Other Manga/Anime News - #8 (2012)
A few quick news bits and another Oricon chart analysis (ADDED: more news bits and the Kodansha Manga Awards 10/05/2012):
1. The production studio Trans Arts, who animated Prince of Tennis as well as participating in many projects has filed for bankruptcy.
2. The manga adaptation of Mardock Scramble running in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine has ended.
3. Billy Bat, a manga running in Kodansha's seinen publication Afternoon, will now run fortnightly.
4. Hayate no Gotoku (Hayate the Combat Butler)' s 3rd season has been confirmed for the autumn season of this year.
5. Hiroyuki Takei-sensei, author of Shaman King, Shaman King Flowers and collaborator on Karakuri Doji Ultimo (with Stan Lee), has a big project coming up according to a snippet in Jump X. More details are to be revealed in June.
6. Upotte!! has been confirmed for a TV anime this summer following the success of the ONA's.
7. Zetsuen no Tempest (The Civilization Blaster), a manga currently running in Monthly Shonen Gangan, has been confirmed for an anime.
UPDATE (11/05/2012): BONES is the studio in charge of Zetsuen no Tempest.
Now here's the oricon chart for April 30-May 6:
1. One Piece 66 - 2,275,453
2. Naruto 60 - 847,826
3. Bakuman 18 - 333,085
4. Gate 7 3 - 131,347
5. Vampire Knight 16 - 81,173
6. Toshokan Sensou: Love & War 9 -68,208
7. Tegami Bachi 14 - 60,492
8. Fairy Tail 32 - 59, 271 (453,940)
9. Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu 4 - 57,569 (90,239)
10. Giant Killing 23 - 56,381 (258,103)
11. Junjo Romantica 15 - 55,853 (108,716)
12. Gin no Saji 3 - 55,013 (449,052)
13. Nisekoi 1 - 45,317
14. Oyasumi Punpun 10 - 42,823 (83,829)
15. Thermae Romae 1 - 39,085 (1,042,175)
16. Shingeki no Kyojin 7 - 37,554 (563,376)
17. Thermae Romae 2 - 37,059 (858,539)
18. Kagami no Kuni no Harisugawa 3 - 36,739
19. Hunter x Hunter 30 - 35,824 (931,591)
20. Jojolion 2 - 35,070 (322,604)
21. Thermae Romae 4 - 33,822 (607,120)
22. Thermae Romae 3 - 33,203 (721,624)
23. Tegami Bachi 14 Limited Edition - 32,600
24. Kannagi 7 - 32,570 (75,840)
25. One Piece 65 - 32,397 (3,130,268)
26. Liar Lilly 7 - 31,578 (85,812)
27. Ao Haru Ride 4 - 31,348 (317,060)
28. Gin no Saji 1 - 31,120 (612,761)
29. Gin no Saji 2 - 30,819 (580,712)
30. Shinya Shokudo 9 - 30,231 (58,499)
[Source: Oricon]
A few observations:
-Hunter x Hunter volume 30 has now stayed on the best-seller list for 5 weeks and is closing in on the 1 million mark.
-One Piece volume 66 didn't only open strong like expected but it also led to an increase in volume 65 sales making it jump from #93 to #25 on the best-seller list.
-Ao Haru Ride has sold very well for only it's fourth volume.
-Nisekoi's sales figures don't reflect it's popularity too well; Amazon listed it as sold out and emergency re-prints had to be ordered. But it still seems to be very popular and Komi-sensei's fans from Double Arts would have also contributed to the sales.
-Gin no Saji's volumes continue to remain in the top 30 for yet another week.
-Thermae Romae had all of it's volumes shoot up in sales and enter the top 30. Volume 1 has sold over 1 million copies.
Kodansha Manga Awards
Results:
Best Children's - Watashi ni xx Shinasai
Best Shonen - Mashiro no Oto
Best Shojo - Shitsuren Chocolatier
Best General - Vinland Saga
Thoughts:
-I was aware of Watshi ni xx Shinasai's popularity, since it's made the popular list on the site mangareader.net, so seeing it on the list isn't a surprise
-Vinland Saga's popularity has been growing steadily and it seems to sell well.
-Mashiro no Oto was also nominated for the 4th Manga Taisho Award and has a rather peculiar plot, making it almost the shonen equivalent of Chihayafuru.
-Don't know too much about Shitsuren Chocolatier but it's the only one on the list that isn't published by Kodansha (Shogakukan)
Thanks to ANN, Manga-news Japon and Oricon for the info.