Sunday, January 18, 2009


Sales numbers for BD anime releases in 2008 have finally become available, and are presented here. The figures reveal a strikingly good performance for anime featuring large robots.

Unlike DVD sales, BD sales numbers remain difficult to ascertain in Japan, so the sales ranking is informative as to what releases are dominating sales on the next video format of the future…

Notes
This chart includes sales from July 07 - December 15, 2008.

34,742- マクロスF 1 / Macross F 1
27,137- マクロスF 2 / Macross F 2
25,479 -マクロスF 3 / Macross F 3
22,731- マクロスF 4 / Macross F 4
19,134 -コードギアス R2 Vol 1 / Code Geass R2 Vol 1 
16,014 -コードギアス R2 Vol 2 / Code Geass R2 Vol 2
14,986- コードギアス R2 Vol 3 / Code Geass R2 Vol 3
13,520 -コードギアス R2 Vol 4 / Code Geass R2 Vol 4
13,346- ルパン三世 カリオストロの城 / Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro 
9,162-時をかける少女 / Toki o Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)
8,216- 機動戦士ガンダム00 1 / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 1
7,872 -イノセンス アブソリュート・エディション / Innocence: Absolute Edition
6,294 -コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ Vol 01 / Code Geass Vol 1
6,021 -機動戦士ガンダム00 2 / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 2
5,303- コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ Vol 02 / Code Geass Vol 2
5,179 -機動戦士ガンダム00 2 / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 3
4,734 -機動戦士ガンダム00 2 / Mobile Suit Gundam 00 4
4,734 -コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ Vol 03 / Code Geass Vol 3

-----------------------

What is most obvious here is just how much Macross F and Code Geass R2 (especially Macross) dominated BD sales during the latter months of 2008…

The time period for the information collected is actually less than half of the year, but because BD is still in the process of supplanting the DVD (meaning many people are still switching over to BD players from DVD) and that 2 huge titles (Macross and Geass) both went on sale in August, the top 8 BD releases for this time period are also the best selling 8 BD releases for all of 2008.

Some new BD versions of older titles also made it onto the chart, such as the Ghost in the Shell movie, Innocence, Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo and the old classic Lupin movie, The Castle of Cagliostro (which is definitely a must-see for those who haven’t had the pleasure).

Gundam 00 did not do nearly as well as Macross or Geass (despite the current Gundam series trouncing Geass R2 in TV ratings), a large part of which can be attributed to the BD version of the show going on sale several months after the DVD release (which debuted in January), most likely resulting in DVD sales consuming a fair share of what otherwise would have been BD purchases.


No comments: