Anime DVD TOP 20 in Japan

[Kisaragi]

The following list shows anime DVD ranking in Japan for the past two weeks.

Anime DVD TOP 20 (Oricon Style: Ranking section (http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/))

February 21 - 27

01. Initial D Fourth Stage Vol.11
02. Rozen Maiden traumend Vol.2
03. Howl's Moving Castle
04. Fullmetal Alchemist The Movie ~Shambala wo Iku Mono~
05. Final Fantasy VII Advent Chidlren
06. Dragon Ball Z Vol.12
07. Dragon Ball Z Vol.11
08. My Neighbor Totoro
09. Ski Jumping Pairs 8 Official DVD
10. Dragon Ball Z Vol.10
11. Hellsing I (Limited Ed)
12. Gundam Seed Destiny Vo.12
13. Fullmetal Alchemist The Movie ~Shambala wo Iku Mono~ (Limited Ed)
14. Nightmare Before Christmas
15. Madagascar (Special Ed)
16. Robots (Special Ed)
17. D.C.S.S. ~Da Capo second season~ Vol.5 (Limited Ed)
18. Pocket Monster Advanced Generation The Movie ~Myu to Hadou no Yuusha~
19. Laputa - Castle in the Sky
20. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

February 28 - March 6

01. Mobile Suit Z Gundam II -Lovers-
02. Gundam Seed Destiny Vol.13
03. BLEACH Soul Society Kyushuttsu Hen 3
04. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Vol.2
05. Shakugan no Shana Vol.2 (Limited Ed)
06. ARIA The Animation Vol.2
07. My-Otome Vol.2
08. Saint Seiya Meioh Hades Meikai Hen Zensho 1
09. Pani Poni Dash! Vol.4
10. Honey and Clover Vol.7
11. BLOOD+ Vol.3
12. Kamichu! Vol.7
13. Eureka seveN Vol.8
14. SHUFFLE! Vol.5
15. Ichigo Mashimaro Vol.6
16. xxxHOLiC The Movie ~Manatsu no Yo no Yume~ (Premiun Ed)
17. Fullmetal Panic! The Second Raid ActIII Scene 10+11 (Limited Ed)
18. Initial D Fourth Stage Vol.11
19. Keroro Gunso 2nd Season Vol.6
20. Howl's Moving Castle

I'd like to comment on some of shows in the list.

The original manga of Initial D is still ongoing in Shukan Young Magazine, one of the seinen manga magazines in Japan. The results of every questionnaire targeting SYM readers have always found voicing their disapproval of the manga series so far, but any volume of the manga always became the bestseller when it came to market. A discussion about Initial D anime is not very active in Japanese anime forums and blogs, however, any volume of the DVD always sold very well when it came out. I'm almost certain that Initial D fans in Japan consist largely of car lovers and casual anime/manga fans, not hardcore fans.

Most of anime critics and people in the anime industry predicted Mobile Suit Z Gundam trilogy wouldn't score a big hit, but the movies made waves at the box office and the DVDs are selling like hot cakes. It really surprised everyone, and it became a hot topic for people in the anime industry and fandom.

Fullmetal Alchemist The Movie ~Shambala wo Iku Mono~ won first place at the ranking of Feb.14-20 and forth of Feb.21-27. FMA anime/manga is very popular with casual anime fans.

Hellsing I OVA placed third at the ranking of Feb.14-20 and #11 of Feb.21-27. It got very good results in the sales, as OVAs go nowadays.

According to the retailers, over 90 percent of Dragon Ball Z buyers is middle-aged businessmen and most of them are not anime fans but common people. They used to love Dragon Ball TV series as a child, but their parents didn't buy it for them. DBZ DVD series that was recently released is becoming a long seller product.

Rozen Maiden traumend is one of the most successful shows among late-night TV anime. There is a possibility of the third TV series.

D.C.S.S. Da Capo second season (#4 of Feb.14-20 and #17 of Feb.21-27), Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's, Sakugan no Shana, ARIA The Animation, My-Otome, Pani Poni Dash! and Honey and Clover are all winners in the market. Winners are just a fraction of hundreds and hundreds of anime.

