Japan's Weekly Blu-ray & CD Rankings for Nov 24 - 30

illiara said:
IS 2 ova.
everybody has been talked about this one.
does it even any good?
given how bad the s2 was.

Kaioshin_Sama said:
It's tough to readily compete against a fanbase that literally prostrates itself before images of the characters and I'm not trying to be disparaging here, that's pretty much just what's going on here. 2D images have that level of power and influence over people and it's not like we're talking totalitarian cults of personality here

Kaioshin_Sama said:


As for 2D, I am starting to get a theory about it: when it comes to being a "fan" 2D will never disappoint. Since they don't really exist they won't do "stupid" things like get married or get caught coming out of a man's apartment, they remain pristine and perfect; even better if the fan goes the other way, they can have the 2D serve as a dutch wife in hentai that no human would ever do, while always remaining pure. So they literally are all things for all people.

In a way its like resentment. Nothing can ever take it away.

Kaioshin_Sama said:


Honestly for people not into that sort of stuff there's rarely ever interesting news when it comes to sales. You just sort of have to laugh it off for what it is and learn to take it more as just a study of markets and sub cultures which is how I made my peace with it all. It really just is what it is, greed and marketability to otaku and the right kind of branding and packaging of the product is what gets rewarded with high sales and figuring out the right formula or what some show did to achieve those sales and the discussions that happen from that are the actual interesting parts of these threads to me at least while the rest of it is just kind of cheer leading for the people that are into those sorts of things. Some people think you're being a hater if you choose to see it that way but oh well really.

Realistically unlike most people I see absolutely nothing worth celebrating when it comes to sales of anime cause it's not like I stand to lose or gain anything from it monetary or entertainment wise. Somehow despite rarely selling gangbusters a lot of shows I like tend to get sequels or followups anyway and it's not like I need to see my favorite shows making mad money in order to feel empowered or whatever it is that it does for other people. It's literally just a study in marketing and branding from my perspective.

iLostReason said:
No matter how it looks like, I absolutely not take these sales in a serious way.I just find it nice and it makes me happy when shows i like are selling well - it shows that those titles are liked by others as well and get even higher chances for sequels.That's all that there is to it for me.As for top 4 I mentioned, i just felt kinda annoyed that after such long time -week after week from probably years-, most of the time (!) nothing changes and same types of shows (moe/harem/fanservice) are ''rocking'' the rankings while some other good titles can't make it to top 10.I guess i should say that I'm waiting for the day that something will happen and everything will change (like lots of others), but it definitely doesn't seem like I'm going to see it soon.I'm not even saying that these shows are that bad, because i enjoy LL!, but because of it selling like crazy, there will be another 20 idol shows that try to beat it, and then another 20 because 1 of previous 20 succeeded.Never ending circle.

Hoppy said:


Merchandise is selling out for that anime as well, just the Dakimakura of Angela alone sold out the day after it was announced for preorder.

j0x said:


yep glorious merchandise even Urobuchi loves it

Hoppy said:

Is that life sized Angela doll for sale? Probably not but it won't hurt to ask anyway.

j0x said:


i got no idea, but i will not be surprise if that is for sale although it will be expensive as hell lol

FloatingList said:


the single of Hikaru Nara has it's rank going down...

okay....

Ejc said:


I don't see anything out of the ordinary. It sold 16,657 last week, so unless it has a ridiculous sales boost (which rarely happens), it will only go down in rank.

Need to reiterate this again... look at the sales not the rank. The rank is only an indicator of the sales relative to other singles charting this week (so no competition could mean a higher rank, etc etc), and whether it will have its sales counted (Top 200).

Kaioshin_Sama said:


I know it's the fact that nothing changes that tends to be kind of irksome about in the long run as opposed to anything particular against specific shows that I don't even watch. The same old studio, the same old producers, the same old concepts and ideas rewarded season after season with seemingly no regard for anything else but that the status quo must apparently be maintained with maybe the odd interruption once or twice a year. It just makes it look like anime has a very limited future creatively when it looks like in a lot of cases some creators really don't even have to try and can rely on marketing and for others no matter how hard they try nothing will ever come of it. I suggest this sort of thing and people just typically get angry and call me a hater, but like it makes Anno look right when he suggests that anime is facing a crisis and new people aren't going to want to get involved with it when it looks like they just get stuck in a dead end low paying job serving some commercial interest and never amount to anything significant artistically or creatively.

We'll just see what happens with Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls this coming season which has the financial backing and marketing of the two biggest multimedia forces in the business in Bandai Namco and Aniplex. Japanese viewers are already pretty much saying there's no point in even trying to guess the next best seller next season as a result of it and that anything less than 30K bare minimum is pretty much out of the question and I see no reason to think they could possibly be wrong considering the sheer marketability, money and promotion behind the whole project. I'm not sure though that you're going to see 20+ new mega successful idol franchises every year now though, just whatever Bandai Namco wills to profit since they have all the means necessary to mass market these projects from every step of the process. Sunrise or A-1 can handle the animation, Lantis handles the music, Bandai Namco Games can handle any game tie ins as well and Kadokawa Shoten can handle any necessary publishing material.

The thing is right now there currently is no competition for Bandai Namco when it comes to these idol shows, they own the rights to the big three Love Live, Idolmaster and Aikatsu all of which make millions for them basically just by existing thanks to the video game tie ins that operate around micro transactions and the music sales I mentioned earlier. Some people might mention WUG but that franchise can't even begin to compare to the smallest of the big 3 in terms of scope since Ordet just doesn't have the resources and marketing that the big 3 can bring to bear.

Kaioshin_Sama said:


http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/08/05/subway-car-decorated-with-anime-idols-literally-brings-fans-to-their-knees-in-shanghai/

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4hblCBbXC_w/UoTUv33BVOI/AAAAAAAAATU/XeA1RgZo864/s1600/ll+hardcore.jpg

It's tough to readily compete against a fanbase that literally prostrates itself before images of the characters and I'm not trying to be disparaging here, that's pretty much just what's going on here. 2D images have that level of power and influence over people and it's not like we're talking totalitarian cults of personality here.