Light Novel Online Sales Ranking For 2008

by dtshyk
Dec 3, 2008 4:13 PM | 18 Comments

Here are Amazon Japan online sales rankings for Dec 1st 2007 - Nov 30th 2008.
*Note: Only one volume ranks from one series.

DVD
*1, Rebuild of Evangelion: 1.0 YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE
*2, Kara no Kyoukai 2: Satsujin Kousatsu (Part 1)
*3, Macross Frontier vol.1 Blu-ray
*4, Code Geass - Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 vol.1
*5, Mobile Suit Gundam Memorial Box
*6, Clannad vol.3
*7, Lucky ☆ Star OVA
*8, Mobile Suit Gundam 00 vol.7
*9, Gintama Season 3 vol.1
10, Ookiku Furikabutte vol.9

Manga
*1, Nodame Cantabile vol.20
*2, Yotsuba&! vol.8
*3, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Wide Box Edition
*4, Fullmetal Alchemist vol.19
*5, Saint ☆ Oniisan vol.1
*6, Mahou Sensei Negima! vol.24 with OAD
*7, Pluto vol.6
*8, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei vol.15 with OAD
*9, Rozen Maiden vol.7 Limited Edition
10, Moyashimon vol.6 with a stuffed Oryzae

11, Hunter x Hunter vol.25
12, One Piece vol.49
13, Lucky ☆ Star vol.6
14, Black Lagoon vol.8
15, Kyou no Nekomura-san vol.3
16, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin vol.17
17, Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku
18, Ookiku Furikabutte vol.9
19, Tsukihime vol.6
20, Vagabond vol.28

Light Novel
*1. Zero no Tsukaima vol.13
*2. Spice and Wolf vol.1
*3. Full Metal Panic! Approaching Nick of Time
*4, Saiunkoku Monogatari vol.4
*5, Junrui wa Suitai Shimashita vol.1
*6, Toaru Hikoushi eno Tsuioku
*7, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya vol.1
*8, Arslan Senki vol.13
*9, Maria-sama ga Miteru Margaret ni Ribbon
10, Toradora! vol.7

Source: Amazon Best DVD of 2008
Source: Amazon Best Books of 2008

18 Comments Recent Comments

Cihan said:
Over 2 million people voted in that though. Whether there were multi-postings or not, its still a general indicator of what was most popular in that year in Japan. Its not that we care what they think is the 'best' but what a mass of people in one country found popular in a specific year.

I'd even say thats more reliable than the sales ranking, considering our 'downloading' habits and all...

Don't think 2 million votes means 2 million people. You can post 100 votes in one access and repeat the voting limitless number of times. There was a competition between Korean sola fans and Japanese Lucky Star fans. This voting was started in September, and sola was put to the list on Nov 14. A Korean anime fan BBS introduced this web voting in Nov and a huge crowd of Korean fans started to vote to sola, Oofuri, Reborn, Gintama. Gray-man. Japanese fans noticed something wrong with the voting and they also did multi-posting to Lucky Star. And a "war" broke out. sola got 180,000 votes during the last 9 days and ranked 1st in the final result on Dec 21st. This ranking reflects the degree of the enthusiasm of the fans and the power of the voting scripts they used.

Dec 7, 2008 8:18 PM by dtshyk

Over 2 million people voted in that though. Whether there were multi-postings or not, its still a general indicator of what was most popular in that year in Japan. Its not that we care what they think is the 'best' but what a mass of people in one country found popular in a specific year.

I'd even say thats more reliable than the sales ranking, considering our 'downloading' habits and all...

Dec 7, 2008 8:01 PM by Beatnik

Cihan said:

dtshyk said:
I don't think such an online survey is reliable. As for the case of the vote in 2007, some sola fan cheated by multi-posting, so the result was biased. The sales ranking is the most objective and reliable.

Well I cant remember the details but it was an 'official' survey, dont know if it was online or offline (I think it was offline...) but it was a big deal. At the end of the day you could say any survey isnt reliable really, whether you have proof or not, but its interesting to have public surveys and see what their preference is.