[Sushikins]

Interesting list Kisaragi. I too am a little surprised to see the Zeta Movies at the top, although I did rent a VHS of the 2nd movie at the local Japanese store, which rents out videos.

[Matsu'o Tsurayaba]

"Nightmare Before Christmas" the American movie?

I wish i could see all those..are these just released,or past archival votes?

[KT Kore]

Good to see DragonBall so high up on the list.

[HitokiriShadow]

I find it interesting the Nanoha A's is so high on the list. I didn't realize it was so popular...

[bachaka61]

What are those "Dragonball Z" volumes? Is DBZ ever going to die someday...? :P

[Samurai Drifter]

My "Neigborhood" Totoro? :huh:

[gameoffreak8]

Madagascar and Robots? :huh:

[LOSTyears]

4th stage topping off Feb.
Vol. 11 was the end of Takahashi's run with God foot and the start of Takumi's race. Awesome episodes I might add.

Nice to see RM traumend is successful too. Hopefully we'll see it here, one of these days -_-;

[Levon]

I can't wait for the Zeta Gundam Lovers movie DVD rip to be fansubbed. I got the cam rip but the quality sucks & no subs. The Zeta movie trilogy is very huge in Japan, I hope Bandai USA will consider releasing them here faster because of its popularity in Japan.

[edit]- I just found out TV-Nihon released the fansub of Lovers! I can't wait, we actually get to see the Zeta in this movie & Four in updated animation. Although I'd rather see Haman in movie III with updated animation myself, I just love that villian vixen.


http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/8994/zeta016fu.th.jpg (http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=zeta016fu.jpg)

[SDAnimeFan]

Nice to see Bleach in there.

[ffl]

What are those "Dragonball Z" volumes? Is DBZ ever going to die someday...? :P

Considering how popular it is around the world, not to mention Japan, one can assume that it will not.

[Ramen-Boy]

The QUESTION is, Is pokemon ever going to....END? O_o

[Caine]

The QUESTION is, Is pokemon ever going to....END? O_o
perhaps when the millenial reign of Christ comes

[Kisaragi]

"Nightmare Before Christmas" the American movie?

I wish i could see all those..are these just released,or past archival votes?

Yeah, it's Tim Burton's film.

The next anime DVD ranking will appear in Oricon Style website tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Oricon (http://www.oricon.co.jp/)'s ranking service possess higher reliability in the sales of DVD and CD in Japan.



I find it interesting the Nanoha A's is so high on the list. I didn't realize it was so popular...

Lyrical Nanoha series has a very devoted following in Japan. Nanoha fan community still maintain their vitality.



What are those "Dragonball Z" volumes?

The current DBZ DVD (R2) series is going to be 49 volumes in total. Ponycanyon is releasing 3 volumes a month.



The Zeta movie trilogy is very huge in Japan, I hope Bandai USA will consider releasing them here faster because of its popularity in Japan.

The significant success of the Zeta trilogy made us realize Gundam's greatness again. "Gundam" has more or less special significance for almost every Japanese anime fans. For example, NHK, the biggest TV network in Japan, aired real-time over-9-hour Gundam special last year. Nothing like this could possibly happen to all the other anime.

[Animematt55]

Yeah For Rozen Maiden!

[gameoffreak8]

YEAH for Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's and Shakugan no Shana!

[Hisoka]

I love seeing multiple volumes of Dragonball on that list. :)

[thewayneiac]

Now we just need someone to notice how popular Rozen Maiden is, and say, "Hey! We should license this for the U.S.!"

[John]

Kisaragi-san, are you able to explain Ski Jump Pair to me? I've seen some of the clips untranslated on a Halcali DVD. I don't understand it.

[Siendra]

YEAH for Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's

Darn straight. :D

[Levon]

Kisaragi-san, are you able to explain Ski Jump Pair to me? I've seen some of the clips untranslated on a Halcali DVD. I don't understand it.


They look stupid, arn't the DVDs only a few minutes long?

[Kisaragi]

Kisaragi-san, are you able to explain Ski Jump Pair to me? I've seen some of the clips untranslated on a Halcali DVD. I don't understand it.

