Japan's Weekly Blu-ray & CD Rankings for Oct 14 - Oct 20

symbv said:
Actually I would say it has already happened. In Japan the reputation of Gainax is easily lower than Gonzo and Deen.

Gonzo is similar to Gainax in that it is still recovering from bad fortune though in Gonzo's case it was something catastrophic involving restructuring on its parent's level. So it has been doing mostly subcontractor's works after its renewal in 2009. Overseas fans often still think the current Gonzo in terms of the old Gonzo and comment on it as if it was still the old Gonzo whether in a good or bad sense, which could not be more wrong and ridiculous. On the other hand, Gainax declined by haemorrhaging talents and poorly managing its intrinsic strength. While Gonzo can be viewed as slowly but gradually finding its feet (its recent primary studio work Kimi no Iru Machi is doing not bad) it is much harder to say the same for Gainax.

Deen is even further from a dump studio than Gainax or Gonzo. It clearly has taken on a reputation to do mostly mediocre works, but still they are doing lots of work year in year out. And even if the sales were not impressive, it seems that their work were often judged sufficient success for sequel to be made e.g. Kore wa Zombie desuka, Nurarihyon no Mago, Sekai Ichi no Hatsukoi, Hiiro no Kakera, and Hakuouki series can even be called a success. A lot of what they do now are skewed towards the female audience, which could be even harder for us to judge how successful they are. By contrast, Gainax has done a lot less work than Deen, does not even have any work that can claim to be a success after 2008, and have got a reputation among fans of doing what please themselves instead of finding out what would entertain the fans, and basically a wacko studio. At least nobody would think Deen is such a "dump studio".

symbv said:
One thing to note is that compared to Gainax, Gonzo and Deen, Silver Link has a much shorter history: Established only in 2008 but at first only did subcontractor works. They did not start working as a primary studio until 2011 (and it was only one anime, the disastrous C-cube).

I would say fans still reserve judgement for this studio and do not hold a firm opinion or reputation expectation for it, which could be a good thing because very few people would say "oh it is Silver Link so WataMote/Strike the Blood/Illya/Non Non Byori would be like this!". They would focus more on the key staff, which anyway is usually the more appropriate way to set your expectation about a series - just ask yourself, if an adaptation is butchered or poorly adapted, would you say it is the responsibility of the director and the screenplay, or the studio?

And I think this has helped Silver Link to slowly but surely build up its reputation. WataMote generated good comments about its directing, art and sound choice. Illya clearly sold well. Strike the Blood significantly boosts the sales of LN. Non Non Byori is a series I have seen the most "better than expected" comments in forums like 2ch among anime this cour (though Walkure Romanze comes close). They are all done in the same year (this year) and they all look a bit different from each other. And this compares very well with last year when they did 3 full-length anime (OniAi, Dusk maiden of Amnesia, Kokoro Connect) and 1 short anime (Chitose getchu!), not to say 2011 (only C-cube).