Japan's Weekly Anime DVD Rankings For Feb 23 - Mar 8

by dtshyk
Mar 10, 2009 5:53 PM | 11 Comments

Here is the Anime DVD sales rankings for these two weeks.

February 23rd - March 1st
Rank/ This week's sales/ Total sales/ Title
*1, 23,402 23,402 The Sky Crawlers *without BD
*2, 12,463 12,463 Kuroshitsuji vol.2 Limited Edition
*3, 12,146 12,146 Gintama Season 3 vol.7
*4, 11,980 11,980 Strike Witches vol.6 Limited Edition
*5, *9,737 *9,737 Kannagi vol.4 Limited Edition
*6, *9,653 *9,653 Natsume Yuujinchou vol.5 Limited Edition
*7, *9,369 *9,369 Toradora! vol.2 Limited Edition
*8, *7,472 *7,472 Hidamari Sketch x 365 vol.6 Limited Edition
*9, *7,069 30,882 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.1 *without BD
10, *6,989 *6,989 Sekirei vol.5 Limited Edition

11, *6,741 *6,741 Ikkitousen: Great Guardians vol.6
12, *6,178 23,146 Code Geass - Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 vol.7 *without BD
13, *5,897 *5,897 Hokuto no Ken -Zero Kenshiro Den Limited Edition
14, *5,884 *5,884 Junjo Romantica 2 vol.2 Limited Edition
15, *5,711 *5,711 To Aru Majutsu no Index vol.2 Limited Edition *without BD
16, *5,377 *5,377 To-LOVE-Ru vol.8 Limited Edition
17, *4,795 *4,795 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei vol.1 Collectors' Edition
18, *4,682 *4,682 Hokuto no Ken -Zero Kenshiro Den Normal Edition
19, *4,597 *4,597 Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu vol.6 Limited Edition
20, *4,478 16,846 Macross Frontier vol.7 *without BD

21, *4,430 *4,430 Zero no Tsukaima ~Princesses no Rondo~ vol.6
22, *4,204 *4,204 Ga-Rei -Zero- vol.3 Limited Edition
23, *4,180 *4,180 Bleach Shintaichou Amagai hen vol.4
24, *3,904 *3,904 Naruto DVD-BOX vol.2
25, *3,709 *3,709 Soul Eater vol.7
26, *3,618 *3,618 Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter vol.3
27, *3,602 *3,602 Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Mirai Hen vol.6
28, *3,589 *3,589 Rosario + Vampire Capu2 vol.3
29, *3,549 *3,549 Kurogane no Linebarrels vol.3
30, *3,073 *3,073 Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka vol.3 Limited Edition

31, *2,975 *2,975 Cobra the Animation: The Psycho-Gun vol.4 Limited Edition
32, *2,476 *2,476 Zettai Karen Children vol.7
33, *2,266 *2,266 Chi's Sweet Home -Chi Osanpo Suru Limited Edition
34, *1,988 *1,988 Vampire Knight Guilty vol.2
35, *1,872 *7,778 Tales of the Abyss vol.1 *without BD
36, *1,852 *1,852 Zettai Shougeki ~Platonic Heart~ vol.5
37, *1,711 *1,711 Wagaya no Oinari-sama. vol.8 Limited Edition
38, *1,676 *1,676 Switch vol.2 Limited Edition
39, *1,631 *1,631 Mouryou no Hako vol.3
40, *1,561 *1,561 Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae vol.3
41, *1,557 *1,557 Knights of Ramune & 40 DVD-BOX

March 2nd - 8th
Rank/ This week's sales/ Total sales/ Title
*1, 16,134 16,134 Clannad ~After Story~ vol.4 Limited Edition
*2, *6,992 *6,992 Hayate the Combat Butler!! OVA *without BD
*3, *5,463 28,865 The Sky Crawlers *second week
*4, *3,754 *3,754 Koihime†Musou vol.6 Limited Edition
*5, *3,552 *3.552 D.Gray-man 2nd Stage vol.13 Limited Edition
*6, *2,365 *2,365 One Piece 9th Season vol.15
*7, *2,121 14,584 Kuroshitsuji vol.2 Limited Edition *second week
*8, *2,038 *2,038 Naruto: Shippuuden Hidan Kakuzu no Shou vol.3
*9, *2,024 *4,726 La Maison en Petits Cubes
10, *1,805 *6,487 Hokuto no Ken -Zero Kenshiro Den Normal Edition
11, *1,572 *7,469 Hokuto no Ken -Zero Kenshiro Den Limited Edition
12, *1,568 32,450 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season vol.1
13, *1,527 *7,411 Junjo Romantica 2 vol.2 Limited Edition
14, *1,487 *1,487 ChäoS;HEAd vol.1 Special Pack
15, *1,339 13,485 Gintama Season 3 vol.7 *second week
16, *1,336 24,482 Code Geass - Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 vol.7
17, *1,227 13,207 Strike Witches vol.6 Limited Edition *second week
18, *1,135 10,504 Toradora! vol.2 Limited Edition
19, *1,064 *1,064 Zero no Tsukaima DVD-BOX
20, *1,045 10,698 Natsume Yuujinchou vol.5 Limited Edition
21, **,987 17,833 Macross Frontier vol.7

Source: Oricon Anime DVD ranking
Source: Oricon YouTaiju Service *account required

Additional Info:
The total sales of the anime DVD in 2008 47.3 billion yen, decreased by 19% compared to last year. However, the sales of the anime Blu-ray discs was 4.4 billion yen, so the total anime DVD+BD sales showed a minor decrease.
Here is the graph of the anime DVD sales in Japan between 1997 to 2008.

Created by dtshyk based on JVA data
The number in 2008 is the sum of DVD and BD sales.

Source: AV Watch

11 Comments Recent Comments

Lol, Toradora was at 7th and Wow, I can't believe Hayate The Combat Butler was at 2nd during first week of March.

Mar 10, 2009 6:56 PM by yunadestined

Asako said:

dtshyk said:
The monthly rankings are quite unpopular, so I resumed the weekly ranking. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Honestly I'd rather see the stats compiled quarterly (per season) for total sales. Never understood the appeal of first week's sales or even just week to week sales. Totals over a given period (a season is good) are more important. But then Japanese DVD releases lag behind airing, so a season is offset from broadcast...

Still. Total series (not volume) sales per season is more interesting to directly compare their popularity.

Thanks for a good suggestion. As you pointed out, the long lag between the airing and the completion of the released of the DVDs are the biggest problem. Some titles complete the release one year after the airing. One option is compare the total sales of the first volume. (It's still not fair because the first volume are sometimes sold more than the retailers expected and quickly sold out like Strike Witches and Ga-rei Zero. As a result, the sales data of the later volumes jumps up.)
The first week sales is important for a fair comparison. For most of the titles, the sales in the first week is the only available data. so it's unfair to compare the first week sales of Nodame and four-week total of Code Geass.
Anyway, I'll seek for the best way to present the popularity of the titles.

Mar 10, 2009 6:46 PM by dtshyk

Neko-Hoshishima said:
Kuroshitsuji! <3

This and Higurashi Rei.

Mar 10, 2009 6:39 PM by ilhoon

Almost all of the releases are limited editions. Are there any normal editions if the limited editions sell more copies?

Mar 10, 2009 6:35 PM by kuroshiroi

Hokuto Shinken is invincible.

Mar 10, 2009 6:20 PM by YoungVagabond

Wow, Kuroshitsuji is doing good. =)
go go!

Mar 10, 2009 6:14 PM by thatonegirl

Kuroshitsuji! <3

Mar 10, 2009 6:11 PM by Neko-Hoshishima