Ski Jumping Pairs is a fictional sports invented by Riichiro Mashima who is a CG artist. He created "Ski Jumping Large Hill Pairs", a full 3D CG animation depicting fictitious ski jumping contest, on his own. SJLHP was released on the Internet in 2002, and it quickly made a splash because of a wacky sense of humor.

Most unusually for one-man animation, the SJLHP DVD sold more than 400,000 copies in Japan. And the sequel came out in 2003, then it was adapted into the game, finally the SJP movie was released this January. A lot of related products, such as CD, game, novel, T-shirt, Pachinko CR, Hello Kitty items, bags, stationery and etc, are currently on the market.

2002 Ski Jump Large Hill Pair DVD
2003 Ski Jumping Pairs Official DVD (20 jumps)
2004 Halicali DVD (not SJP DVD but including 3 jumps for music video)
2004 Ski Jumping Pairs 2 Official DVD (20 jumps)
2005 Top Runner meets Ski Jump Pair & Riichiro Masima DVD
2005 Ski Jumping Pairs 8 Official DVD (12 jumps + short stories)
2006 Ski Jumping Pairs Road to TORINO 2006 (movie DVD)

Ski Jumping Pairs official website (http://www.jump-pair.com/)

[John]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know Ski Jump Pair was quite that successful or popular. It still doesn't seem very special to me, but that's probably because I've only seen it with no translation of the commentator's dialogue.

[sailornyanko]

I'm surprised Saint Seiya Meioh Hades Meikai made the list seeing that Saint Seiya was never a popular anime in Japan and that so many hardcore fans have ravagedly complained about the poor animation quality in Mekai Hen. I still haven't seen Mekai-Hen myself, but I've been warned that it isn't nearly as good as Tenkai-Hen which I've seen already.

[John]

I'm surprised Saint Seiya Meioh Hades Meikai made the list seeing that Saint Seiya was never a popular anime in Japan

You're saying that an anime that has 114 TV episodes, 5 theatrical movies, and two OAV series that has sustained itself in Japan for 20 years "was never a popular anime in Japan?" If St. Seiya isn't a popular anime in Japan, what is? There aren't very many anime that have been around longer and have more episodes than St. Seiya does.

[Hisoka]

You're saying that an anime that has 114 TV episodes, 5 theatrical movies, and two OAV series that has sustained itself in Japan for 20 years "was never a popular anime in Japan?" If St. Seiya isn't a popular anime in Japan, what is? There aren't very many anime that have been around longer and have more episodes than St. Seiya does.

*Chuckles* You beat me to it. Saint Seiya is insanely popular in Japan sailornyanko. Not too many series from 1986 are still in production.

[Kisaragi]

I'm surprised Saint Seiya Meioh Hades Meikai made the list seeing that Saint Seiya was never a popular anime in Japan and that so many hardcore fans have ravagedly complained about the poor animation quality in Mekai Hen.

As you said, Saint Seiya Meioh Hades Meikai Hen (Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter - Inferno) has a lousy reputation in the Seiya fan community and rather hardcore anime fans in Japan.

Last year the problem caused by refreshing voice actors of Bronze Saints lineup escalated into a boycott movement against Meikai Hen DVD, CD, related products and Masami Kurumada's manga among devoted Japanese Saiya fans. You shouldn't see the boycott as fans' selfish action, it's a rather long story.

As for the quality of Meikai Hen, I can't judge whether it's good or not until I have watched it, though it's receiving pretty bad reviews in its quality from hardcore fans.

[Shinjuku]

xxxHOLiC The Movie ~Manatsu no Yo no Yume~ (Premiun Ed)

Damn its out! Must have.

[Kisaragi]

Here is the list of this week's anime DVD ranking in Japan.