I think you meant this survey.
http://www.vsist.com/ranking/57
This is an online survey done by a research company "Spider Networks". (I wouldn't call this an "official" survey.)
Anyone can participate in this vote, so in the comment section you can see a terrible quarrel between Japanese and Korean anime fans over the multi-postings to sola.

Dec 7, 2008 7:55 PM by dtshyk

Dec 7, 2008 7:37 PM by Beatnik

Cihan said:
Last year I stumbled onto danny choo's site where he posted a link to a list of Japan's most popular (voted I think, not most watched) anime of 2007 (sola was inexplicably #1) so I'd really like to know what most Japanese preferred this year. If anyone finds that list, please do post it.

I don't think such an online survey is reliable. As for the case of the vote in 2007, some sola fan cheated by multi-posting, so the result was biased. The sales ranking is the most objective and reliable.

Dec 7, 2008 7:27 PM by dtshyk

It's good to see Evangelion on top again :D

Dec 7, 2008 8:51 AM by CitizenGeek

Last year I stumbled onto danny choo's site where he posted a link to a list of Japan's most popular (voted I think, not most watched) anime of 2007 (sola was inexplicably #1) so I'd really like to know what most Japanese preferred this year. If anyone finds that list, please do post it.

Dec 7, 2008 8:20 AM by Beatnik

Yes!! A lot of my favorite animes and mangas got on there like Code Geass, Gintama, Fullmetal Alchemist, Yotsuba&!, One Piece, and of course Miyazaki's Nausicaa!! ^-^

Dec 7, 2008 8:07 AM by removed-user

Yes for:
Manga:
FMA (great stuff)
Tsukihime (well, even if anime was never made, manga is sure doing great)
Pluto (this thing seriously lacks attention in internetz community)
Vagabond (hey at least its in top 20 -__-)

Novels:
S&W - good stuff deserves good sales.

DVD:
Yay for MSG and MSG-00 for getting into top 10
TRIPLE YES FOR KNK AS No2 in TOP 10 (goes off to rewatch the existing KnK parts)

Dec 5, 2008 9:46 AM by Ahenshihael

Kinokuniya Bookstore "offline" manga sales ranking for 2008

*1, NANA vol.19
*2, Nodame Cantabile vol.20
*3, NANA vol.20
*4, Nodame Cantabile vol.21
*5, One Piece vol.50
*6, One Piece vol.49
*7, One Piece vol.48
*8, One Piece vol.51
*9, Fullmetal Alchemist vol.19
10, Saint ☆ Oniisan vol.1
11, Fullmetal Alchemist vol.20
12, Hana Yori Dango vol.37
13, Fullmetal Alchemist vol.18
14, Naruto vol.42
15, Naruto vol.41
16, Naruto vol.43
17, 3 Gatsu no Lion vol.1
18, Hunter x Hunter vol.25
19, Saint ☆ Oniisan vol.2
20, Kimi ni Todoke vol.6

Source: Kinokuniya Best Comic ranking (PDF file)

It's interesting to see the difference between the online and offline sales.

Dec 5, 2008 8:14 AM by dtshyk

This list is pretty boring to me, as in what works ranked. :) Looking forward to the next round!

Dec 4, 2008 8:29 AM by shinkeikaku

kimatg said:
interesting to see that Spice and Wolf / Suzumiya Haruhi light novel volume 1s were sold that many though it wasn't their first year. :P

It's even more interesting in Haruhi's case, since there's not even an anime to up the hype. Spice and Wolf had the anime season to spark interest.

Dec 4, 2008 3:36 AM by Leon-Gun

wow kara no kyoukai is still at the top... and YAY Tsukihime 6 is out.. and in the top 20 XD

type-moon just keeps representing there greatness XD

Dec 3, 2008 11:21 PM by Ketuekigami

interesting to see that Spice and Wolf / Suzumiya Haruhi light novel volume 1s were sold that many though it wasn't their first year. :P

Dec 3, 2008 10:13 PM by zvuc

dtshyk said:
Saint ☆ Oniisan vol.1

ROFL.

Also, woo SZS.

Dec 3, 2008 8:13 PM by kasumisama

Yay for SZS.

Dec 3, 2008 4:58 PM by Tenchio

It's nice to see light novel ranking as well. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita looks like it would make a perfect anime/manga adaptation.