Japan's Weekly Light Novel Rankings for Aug 29 - Sep 4

Agafin said:

I've looked at the Top selling LNs (from your site, not sure if it's up to date though)

It doesn't have the week covered by this thread or the monthly rankings for August on there yet but other than that it's up to date. For future reference, I make a post every time I update it so if you want to see how up to date it is you just have to check the last post on the thread.

Oh, and on a point of pedantry, lndb is not my site.

Sep 14, 2016 7:28 AM by kuuderes_shadow

kuuderes_shadow said:

kuuderes_shadow said:

I really don't know.
When it's sitting on rank 1 of the daily rankings you can't tell if it's going up or down either. Then again, Mahouka is out today. No way it will beat that on release day but if it tops it the day after then that will be a sign that it's still increasing fast. Beating Maou-sama on release day would also indicate that the sales are still going up.

POS daily bunko rankings:

*　M　T　W　T　F　S　S
K　1　1　1 　1　1　2　1
M　*　*　*　*　*　1　2
H　*　*　*　*　*　3　10
R　2　2　2 　2　2　8　7

along top: days of week
along side: K = Kimi no Na wa, M = Mahouka, H = Hataraku Maou-sama!, R = Rakuda

tagging @Agafin

Wow that's insane, doesn't Mahouka generally sell 100k+ copies in its first week (depending on the # of days that is)? So the fact that Mahouka could only beat it on its first day means that we might see another 100k+ week, potentially 150k+ even. Looking at other media, its OST also sold more units this week than last week (according to the list posted here on Mal) and its box office take for last weekend was on par with the previous one so that's a good omen for the novel's sales this week compared to the last.

I've looked at the Top selling LNs (from your site, not sure if it's up to date though) and I think that if it sells 150k+ this week, then Biblia vol.1 will be toast. Moshidora however still seems out of reach for now but you never know. Pretty incredible performance either way.

Sep 14, 2016 2:46 AM by Agafin

kuuderes_shadow said:

I really don't know.
When it's sitting on rank 1 of the daily rankings you can't tell if it's going up or down either. Then again, Mahouka is out today. No way it will beat that on release day but if it tops it the day after then that will be a sign that it's still increasing fast. Beating Maou-sama on release day would also indicate that the sales are still going up.

POS daily bunko rankings:

*　M　T　W　T　F　S　S
K　1　1　1 　1　1　2　1
M　*　*　*　*　*　1　2
H　*　*　*　*　*　3　10
R　2　2　2 　2　2　8　7

along top: days of week
along side: K = Kimi no Na wa, M = Mahouka, H = Hataraku Maou-sama!, R = Rakuda

tagging @Agafin

Sep 13, 2016 2:31 AM by kuuderes_shadow

Stark700 said:
Now I'm really curious to see what the hype is with Kimi no Na wa.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken anime adaptation when?

Don't watch the shitty bootleg everyone is looking at right now. Watch it as it's meant to be seen - in a theater or on blu-ray.

Sep 9, 2016 12:35 PM by TheKillerAngel

The film looks set to reach more than 10b Yen and possibly even reach 15b yen which is insane...

Sep 9, 2016 9:33 AM by Larkanite

Agafin said:
Wow, 100k+ in Wk 12, that's huge! Your Name appears to be a real phenomenon in Japan. I Wouldn't totally rule it from joining Moshidora and Biblia in that elite 1m+ club. Do you think it has a chance @kuuderes_shadow?

I really don't know.
When it's sitting on rank 1 of the daily rankings you can't tell if it's going up or down either. Then again, Mahouka is out today. No way it will beat that on release day but if it tops it the day after then that will be a sign that it's still increasing fast. Beating Maou-sama on release day would also indicate that the sales are still going up.

I'm pretty damn sure no light novel or not-quite-light-novel has ever sold anywhere near 100k in a week as late as week 12 before though, so we're in uncharted territory already. For that matter, I'm not sure any work of fiction ever has - perhaps Harry Potter or Eien no 0 might have I guess?

To put you in perspective, the longest any SAO volume ever lasted on the rankings before dropping out was 11 weeks. The last Biblia volume sold 6543 on week 12 and then dropped out of the rankings the following week.

Both the things you mentioned made it to a million by lasting in the rankings for literally years (including reappearances), as did Toshokan Sensou. Well, Moshidora took 10 months to get there... Unless it starts dropping very soon, Kimi no Na wa. could well not only get there but get there faster than anything else has to date.

