Tag Archives: Anime

Fun With Numbers: Statlines for the Video Game-Anime Adaptations of 2011

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I may have mentioned this before, but nailing down the impact of anime on video games (released on irregular timetables and with less baseline-dependent variance in stats) is much harder than ballparking the same effect for manga or light novels (where volumes are released at regular intervals and can generally be seen to follow a pattern in the absence of strong outside stimuli). Too, while sales tools exist for measuring the success of console video games in Japan, those tools are much less viable when it comes to measuring the effects of typically PC-based visual novels. Still, roughly 10 anime are adapted from games every year, and it’s a very important part of the market to understand.

In order to get some idea of how existent and/or strong the video game franchise popularity -> anime popularity -> added video game franchise popularity chain is, I pulled a pair of stats for each of the 9 video game adaptation anime made in 2011 that I have data for. The 2 stats I chose to measure video game popularity were maximum yearly rank of the franchise on popular VN retailer getchu (mildly NSFW) and total console game sales for games released within one year of the anime’s initial airdate, via vgchartz. While it should be noted that this was a small sample taken in a year with slightly fewer new shows, the results are potent fuel for speculation. Data is archived here, and summarized on the chart below.

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Sell Me in 20 Minutes: Selector Infected Wixoss, Akuma no Riddle, and Stardust Crusaders

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I’m not blogging stuff seasonally anymore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the 2-week airing period where every show is tasked to grab viewers with the most compelling start it can manage. I’ll be posting very brief summaries of how much the Spring 2014 intros pulled me into their respective shows as the season goes on.

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Unstoppable Hype Machine Spring 2014 #1 – Puchimas! Season 2

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There are going to be people who disagree with the Machine. People who are going to say that other shows are better then the second season of literal idol moeblobs.

But the Machine is (probably) never wrong.

And the Machine is ready to show you why Puchimas! Season 2 is something to be hyped for.

Unstoppable Hype Machine Spring 2014 #2 – Mekaku City Actors

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Number 2 on our (slightly delayed) list is Mekaku City Actors, the newest project from both Akiyuki Shinbo, director of Madoka, Bakemonogatari, and Nisekoi, and the mind behind the Vocaloid designs. The associated light novels have been tearing up the charts for months and the Hype Machine has been building up!

Fun With Numbers: Amazon Rank Progression for US Releases (March 25)

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Note: The part 3 of the series on composers is on hold for a little bit. I got pretty deep into the rabbit hole and want to actually listen to the stuff these guys wrote to see if their big pieces have common elements. Since music is more passive listening, it’s somewhat feasible, and is an important part of looking at what that junk stat means, if anything.

And speaking of articles delayed way longer than I expected them to be, game adaptations! While console game sales are somewhat reliably available via the numbers, PC VN data is not, so they can’t be reduced into a plottable stat in the same way that manga and LNs can (the latter’s data are still incomplete due to thresholds and long tails, but big gains are usually obvious because of there’s a baseline to compare them to). I eventually decided to start breaking them down as a two-number stat line; highest yearly rank on VN retailer getchu and console sales via vgchartz, both within one year on either side of the anime airdate. I hope that I’ll be able to start posting those 2011/2012 stat lines before Scottie Wilbekin wins me real money in my March Madness pool, both of which I have now successfully jinxed. Anyway.

This is the last individual/plot post I’ll be doing for the March US releases I’ve been tracking. The full sheet of data is available here. I’m doing tracking for several April releases as well, and will continue to do so so long as there look to be more questions worth the daily effort of collecting the figures. An analysis post, comparing some of the narratives I touched on earlier with the new data, discussing other points to attack with a sample that will continue to grow, and making very, very tentative factor-of-two sales estimates based on extrapolation from somewhat known low-end and high-end daily totals will (hopefully) be up sometime this week. Speaking of the low-end, here’s the last chart for the performance of that Aria the Natural release:

Aria-wk4Chart is date, rank, # in stock

Thankfully, I got the sale I needed this week. It seems like a single sale is enough to bump an item ranked 300,000th down under the 120,000th place no-sales line. Good to know.

Plots are posted after the jump.

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Via Newtype USA: [inside] Toei (December 2003)

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Along with an understanding of the broader context of the subject, the most vital ingredient to good anime coverage is a reliable source. So when US journalists actually interview people on the production side in Japan, it’s generally worth noting unless the interview consists entirely of fluff. This is the second of what will (hopefully) be several posts over the next couple of weeks archiving articles from Newtype USA’s [inside] series of articles written by Amos Wong. It contains comments from President Hiroshi Takahashi and Director Daisuke Nishio on researching how to best portray action sequences, overseas sources of income, and the pluses and minuses of the transition from analog to digital animation.

Note: Pictures are scans of the article made on my crappy scanner, which cover the article text but not the entire page. Apologies for that. Scans after the jump, along with comments on the contents of the article.

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Via Newtype USA: [inside] Satelight (September 2003)

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Along with an understanding of the broader context of the subject, the most vital ingredient to good anime coverage is a reliable source. So when US journalists actually interview people on the production side in Japan, it’s generally worth noting unless the interview consists entirely of fluff. This is the first of what will (hopefully) be several posts over the next couple of weeks archiving articles from Newtype USA’s [inside] series of articles written by Amos Wong. It contains statements from President Michiaki Sato and Director Kazuki Akane on how the studio went from subcontractor to full-time anime studio and how they handled the increased demand for female casts in the millennial anime boom.

Note: Pictures are scans of the article made on my crappy scanner, which cover the article text but not the entire page. Apologies for that. I have also transcribed the article after the jump to make for easier reading (though I probably won’t be doing so for other articles due to the time involved). Also note that each part of the article is a two-page spread, so page 19 comes before 18, 21 before 20, 23 before 22, and 25 before 24.

18-19a

18-19b

20-21a20-21b

 

22-23a

22-23b

24-25a

24-25b

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Unstoppable Hype Machine Spring 2014 #5 – Stardust Crusaders

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Given our reputation of being JoJo lovers, number five wouldn’t be hard to predict. It’s part 3, Stardust Crusaders, and Animetic’s stand, Unstoppable Hype Machine, is ready to show you why! Let’s go!