These SHAFT show DVD/BD rankings are ridiculous! You always hear about how well Bakemonogatari sold, but it’s hard to get a real perspective on it until you see something like this. Another source provides the following data.
(2004年) *2,015 月詠 -MOON PHASE- (Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-)
(2005年) *7,980 ぱにぽにだっしゅ!(※BOX合算 10,219) (Pani Poni Dash!)
(2006年) **,*** REC
(2006年) *8,516 ネギま!? (Negima!?)
(2007年) *5,885 ひだまりスケッチ (Hidamari Sketch)
(2007年) *4,165 ef – a tale of memories.(BDBOX含まず)
(2007年) *7,077 さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
(2008年) *1,405 ef – a tale of melodies.(同発BD含まず)
(2008年) *5,451 俗・さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S2)
(2008年) *8,120 ひだまりスケッチ×365 (Hidamari Sketch x365)
(2009年) *3,389 まりあ†ほりっく (Maria Holic)
(2009年) **,246 夏のあらし! (Natsu no Arashi)
(2009年) *4,221 懺・さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S3)
(2009年) 75,416 化物語(〜5巻) (Bakemonogatari (just the first 5))
(2009年) **,*** 夏のあらし! 春夏冬中 (Natsu no Arashi S2)
(2010年) **,*** ひだまりスケッチ×☆☆☆ (Hidamari Sketch Hoshimitsu)
(2010年) **,*** ダンズインザヴァンパイアバンド (Dance in the Vampire Bund)
(2010年) **,*** 荒川アンダーザブリッジ (Arakawa Under the Bridge)
Staggering! I think it’s interesting how the second and third seasons of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei didn’t sell as well as the first, though the above chart leads me to believe that the OVA sales are what prompted further seasons to be made. I wonder why it is that the Natsu no Arashi sales seem to have been incorrectly marked, since there is no way it only sold 247 copies, especially with them making a second season and all, haha. I also think it’s interesting that ef melodies and Maria Holic sold poorly because I thought those shows sucked, so it looks like the consensus was pretty widely reached, hehe. Will be interested to see if Hidamari Sketch s3 continues what appears to be an incline in DVD sales over each season~
My Sword Is Unbelievably Dull 
Wow.
I’m also slightly, slightly surprised that MoonPhase did so poorly.
I would be more surprised had I not known how unknown and incredibly low budget the show was when it first came out over there.
The **’s mean something like… it sold so poorly that the #’s didn’t report on the Oricon chart.
Derp. I meant that about S2 – the DVD’s for S2 have been coming out for a while. orz
Moonphase did poorly, I would guess, due how it deviated from the manga. It’s kind of a lolicon anime and people like their lolicon. Also the TV series had some serious problems during its airing run. (Bakemonogatari had the same, but it didn’t affect that.)
So does this mean Bakemonogatari is 60 times better than ef?
I sure hope not D:
It was already a hella popular light novel, so giving it the Shaft ensured some serious sales to begin with. It probably helped that it felt like a pretentious arts project that screamed for a DVD/BluRay release.
That chart makes me put El on lower priority on my plan to watch list for some reason. Really, that bad?
If good BK sales makes Shaft to continue making more Hidamari Sketch then it’s all good. I’ll like them to finish Bakemonogatari once and for all at some point though. It’s getting ridiculous.
ef is one of my top 10 anime of all time, fuck the sales. However, the seconds season, melodies, sucked. You still have to see S1 though.
Unfortunately I haven’t seen many SHAFT titles (only Bakemonogatari, Natsu no Arashi, and Dance in the Vampire Bund). But wow, Bakemonogatari’s success is amazing! 0_o
oh, I haven’t seen any because I haven’t heard of anything I wanted to watch from them and I’m not exactly in the picking up more shows to watch market right now
hell all I know about anime companies could be counted on both my hands, maybe a foot too
Hidamari Sketch, ef ~a tale of memories~, and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei are all God-Tier IMO. Pani Poni Dash! is also amazing, and while I don’t care much for Moon Phase, it has a thriving cult fanbase.
out of those, I’ll probably get Zetsubou like next once i clear out my backlog since I don’t have any anime to get. gotta finish at least two between Eureka Seven, FMP, FMP Fumoffu, Darker than Black, G Gundam, last two original gundam movies, and slayers
i’m watching ippo but since I’ve read the manga it isn’t nearly as high as a priority, more of a “whenever I want some BOCKSHINGU” deal
scratch FMP/Fumoffu/2nd raid for a good few months, too much mech stuff to watch
so you know what that means!
Natsu no Arashi >>> Bakemonogatari
The thing with SHAFT anime are that they’re all really niche (not sure if this is the right word here…) shows. They all have cult-like followings, except with Bakemonogatari. For some reason, the same old SHAFT formula appealed to a lot more people with Bakemonogatari. D:
Though I’m surprised that there aren’t even numbers for REC DVD sales. I know not many people have watched that, but…
bad news db.
your name is now Pink Double Down. plan accordingly.
i get to be Pink Five Layer Burrito