Anime DVD TOP 20 (Oricon Style: Ranking section (http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/))

01. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Vol.3
02. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Special Ed)
03. Prince of Tennis OVA Zenkoku Taikai Hen Vol.1
04. Shakugan no SHANA Vol.3
05. ARIA The Animation Vol.3
06. My-Otome Vol.3
07. Pani Poni Dash! Vol.5 (Limited Ed)
08. Honey & Clover Vol.8
09. Top wo Nerae! 2 Vol.5
10. Saint Seiya Meioh Hades Meikai Hen Zensho 2
11. Eureka seveN Vol.9
12. Martian Successor Nadesico Premier Complete BOX
13. SHUFFLE! Vol.6 (Limited Ed)
14. Fullmetal Panic! The Second Raid ActIII Scene12+13 (Limited Ed)
15. Keroro Gunso 2nd season Vol.7
16. To Heart 2 Vol.4 (Limited Ed)
17. Mobile Suit Z Gundam II -Lovers-
18. BLACK CAT Vol.4
19. Gun X Sword Vol.6
20. Wan Wan Monogatari Platinum Edition

Lyrical Nanoha A's has finally won first place. Almost all the TV anime series become less popular after the end of the show, but Nanoha (and Rozen Maiden) can be said to be a complete exception. This series has a considerable number of fanatic fans who feel a deep loyalty to Nanoha. They show no sign of losing interest in it. Sometimes their excessive-loyalty-induced behavior creates controversy at the anime fan community in Japan.

The viewers/readers of Prince of Tennis consist largely of casual anime/manga fans, but the majority of PoT DVD buyers seem to be yaoi fangirls.

Nadesico still has a deep-rooted popularity. It's a really shame that all possibilities have been exhausted in terms of the sequel due to adverse relationship between StarChild and XEBEC. The reason for their breakup is a blame game between them over the Negima TV series issue.

[HitokiriShadow]

Lyrical Nanoha A's has finally won first place. Almost all the TV anime series become less popular after the end of the show, but Nanoha (and Rozen Maiden) can be said to be a complete exception. This series has a considerable number of fanatic fans who feel a deep loyalty to Nanoha. They show no sign of losing interest in it. Sometimes their excessive-loyalty-induced behavior creates controversy at the anime fan community in Japan.


I hope this results in a third season. I'd love to see more Nanoha.

[Wolfsbane68]

The PoT OVA has also profited from the fact it came out just in time for the mass Temimyu graduation. And it seems that Gackt donning the flight suit and appearing in the Gundam PV didn't hurt the sales at all XD

[kt-san]

corpse bride is that high up?

[Anamin]

It's good to see Howl's Moving Castle on there. :)

[Kisaragi]

I hope this results in a third season. I'd love to see more Nanoha.

If the sequel is produced, I want to see Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Hayate :P I like the members of Hayate team, especially Veeta.



corpse bride is that high up?

Tim Burton's film is pretty popular in Japan. Most of Corpse Bride DVD buyers are the common people rather than anime fans.

[Oburi]

It's crazy to see Dragonball Z still making waves over there. I truly would LOVE to see a fourth installment in the Dragonball saga.

[HitokiriShadow]

If the sequel is produced, I want to see Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Hayate :P I like the members of Hayate team, especially Veeta.



Yes, that would be awesome too. ^_^

[Lita]

Hey people i use to watch this anime here in the uk about a year ago, watched about 20 episodes then they stopped showing it, cant remember the name of it, was about a boy that gets giving a sword by a old man because he is dieing or something, the sword has special powers, the boy is on a quest to find his father, there is a girl with him called ELLI although later we find her name is 1773 and she has these crazy powers that can destroy earth or something, could someone tell me the name please so i can order it, thankyou :)

[Hisoka]

It's crazy to see Dragonball Z still making waves over there. I truly would LOVE to see a fourth installment in the Dragonball saga.

Even though Dragonball is my favorite series I'm not sure if I could even handle that. I wouldn't mind seeing Movie 14 or something to that extent. It really is amazing to see how popular Dragonball still is in Japan. I often wonder how people would feel about a Dragonball re-make where they would go about correcting everything people ***** about like all the random filler and massive stretching at some points. Faster paced Dragonball... I wouldn't mind that as an alternative. Hell, they did this with Dr Slump so anything is possible.