Sep 9, 2016 9:00 AM by kuuderes_shadow

Wow, 100k+ in Wk 12, that's huge! Your Name appears to be a real phenomenon in Japan. I Wouldn't totally rule it from joining Moshidora and Biblia in that elite 1m+ club. Do you think it has a chance @kuuderes_shadow?

Sep 9, 2016 8:30 AM by Agafin

Kin088 said:

hpulley said:

...
I seriously doubt Heavy Object's anime had any negative impact on the sales of Index or Heavy Object. Index is an old series and drop off just occurs over time as people lose interest and move onto other things. LN author's next series not doing as well as a really popular series is also very common. Heavy Object is something different, which I applaud but it may not appeal as much. That's a risk you take by trying something different but I'm glad they tried this rather than just make something which is the same. Doesn't always work for sales of course.

Ah sorry, I wasn't clear when I said negative impact. What I meant was that Heavy Object being adapted instead of Index S3 had a negative impact on Heavy Object's anime itself and not others.

If it hadn't any sort of relation to Kamachi and Index, I think the anime would have been better appreciated by viewers. I read somewhere that there are some people/Index fans who boycotted watching the anime simply because it was chosen instead of Index S3.
Whether true or not, it says a lot about what the fans think.

Oh I see. Sorry I misunderstood you there. I agree and it is why some authors use a different pen name for every series, especially when trying something different, though of course the HOPE was that "author of Index" would increase sales. It can sometimes work against you instead.

Sep 9, 2016 8:17 AM by hpulley

hpulley said:

Kin088 said:

Well, ya, I read the translated versions online... there is no way to get the original copies from where I am..

Whatever ways they tried, unfortunately it seems to have failed.. What worried me is that this would have a negative impact on both Index and Heavy Object LNs or Anime.. and this seemed to be the case..

Amazon ships there... I think CDJapan does but anyway, that's why you didn't see the mentions of Heavy Object. Most online translations won't bother with any of that stuff of course.

I seriously doubt Heavy Object's anime had any negative impact on the sales of Index or Heavy Object. Index is an old series and drop off just occurs over time as people lose interest and move onto other things. LN author's next series not doing as well as a really popular series is also very common. Heavy Object is something different, which I applaud but it may not appeal as much. That's a risk you take by trying something different but I'm glad they tried this rather than just make something which is the same. Doesn't always work for sales of course.

Ah sorry, I wasn't clear when I said negative impact. What I meant was that Heavy Object being adapted instead of Index S3 had a negative impact on Heavy Object's anime itself and not others.

If it hadn't any sort of relation to Kamachi and Index, I think the anime would have been better appreciated by viewers. I read somewhere that there are some people/Index fans who boycotted watching the anime simply because it was chosen instead of Index S3.
Whether true or not, it says a lot about what the fans think.

Sep 9, 2016 7:41 AM by Kin088

kuuderes_shadow said:

Kin088 said:

You have a point, but in this case, it was clear that it was gonna fail from the very beginning.

They know that people 'Want' a new season of Index and have been waiting for a long time, and that Heavy Object was not popular at all. Heck, even I, who has been reading the Index LN for a very long time didn't even know about Heavy Object.

Actually, that's exactly why Heavy Object was the better bet. From the light novel publisher's perspective, the main purpose of anime adaptation is to get people to find out about these stories so they go out and buy the volumes. People who would buy Index generally already know about the series, and are already buying it. Sure they might then go out and buy the anime discs, but it's not likely that there would be a big boost to the novels - particularly not 30-40 volumes into the series, which is what we're talking about here. Any boost you would see would mostly be people who would have gotten around to buying the volumes eventually choosing to go out and buy them sooner rather than later.

And that is why light novel adaptations hardly ever get 3rd series. In fact, Slayers and the Monogatari Series are the only ones I can think of that did. The former we don't have data for and the latter the 3rd anime series did very little indeed to boost the novel sales. Indeed sales from volume to volume actually went down during that period.

Lets just hope Kamachi and his Crew know how to handle this.
As an Index fan, watching its popularity go down is hard to swallow. If, atleast the sales were still good like before, there is slight hope for another season. But if it continues to go down, it seems more and more unlikely..

