->ToC is not rankings
->Rankings arent important
-> Series that was a bottom dweller is cancelled
->Rankings are important.
RIP Noah's Notes. I still remember people claiming it was the next big thing and would be the rounds winner. We see how that turned out. Pay respects to the believers of hallowed past.
I see them as blocks
One Piece, top, middle, bottom
[Opinion Alert, observational with only sales data to somewhat backup]
One Piece is One Piece,
the top block are series that are polling well, decent sales and the Editor decided to give them a push, maybe they see the potential, maybe they just want to see how it would do given enough push, this kinda promotion will stay for a while because mindshare is not built instantly and will stay longer if the volumes sale are growing, if they see the sales are stagnant, maybe they think it is time to give another series a push, and rotate them with the middle block,
The middle block is for established series that have not exactly peaked, but are growing slowly, they had their chances on the top block or just moved up from the bottom block because their volume starting to sold well or started to get more attention from readers(poll), the EiC might move them based on their performance so that can move to either side of the TOC.
the bottom block is for poorly received or Niche series, the place is prime cancellation zone and new series, especially from new mangakas really want to avoid this section because if it is not doing well enough before the first volume came out they might not even have a chance to show their worth, Niche series also belong here because they might not being doing too well in sales, but even the EiC and past EiC had said it is better to have some diversity in the magazine. (Logic behind that is IMO, mainstream series are just bring the same kind of audience, just replacing older readerbase with a younger one, while niche series are what bring a different demographic to their magazines and series). If a series started to show promised in its early day(Volumes PO & polling) then the editorial might give them a push putting them to the middle or even top blocks.
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that took a while to write, and it's a bit too long.
Anyway... do we have Oricon number yet?