[Kisaragi]

Anime DVD TOP 20 (Oricon Style: Ranking section (http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/) April 10, 2006)

01. Fullmetal Alchemist Premium Collection
02. Fate/stay night Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
03. Mushishi Vol.2 (Limited Ed)
04. BLEACH Soul Society Kyushuttsu Hen Vol.4
05. Kamichu! Vol.8
06. BLOOD+ Vol.4
07. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Special Ed)
08. Jigoku Shoujo Vol.3
09. Howl's Moving Castle
10. Shakugan no SHANA Vol.3
11. Honey & Clover Vol.8
12. Mobile Suit Z Gundam II -Lovers-
13. ARIA The Animation Vol.3
14. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Vol.3
15. My-Otome Vol.3
16. Tonari no Totoro
17. Pani Poni Dash! Vol.5 (Limited Ed)
18. Saint Seiya: Meioh Hades Meikai Hen (The Hades Chapter - Inferno) Zensho 2
19. Gundam Seed Destiny Vol.13
20. Detective Conan Secret File Vol.1

Fullmetal Alchemist Premium Collection is a so-called "fan disc", that means the special DVD that is mainly targeted at FMA fans and contains a few newly-made anime for their fun. We can meet Ed aged 80 and over at one of three short episodes.

Fate/stay night Vol.1 is having good sales as was widely predicted. This will probably become one of the bestselling series this year.

Mushishi Vol.2 won the 3rd place on the list. It's a considerable surprise to a lot of anime fans in Japan. It was precisely the fact that they didn't expect good sales of Mushishi DVD, because they thought Mushishi was very low-profile and low-key.

Jigoku Shoujo is more popular with women than men in Japan. According to the retailers, female DVD buyers of Jigoku Shoujo consist largely of adult women such as office workers and homemakers.

[Vaikyuko]

I chortle at the fact my top two fave movies made it relatively consistently in the past months in Japan (Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, respectively).

Good stuff as usual, Kisa.

[Kisaragi]

Here is this week's ranking list of anime DVD sales.

Anime DVD TOP 20 (Oricon Style: Ranking section (http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/))

01. Initial D Fourth Stage Vol.12
02. Rozen Maiden traumend Vol.4
03. Dragon Ball (theatrical version) DVD-BOX ~Dragon Box The Movies~ (Limited Production)
04. Pretty Cure Max Heart 2 The Movie ~Yukizora no Tomodachi~ (Limited Ed)
05. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Special Ed)
06. Gun X Sword Vol.7
07. Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
08. To Heart 2 Vol.5 (Limited Ed)
09. Dragon Ball Z Vol.16
10. Fullmetal Alchemist Premium Collection
11. Dragon Ball Z Vol.18
12. Dragon Ball Z Vol.17
13. Howl's Moving Castle
14. Prince of Tennis Original Video Animation Zenkoku Taikai Hen Vol.1
15. Tonari no Totoro
16. Fate/stay night Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
17. Shin Bikkuriman Complete DVD Vol.2
18. Ginyu Mokushiroku: Meine Liebe wieder Vol.3
19. Mobile Suit Z Gundam II -Lovers-
20. Lilo And Stitch (Special Ed)

Initial D Fourth Stage Vol.12: As I mentioned earlier on, the Initial D DVD buyers consist largely of car lovers and casual fans. Initial D rarely become hot topic for discussion in the anime fan community, even if its DVD/manga hits the best-seller list. Instead, the topic of Initial D manga/anime is often taken up by the car lovers' blogs/forums.

Rozen Maiden and Lyrical Nanoha A's have a special status in the recent otaku-oriented anime. Both shows have their strong fan base having a sense of loyalty. The new Rozen Maiden anime is now in progress, and the new project of Lyrical Nanoha has started in the latest issue of Megami Magazine.

The price of Dragon Ball DVD-BOX ~Dragon Box The Movies~ is 52,500 yen (approximately $450). This price is not unusual for DVD-BOX, but it must be nice to place third in the list despite a high price. Reading a hundred and several tens of DVD buyers' reviews, I found that many of them reminisced about their childhood in their reviews. They seem to be a bit older people who have purchasing power.

I'm a little surprised at Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora being ranked in the top 10. I didn't think it would be highly placed on the list because it seemed to be rather low-profile even among the anime fans.