Sep 9, 2016 4:15 AM by Kin088

Kin088 said:

hpulley said:
@Kin088 I am curious as to how you read the Index LN. Did you buy the Japanese volumes? Or read translated versions? I suspect you didn't buy the Japanese volumes as they would certainly have included ads for Heavy Object since both are from the same publisher. Any actual buyer and reader of the Japanese Index LNs would have seen the leaflets that fall out and would have known well about Heavy Object.

So the anime for Heavy Object was actually meant to find new readers who likely hadn't read the Index LNs. The publisher would not worry about Index fans who would already have seen the ads for Heavy Object.

Well, ya, I read the translated versions online... there is no way to get the original copies from where I am..

Whatever ways they tried, unfortunately it seems to have failed.. What worried me is that this would have a negative impact on both Index and Heavy Object LNs or Anime.. and this seemed to be the case..

Amazon ships there... I think CDJapan does but anyway, that's why you didn't see the mentions of Heavy Object. Most online translations won't bother with any of that stuff of course.

I seriously doubt Heavy Object's anime had any negative impact on the sales of Index or Heavy Object. Index is an old series and drop off just occurs over time as people lose interest and move onto other things. LN author's next series not doing as well as a really popular series is also very common. Heavy Object is something different, which I applaud but it may not appeal as much. That's a risk you take by trying something different but I'm glad they tried this rather than just make something which is the same. Doesn't always work for sales of course.

Sep 9, 2016 4:13 AM by hpulley

hpulley said:
@Kin088 I am curious as to how you read the Index LN. Did you buy the Japanese volumes? Or read translated versions? I suspect you didn't buy the Japanese volumes as they would certainly have included ads for Heavy Object since both are from the same publisher. Any actual buyer and reader of the Japanese Index LNs would have seen the leaflets that fall out and would have known well about Heavy Object.

So the anime for Heavy Object was actually meant to find new readers who likely hadn't read the Index LNs. The publisher would not worry about Index fans who would already have seen the ads for Heavy Object.

Well, ya, I read the translated versions online... there is no way to get the original copies from where I am..

Whatever ways they tried, unfortunately it seems to have failed.. What worried me is that this would have a negative impact on both Index and Heavy Object LNs or Anime.. and this seemed to be the case..

Sep 9, 2016 4:09 AM by Kin088

@Kin088 I am curious as to how you read the Index LN. Did you buy the Japanese volumes? Or read translated versions? I suspect you didn't buy the Japanese volumes as they would certainly have included ads for Heavy Object since both are from the same publisher. Any actual buyer and reader of the Japanese Index LNs would have seen the leaflets that fall out and would have known well about Heavy Object.

So the anime for Heavy Object was actually meant to find new readers who likely hadn't read the Index LNs. The publisher would not worry about Index fans who would already have seen the ads for Heavy Object.

Sep 9, 2016 1:52 AM by hpulley

Kin088 said:

You have a point, but in this case, it was clear that it was gonna fail from the very beginning.

They know that people 'Want' a new season of Index and have been waiting for a long time, and that Heavy Object was not popular at all. Heck, even I, who has been reading the Index LN for a very long time didn't even know about Heavy Object.

Actually, that's exactly why Heavy Object was the better bet. From the light novel publisher's perspective, the main purpose of anime adaptation is to get people to find out about these stories so they go out and buy the volumes. People who would buy Index generally already know about the series, and are already buying it. Sure they might then go out and buy the anime discs, but it's not likely that there would be a big boost to the novels - particularly not 30-40 volumes into the series, which is what we're talking about here. Any boost you would see would mostly be people who would have gotten around to buying the volumes eventually choosing to go out and buy them sooner rather than later.

And that is why light novel adaptations hardly ever get 3rd series. In fact, Slayers and the Monogatari Series are the only ones I can think of that did. The former we don't have data for and the latter the 3rd anime series did very little indeed to boost the novel sales. Indeed sales from volume to volume actually went down during that period.

Sep 9, 2016 12:19 AM by kuuderes_shadow

hpulley said:

Kin088 said:

They had a chance to make a new season, but they chose to adapt Heavy Object instead, which was, in my view, a major flop ...
So I don't think we will see a new season of Index soon, with its popularity and LN sales dropping these last few volumes...

