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Top selling anime titles of 2012


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victor viper



Joined: 18 Jun 2011
Posts: 630
Location: The deep south
PostPosted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 8:38 pm Reply with quote
On his blog, Robert from the Anime Corner Store has compiled their fifty top-selling anime titles of 2012. The top 20:

1. Okami-San
Heaven's Lost Property (season 2)
Strike Witches (season 2)
Rosario Vampire (season 2)
5. Freezing
Sekirei (season 2)
Anohana
Infinite Stratos (DVD)
Bunny Drop
10. Code Geass (Legends release)
Hellsing Ultimate (episodes 5-8)
Kimi Ni Todoke (collection 1)
K-On! (season 1 collection)
Kimi Ni Todoke (collection 2)
15. Mayo Chiki
Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt
Motto To Love Ru
Infinite Stratos (Blu-Ray)
Fairy Tail (collection 4)
20. B Gata H Kei

He points out that Hellsing ultimate will probably move into the #1 spot before years end, and there are a couple of other recent releases lurking near the top (Aria the Scarlet Ammo is at #21).

Some observations:


Sentai is a bit underrepresented here, but I wonder if that might have something to do with possible deeper discounts on Sentai titles at Rightstuf. He also points out that there are three OOP titles that made the top 50, but doesn't say what they are.

And considering what's going on with Media Blasters, it's interesting to note that they have not a single title in the top 50. I kind of expected some of the Queen's Blade collections or maybe Squid Girl to be there. Given the general decline of physical media sales in R1, this can't be a good sign. After all, it's probably not as if top seller #50 is moving thousands of units.

I was surprised that Okami-san was #1, but it's not too surprising that the next 5 top sellers are fanservice-heavy titles. So I guess when people complain about artsy title X getting passed over in favor of fanservice title Y, here's the justification.

It's good to see NISA apparently doing well with their limited releases, as 6 of their titles make the top 50.

K-On season 2 was pretty far down on the list. Hopefully, it still sold well enough that we'll get the movie before long.

It would be really interesting if Rightstuf compiled a similar list. An Amazon search for the top selling titles yields a much different looking list, but it's pretty skewed towards recent releases and preorders, so it's probably not comparable to the one published by RACS.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24086
PostPosted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 9:46 pm Reply with quote
Wow, I would never have guessed Okami-san at #1.

As for the three OOP titles, DVDAF lists Code Geass Season 1 and Occult Academy Premium Edition as being such, but I can't figure out what the third title is.

I too am happy with how many NISA titles are on the list.
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potatochobit



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 1373
Location: TEXAS
PostPosted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:56 pm Reply with quote
numbers do not lie but they can be interpreted in different ways.

I would guess funimation titles that sold well would be spice and wolf, cat planet cuties, and sora otoshimono.
and for sentai, probably clannad, HOTD, FLCL and persona4.
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Mesonoxian Eve



Joined: 10 Jan 2012
Posts: 1858
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:58 am Reply with quote
potatochobit wrote:
numbers do not lie but they can be interpreted in different ways.

I can't agree with this. The list is very specific to RACS, not the R1 market. Making conclusions from one to the other is foolish.

Though, I would be curious to see what the lists look like from Amazon and TRSI, just for comparison and curiosity.
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fireaxe



Joined: 07 Jul 2006
Posts: 503
Location: Trois-Rivieres, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 9:01 am Reply with quote
victor viper wrote:

Sentai is a bit underrepresented here, but I wonder if that might have something to do with possible deeper discounts on Sentai titles at Rightstuf. He also points out that there are three OOP titles that made the top 50, but doesn't say what they are.

Funimation sells most of its shows in combo-packs, while the most popular titles from Sentai have two different releases (DVD and BD). This would explain, at least in part, why some shows like K-on S2 appear like they didn't perform extremely well at RACS.
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Crisha
Moderator


Joined: 21 Apr 2010
Posts: 4290
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:57 am Reply with quote
Mesonoxian Eve wrote:
potatochobit wrote:
numbers do not lie but they can be interpreted in different ways.

I can't agree with this. The list is very specific to RACS, not the R1 market. Making conclusions from one to the other is foolish.

I concur. Also, I find it interesting that NISA takes up such a wide proportion on that list when you're paying full retail value at RACS. Versus RS for about $18 cheaper or NISA themselves for about $14 cheaper with a bonus item. Looks like RACS has some pretty loyal customers. I'm pretty loyal to RS myself - many times I've chosen them over Amazon even if I can get prices cheaper at Amazon.