[Sushikins]

I don't know how to respond to more Rozen Maiden and Nanoha. Both shows are favorites of mine, but Nanoha A's wrapped up the story nicely, so I doubted a 3rd season. As for Rozen Maiden, I still haven't seen Traumend, oddly enough, so I'm not sure what the possibilites are there, but I look forward to it.

As for Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora, I'm happy that it made the Top 10, since it became a big favorite of mine rather quickly.

[HitokiriShadow]

Rozen Maiden and Lyrical Nanoha A's have a special status in the recent otaku-oriented anime. Both shows have their strong fan base having a sense of loyalty. The new Rozen Maiden anime is now in progress, and the new project of Lyrical Nanoha has started in the latest issue of Megami Magazine.



More Nanoha? AWESOME.

[Haruhi]

Here is this week's ranking list of anime DVD sales.

Anime DVD TOP 20 (Oricon Style: Ranking section (http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/))

01. Initial D Fourth Stage Vol.12
02. Rozen Maiden traumend Vol.4
03. Dragon Ball (theatrical version) DVD-BOX ~Dragon Box The Movies~ (Limited Production)
04. Pretty Cure Max Heart 2 The Movie ~Yukizora no Tomodachi~ (Limited Ed)
05. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Special Ed)
06. Gun X Sword Vol.7
07. Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
08. To Heart 2 Vol.5 (Limited Ed)
09. Dragon Ball Z Vol.16
10. Fullmetal Alchemist Premium Collection
11. Dragon Ball Z Vol.18
12. Dragon Ball Z Vol.17
13. Howl's Moving Castle
14. Prince of Tennis Original Video Animation Zenkoku Taikai Hen Vol.1
15. Tonari no Totoro
16. Fate/stay night Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
17. Shin Bikkuriman Complete DVD Vol.2
18. Ginyu Mokushiroku: Meine Liebe wieder Vol.3
19. Mobile Suit Z Gundam II -Lovers-
20. Lilo And Stitch (Special Ed)

Initial D Fourth Stage Vol.12: As I mentioned earlier on, the Initial D DVD buyers consist largely of car lovers and casual fans. Initial D rarely become hot topic for discussion in the anime fan community, even if its DVD/manga hits the best-seller list. Instead, the topic of Initial D manga/anime is often taken up by the car lovers' blogs/forums.

Rozen Maiden and Lyrical Nanoha A's have a special status in the recent otaku-oriented anime. Both shows have their strong fan base having a sense of loyalty. The new Rozen Maiden anime is now in progress, and the new project of Lyrical Nanoha has started in the latest issue of Megami Magazine.

The price of Dragon Ball DVD-BOX ~Dragon Box The Movies~ is 52,500 yen (approximately $450). This price is not unusual for DVD-BOX, but it must be nice to place third in the list despite a high price. Reading a hundred and several tens of DVD buyers' reviews, I found that many of them reminisced about their childhood in their reviews. They seem to be a bit older people who have purchasing power.

I'm a little surprised at Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora being ranked in the top 10. I didn't think it would be highly placed on the list because it seemed to be rather low-profile even among the anime fans.


There's a NEW Rozen Maiden anime in progress?!?!

THANK YOU PEACHPIT!!!

[Kisaragi]

I don't know how to respond to more Rozen Maiden and Nanoha. Both shows are favorites of mine, but Nanoha A's wrapped up the story nicely, so I doubted a 3rd season.


More Nanoha? AWESOME.


There's a NEW Rozen Maiden anime in progress?!?!

THANK YOU PEACHPIT!!!

I think I made a misleading mention about Rozen Maiden and Nanoha.

The new Rozen anime in progress is not the third TV series but a single episode for either the OVA or the special TV program. It may take the 3rd series some time to come out.

The new Nanoha project also doesn't mean the new TV series, it's a magazine serial of Megami Magazine is put out by Gakken, one of the major publishing companies in Japan. Gakken is eager to start a project of the new Nanoha TV series on their own, so they took effect beginning with two serials for Nanoha in their magazines.

[Kisaragi]

It's been a while since I posted a message in AN. I have been like totally busy with my job for recent months, but I managed to secure time to watch anime. I'm unwinding from high season.

