Top 25 anime/manga titles for Summer 08

I found these lists interesting ...

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13212.html

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13211.html

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-09-08/funimation-tallies-rd-of-north-american-anime-sales

I think the thing that surprised me is how many shoujo titles are on the manga list. Too bad two manga titles I like aren't in the top-50 ("Gakuen Alice" and "Hayate the Combat Butler").

I'm not surprised that shoujo manga titles make up so much of the list... their success is a big part of the overall success of manga over american comics. Broadening the demographic and all. What I am surprised by is that Furuba is still going strong... hasn't it been out for years and years now? Though I dunno, maybe we got the anime well before the manga started here...

I am amazed that Mamotte Shugogetten is on the manga list (granted it is rated 43rd). The manga first came out in 1996 and the anime series dates back to 1998, and now some 12-years later, it is hitting the charts as a popular translated manga series ... yesh!!

http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=409

To answer Rebecca ... Furuba (or Fruits Basket), first came out in 1998 in a manga format and was released in 2001 as an anime series - both of which seem to be exceedingly popular and very durable over the years.

Edited on 09/09/2008 12:39 PM.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't released in the US as a manga series in 1998, however. I was really only talking about the order of US releases. And yeah, looks like the manga first hit the US in 2004 and the anime somewhat earlier (the box set was out in 2004, so the individual releases probably started a year or two before that).

Edited on 09/09/2008 11:53 PM.

Voltron beating out Full Metal panic TSR is a DAMN SHAME!

And Gantz making #50 on the manga side, considering that Gantz was considered the most Taboo manga to the American's also surprises me.

Oh and JC, the reason Mamotte is in there is because they just released a 3 Volume Super Book of it last month. I happen to own a copy of it :)

Edited on 09/10/2008 02:43 AM.

Being a fan of Fruits Basket, I knew of its success. The reason the manga is still being released in the U.S. despite the fact that it has been long over in Japan is that TokyoPop slowed down the U.S. release of the manga to once every four months. That was so they could project the revenues from their cash cow for a lot longer than they otherwise would have done. Once that series is done, TP is going to be hurting more since they don't have that many titles on the list.

As for the shoujo remarks I made earlier, one thing I keep getting told is that shoujo anime won't sell well in the U.S. As such, I figured for sure that this had carryover to shoujo manga. Since I don't follow manga save for what I collect, that's why I was amazed to see so many shoujo titles.

I see that the list has xxxHOLiC marked as "shounen." In Japan, I believe that manga is published in a seinen magazine (Tsubasa is published in a shounen magazine though).