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Shelf Life - Psychic Reading

mad mac wrote:

Quote: Natsuyuki is projected as the worst selling show of the Summer season (about 500 copies sold), so I wouldn't call it a victory yet. Jellyfish also sold about 700 copies. If anything, it just shows that the anime fanbase doesn't want these kinds of shows made. Well, they're shows aimed at a difference audience. It might be more accurate to say that josei fans apparently don't buy (Or watch?) a lot of anime.

I hate to equate a show's artistic merit to how many DVDs it sold in Japan. I mean, as viewers outside of Japan, how much should we consider Japanese DVD sales as a predictor of what we might like to watch or purchase? A certain amount of market vigilance is perfectly fine for curiosity's sake, but certainly I greatly enjoy titles that were commercial flops both inside and outside of Japan.

But that's not what he was doing. Sales isn't ever an objective measurement of a show's quality. It is, however, an objective measurement (within reason and only for late-night anime) of a show's profitability. Whether or not that's important to you is whether or not you want to see more shows, be it a sequel or clones, of something you like. That's the general purpose of 'market vigilance' and is typically why sales numbers get quoted. I personally pay close attention to sales numbers to spot trends in the market. For instance, fujoshi have seriously been piling on support with anime, most recently with Kuroko no Basket. So there will definitely be more reverse harems and other shows with a largely-male cast and homoerotic undertones.

Keichitsu0305 wrote:

RyanSaotome wrote: Natsuyuki is projected as the worst selling show of the Summer season (about 500 copies sold), so I wouldn't call it a victory yet. Jellyfish also sold about 700 copies. If anything, it just shows that the anime fanbase doesn't want these kinds of shows made. I wonder why though? Could it be because both shows are aimed at women/older viewers? That the protagonists are adults (over the age 19) and not adorable teens? That the writing is 'fairly' more realistic than idolized or more down-to-earth than living out wild fantasy? In that case, is it even possible for both types to sell well?

I think it is probably because anime has been pandering to the manabi line otaku for so long now, most people have stopped paying any attention to it. So much of it caters only to a continually contracting audience, with the rest of the potential audience increasingly dismissive.