The following list is this week's ranking of anime DVD sales in Japan.

Anime DVD TOP 20 (Oricon Style: Ranking section (http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/))

01. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
02. Fate / stay night Vol.5
03. Gintama Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
04. Prince of Tennis OVA Zenkoku Taikai Hen Vol.3
05. ARIA The Natural Vol.1
06. Mushishi Vol.4 (Limited Ed)
07. Shakugan no SHANA Vol.7
08. Mai-Otome (My-Otome) Vol.7
09. BLEACH Baunt (Vaunt) Hen Vol.3
10. Eureka Seven Vol.13
11. Ouran High School Host Club Vol.1
12. One Piece The Movie "Karakuri-Joh no Mecha Kyohei"
13. Ah! My Goddess ~Sore Zore no Tubasa~ Vol.1
14. xxxHOLiC Vol.1
15. Ju-Oh-Sei Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
16. Howl's Moving Castle
17. BLACK LAGOON Vol.1 (Limited Ed)
18. BLOOD+ Vol.8
19. Snow White <Disney>
20. Tonari no Totoro

As was widely predicted, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has debuted at the top. Suzumiya Haruhi TV series became a huge hit in years. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the Japanese anime fan community was revolving around Haruhi throughout this spring. This series won the 1st place in 8th Mikimomo Anime Kansouritsu Chousa (http://www33.ocn.ne.jp/~sakurahi/home/omoituki/kanso_ritsu0605i.html#kansoritsu) (survey of anime sites/blogs' rating). According to the results of Mikimomo Survey, Haruhi TV series registered a viewing rate among anime reviewers/blogers in excess of 50% (to be exact, 59.0%). This figure is startling. No anime reached 50% in recent years.

I'm surprised to hear Gintama Vol.1 placed third on the list. I know the original manga of the show is the bestseller, but I never thought the anime version would be such a hit.

I feel ARIA 2nd season is a bit inferior to the 1st season, but there is as yet no sign of sinking in popularity. ARIA has a special kind of ambient atmosphere that very few anime have.

Mushishi Vol.4 took 6th place. I think they fought a good fight with powerful competitors.

[RyoTD]

Fate/Stay Night is number 2? Wow.

[Jon]

Haruhi deserves to be number 1, because it's so flipping awesome.

[RyoTD]

Haruhi deserves to be number 1, because it's so flipping awesome.
I don't know if I can agree, though... I thought it was awesome at first, then after 5-some episodes I just got bored with it. I can honestly say that I enjoyed Fate/Stay Night and Black Lagoon far more. :uhh:

[LOSTyears]

Mushishi Vol.4 took 6th place. I think they fought a good fight with powerful competitors.Wow, I'm a little shocked to see it that high on the list, way to go :thumbsup:
Haruhi being at the top is no surprise.

But its nice to see Blood+ along with a few others that I like on the list.

[Joeshie]

Good to see Haruhi at number 1, but I can't really say that I'm suprised about it.

lol @ Snow White at #19

[Jon]

I don't know if I can agree, though... I thought it was awesome at first, then after 5-some episodes I just got bored with it. I can honestly say that I enjoyed Fate/Stay Night and Black Lagoon far more. :uhh:
I haven't watched those two titles, but I thought Haruhi was just a fun ride the entire time. Will I buy it if it's released? Hell yeah.

[Joeshie]

I haven't watched those two titles, but I thought Haruhi was just a fun ride the entire time. Will I buy it if it's released? Hell yeah.

Fate/Stay Night was a huge disappointment for most fans. If it had made use of it's full potential, then it could have been just as good as Haruhi IMO.

[gameoffreak8]

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is number 1.
Ouran High School Host Club is number 11
BLACK LAGOON is number 17.
I like these anime on the list.

[HitokiriShadow]

Fate/Stay Night was a huge disappointment for most fans. If it had made use of it's full potential, then it could have been just as good as Haruhi IMO.

It was disappointing, but not bad, just decent (as opposed to "great" which it should have been). I'm still going to get the R1 DVDs. Of course, others may feel differently.