That's the choice they have to make every time. Make a sequel or make a new series? With 2 seasons of Index already out there they likely figured a third season wouldn't do much if anything to boost readership. Might as well take a chance on a new series, Heavy Object, and see if they can increase readership. This doesn't always work of course but for the publisher it is likely the wise choice to make. They don't make a lot of money from the anime itself and are more interested in book sales and for that a new series has a better chance than a third season. It may still bomb of course but that's the chance you take every time you make anime.

After many years, a second or third season of anime may not even sell many discs so there isn't even a guarantee that a third season of Index would make 10K. It could easily pull a Durarara and not even make 5K.

You have a point, but in this case, it was clear that it was gonna fail from the very beginning.

They know that people 'Want' a new season of Index and have been waiting for a long time, and that Heavy Object was not popular at all. Heck, even I, who has been reading the Index LN for a very long time didn't even know about Heavy Object.

So, it was very clear from the start, which one was gonna receive better reception from the Anime fans and LN readers.

And the result was as expected, with some fans even deciding to not watch Heavy Object as a sort of protest against the decision. Also, the Index LN has decreased quite a lot in readership and sales after these events. I think NT 13 was the last vol to reach the 100k mark. I could be wrong.

In short, they know what the fans wanted but decided to not give it to them even though they could have given it. Personally, I consider this as a betrayal to the fans who have been loyal for so many years. lol

But everything is done and dusted. So accepting it is all that's left for us.

Sep 8, 2016 11:04 PM by Kin088

Kin088 said:

ichii_1 said:

Now would be good time for a new anime to boost the sales.

They had a chance to make a new season, but they chose to adapt Heavy Object instead, which was, in my view, a major flop ...
So I don't think we will see a new season of Index soon, with its popularity and LN sales dropping these last few volumes...

That's the choice they have to make every time. Make a sequel or make a new series? With 2 seasons of Index already out there they likely figured a third season wouldn't do much if anything to boost readership. Might as well take a chance on a new series, Heavy Object, and see if they can increase readership. This doesn't always work of course but for the publisher it is likely the wise choice to make. They don't make a lot of money from the anime itself and are more interested in book sales and for that a new series has a better chance than a third season. It may still bomb of course but that's the chance you take every time you make anime.

After many years, a second or third season of anime may not even sell many discs so there isn't even a guarantee that a third season of Index would make 10K. It could easily pull a Durarara and not even make 5K.

Sep 8, 2016 11:22 AM by hpulley

ichii_1 said:

Kin088 said:

ok...thanks anyway..... so 4984 at max would put the total sales around a little less tan 80k... now its kind of obvious that it won't reach the 100k mark... 90k would also be very hard at this point..

Now would be good time for a new anime to boost the sales.

They had a chance to make a new season, but they chose to adapt Heavy Object instead, which was, in my view, a major flop ...
So I don't think we will see a new season of Index soon, with its popularity and LN sales dropping these last few volumes...

Sep 8, 2016 11:03 AM by Kin088

Kin088 said:

kuuderes_shadow said:

That question can't be answered, I'm afraid, other than by saying it was less than 4985. It was 71st on the POS weekly bunko rankings, though.

ok...thanks anyway..... so 4984 at max would put the total sales around a little less tan 80k... now its kind of obvious that it won't reach the 100k mark... 90k would also be very hard at this point..

Now would be good time for a new anime to boost the sales.

Sep 8, 2016 10:00 AM by ichii_1

Paulo27 said:
Why didn't ReZero rank when HxH did? Only 2 places below.

Different rankings.
Light novels generally do slighly better on Oricon than POS, and older releases generally do worse.

@Sakana-san - "Soredemo, Suki na Hito." should be "Furaretemo, Suki na Hito."

Sep 8, 2016 8:08 AM by kuuderes_shadow

kuuderes_shadow said:

Kin088 said:
As expected Index Vol 16 won't reach the 100k mark again.. much less 90k....
Can somebody tell me how much was sold last week ?
seeing that it did not make the top 30 suggests that it was very low...

That question can't be answered, I'm afraid, other than by saying it was less than 4985. It was 71st on the POS weekly bunko rankings, though.

ok...thanks anyway..... so 4984 at max would put the total sales around a little less tan 80k... now its kind of obvious that it won't reach the 100k mark... 90k would also be very hard at this point..

Sep 8, 2016 7:59 AM by Kin088

Japan's Weekly Light Novel Rankings for Aug 29 - Sep 4

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