Kaiju No. 8 also fails in sales in Japan

The anime “ Kaiju No. 8 ”, one of the highest-rated series of the Spring-2024 season (April-June) , has surprised the community of fans and critics by debuting with only 445 copies sold of its Blu-ray /DVD in its first week available in Japan. Despite its popularity and acclaim, this figure is considered extremely low compared to other releases from the same period.

To put these sales in perspective, other anime released in the same season have posted significantly higher numbers. For example, the seventh Blu-ray/DVD of “Sousou no Frieren” sold 7,123 copies , the fourth of “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” reached 5,692 copies , and the first of “Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 2 Part 2” managed to sell 3,091 do you copy . These numbers further highlight the modest sales of “Kaiju No. 8.”

Although physical album sales are no longer as relevant in the era of streaming, where services like Netflix, Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime dominate the market, the low sales figure for “Kaiju No. 8” has raised questions among fans and the industry about why some anime series manage to sell thousands of copies while others , despite their success on other platforms, barely manage to take off in physical format.

Although “Kaiju No. 8” is popular, its fanbase may not be as inclined to purchase physical albums. Additionally, the quality of content added in this merchandise, such as cast interviews, concept art, and deleted scenes, can be a big draw for Blu-ray/DVD buyers . If “Kaiju No. 8” did not include attractive extras, this could have affected sales.

Most likely, however, competition with other simultaneous launches has affected sales. The presence of strong titles in the same period can divert the attention and resources of potential buyers. Despite the growing preference for streaming, the physical record market still has its place, especially among collectors and die-hard fans.

Despite these disappointing numbers, it must be made clear that the production of a second season of “Kaiju No. 8” has already been announced , so fans should not worry at all. In fact, the comments themselves reflect this ideology:

« I'm glad Frieren is doing well. Kaiju No. 8 probably made the money back from the production just from the streaming license (I don't know, I'm just guessing), so the low BD sales don't matter .
« Most shonen anime titles fail in Blu-ray sales. Kimetsu no Yaiba and Jujutsu Kaisen are the exception, not the rule. The series supported by otakus are the ones that obtain the highest sales .
« Every time these numbers come out, people misunderstand what they really mean. On the one hand, low sales do not mean that the anime has failed, since streaming is more profitable now and there are other sources of income. On the other hand, it shows how passionate anime fans are and how happy they are with it. Other Toho animes like Frieren, Apothecary Diaries, and Mushoku Tensei sold much more even though the Kaijuu No 8 manga sold better than those. It may not seem like much, but the character designs had a huge impact on BD/DVD sales ."
« Why the low sales? I heard it's not a bad anime .
« Since BDs are for die-hard fans due to their high price, it seems that the series failed to gain many passionate viewers, although it was super successful on streaming and will be fine .»
« The original material sucks. The extra irony is that it started to suck right when the anime was announced .
« The manga fandom took a nosedive last year (I don't know why, I don't read it) and it's really bad right now. The anime failed to revitalize interest in the series .
« Kaiju No. 8 only has 160 fan arts in Danbooru. In contrast, Girls Band Cry has over 3.5k fan arts. GBC was also an original anime unlike Kaiju, so it didn't have a chance to gain traction before it aired. These numbers provide a good measure of how popular a series is, especially among Japanese fans, since the majority of the art published there is by Japanese artists. That said, I will say that these numbers tend to favor animes with strong shipping potential, which is definitely a plus for GBC .
" Oh, look, the irrelevant number that doesn't matter anymore but always gets mentioned when you want to praise a show or 'prove' it really sucks ."
« Well, well, it's Solo Leveling again. Kaiju No. 8 fans shouldn't worry about BD sales. BD sales don't matter as much anymore these days and Kaiju No. 8 was quite successful in the streaming department .