well as tits.
NO TITS = NO SALES
NO ASS = NO SALES
NO SEXUAL SUGGESTIVE SCENES = NO SALES!!!
When the fuck are the producers gonna learn.
More than 80% of Otaku watch anime for the tits and ass!!!
Are you looking at the same list I am?
Not true!
I want to see a great story and a great character design.
No great story/characters, no buy.
You're in the minority. Think it was Funimation that has stated that fanservice shows are their biggest sellers, dramas are the worst.
The amount sold doesn't mean the quality :P But I do guess you're right.
loli puz then it would be skyrocket!
more like proof of just how DEAD the anime market really is. not that japan will admit this. instead they'll just blame foreigners.
Hm?
All I see is proof that Japanese people can always just record it. For all we know, many of their TVs have built-in HDD recorder that can then burn into Bluray/DVD. Just set record timer, and saved that much money.
But of course they'll just blame foreigners that watch whatever those people recorded.
Sorry but, there is just not gonna be a plentiful market for anime that never got aired or anything. Not many would drop that amount of cash for some unknown show barely anyone has ever heard of. Just to once again show that piracy is making the out-of-Japan anime market.
Well, there's no inclusion of the argument for online streaming sales and things like that. I asked the Funimation reps at conventions about how they survive, and they said 'DVD sales are terrible everywhere, anime's no exception, even though strangely the sales for anime dipped less than for movies proportionately. What is keeping the business running are companies who stream now and keep up with Japan, as well as Netflix.'
Basically it's just what we all knew was happening but hate to admit: the physical media is steadily dying even though we want it. But apparently we only want it for nostalgia.
I had a roommate who once watched a movie on TV, with commercials, when we had the DVD sitting right there in the living room.
Does Japan even really have a streaming business for anime?
>DVD sales are terrible everywhere
no shit, only a retard is going to buy a dvd, when they can wait for the bluray.
Maybe its proof that Japan has actually good taste... I only wonders what is Mirai Nikki doing there?