Re: Weekly Shonen Jump [2011] - Discussion and TOC Talk - Part 2
Since the end of the Deicide arc Bleach's sales per volume have fallen fairly dramatically. Sales have not been in free fall, the decline did level off and volume sales are still very good. But there was a very clear decline, when coupled with Bleach's TOC position yo-yo'ing a little more than it used, it is perfectly reasonable to presume that Bleach's popularity has declined a little. Not enough that anyone could make an even semi-reasonable case that Bleach is in danger. But clearly Bleach is not as popular in Japan now as it was before Aizen was defeated.
As of November 2011 when Oricon reported the 50 bestselling manga of 2011, the best selling volume of Bleach was #48 with 845,791 copies shipped. Volume 49 shipped 714,990 copies, a decline of 130,801 copies, a loss of 15% of volume 48's sales. Volume 58 was the lowest seller of 2011 with 574,504 copies shipped, a loss of 140,486 copies from volume 49, a loss of 19%. Sales have steadied since volume 52 with recent volumes selling within the same range, about 600,000 copies per volume. What we can see is that sales dropped most dramatically from volume 48 to volume 49. Between volume 48 and 52 sales declined by 271,287 copies. Volume 49 represents the most dramatic decline in sales, 130,801 copies or 48% of the sales lost since the deicide arc ended. The remaining 140,486 copies were spread out over three volumes, 50 - 52, before sales leveled off and the decline ended. Clearly volume 49 represents the point where the decline in popularity was most dramatic, while volume 52 and 53 (which fell out of the top 50 before reaching 600,000 copies) represent an end to the decline but not a recovery of lost sales.
Volume 59 of One Piece came out on December. Nothing lasts on the NY Times top 10 for over a month except maybe Naruto or Sailor Moon. One Piece 59 and Bleach 37 chart debut was the same week, the week ending on December 25. Both fell out of the charts a week later, though One Piece returned the week after that. Bleach did not. One Piece charted for two non-consecutive weeks while Bleach only charted one week.