Anyways, I'm curious to know Amazon's and RS's top selling anime titles as well.
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lem



Joined: 29 Sep 2007
Posts: 734
Location: Land of trying to figure sht out
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:07 pm Reply with quote
@victor viper
that only tells us what they sold, there are no sales numbers. In essence, it doesn't tell us much or offer anything else for comparison. They weren't the only one to sell any anime this year were they? That list by its lonesome is about as helpful to determining the best selling titles as his attacks/rants against his own customers on the web.

I'd also love to see the numbers from other etailers. That would be interesting, to get a glimpse of what other R1 fans are trending. But the chances of that being available to a mere buying drone like myself are probably as good as winning a lottery Very Happy it aint happenin'


Willag wrote:
Looks like RACS has some pretty loyal customers.


With the way they do an awesome job of packing the anime/manga/figure merchandise, and how you can receive your orders before other retailers have even sent theirs, it's no surprise that they have some pretty loyal customers. Unlike Amazon I could rely on the RACS employees to pack my orders in a very careful manner, and they'd always arrive in great shape. At least that was my experience up until 2008. Which was the last time I purchased from there.
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potatochobit



Joined: 26 Aug 2009
Posts: 1373
Location: TEXAS
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:23 pm Reply with quote
those numbers are very very biased.

first, you need to consider who your sample group is. RACS caters to a very specific group of people, in fact, I would call it niche. I would label them 'hardcore' american otaku. You say you don't want to make conclusions but you actually are, you are assuming roberts customers do they majority of their shopping at roberts store.

which brings us to the next point, if one person buys a title at RACS, they would not buy the same title at Rightstuf. hence there is an error in the amount of titles polled.

from just looking at that list I can already tell you RACS customers bought a whole lot of other anime at other stores. who buys Rosario Vampire (season 2) without purchasing season 1?
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Raikuro



Joined: 22 Feb 2009
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 4:12 pm Reply with quote
But that's just that one website. A site with a horrible layout and almost never has the lowest prices. The only people I can see actually getting stuff there are customers so stubbornly set in their ways they never bother looking elsewhere.
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victor viper



Joined: 18 Jun 2011
Posts: 630
Location: The deep south
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:08 pm Reply with quote
potatochobit wrote:
those numbers are very very biased.


Definitely. No one would claim that this is an unbiased sample by any stretch of the imagination. There is no doubt that those fans who are buying media at RACS could be vastly different from those buying through Rightstuf or Amazon (or B/M retailers, although I have to wonder if that is any meaningful percentage of sales these days).

However, there are still interesting inferences that can be drawn. For instance, it seems pretty clear that Infinite Stratos has been a big success (since both the DVD and Blu-Ray sets are among the top sellers), there's no question that NISA is having some success with their business model, and as I mentioned, the complete absence of any Media Blasters titles is probably very telling.

I guess I found this interesting simply because it's so hard to find any sort of quality data about R1 anime sales. Animenation and Amazon both publish bestseller lists, but for the former it's not at all clear what the timeframe is (last week? last month?), and for the latter it seems to be based on very recent sales data.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7992
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:39 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Wow, I would never have guessed Okami-san at #1.

As for the three OOP titles, DVDAF lists Code Geass Season 1 and Occult Academy Premium Edition as being such, but I can't figure out what the third title is.

I too am happy with how many NISA titles are on the list.


K-On Season 1? It was a Bandai casualty.

That list has lots and lots of things I would not expect to sell well, personally. Confused As for Roberts Corner Store, can't say I've ever shopped there, because the price was never right.
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publicenemy333



Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Posts: 563
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 11:49 pm Reply with quote
Well take note, this is just one website. We might get completely different results from, say, rightstuf
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SeigiNoSenshi



Joined: 28 Oct 2008
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 1:05 am Reply with quote
Now if only we could get TRSI's list.

I really would have thought HLP S2 would have placed lower as a DVD-only release, but I guess DVD is still the winner. If it had been a combo, I'm going to assume it would have gotten the "no BD no buy" sales, like myself, and been way on the top.

It also seems I wasn't the only one that balked at the almost forced R+V combo and waited until this year to buy it.

As far as Sentai goes, I really hope they look at the numbers and realize that you can't judge a sub-only title by it's cover and give them better treatment next year. Mayo Chiki, the TLR series, Waiting in the Summer, and A-Channel should have been absolute no-brainers for BD treatment
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24086
PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 4:39 am Reply with quote
@ Kruszer - I thought K-ON! Season 1 might be the third OOP title as well, but according to DVDAF, it isn't yet.
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Sailor S





PostPosted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 5:24 am Reply with quote
@Kruszer and Blood-

It's titles that are discontinued according to Robert, not DVDAF. So, by clicking on those links to each of the top 50 in his blog post the answer for the 3 discontinued titles are AnoHana, Code Geass R2 complete collection, and Code Geass complete collection.
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