Tsuritama Surprises

It’s fitting that a series that delivered more happiness per minute than any I can remember should deliver a pleasant surprise right after it finishes airing…

In my series review for Tsuritama I said, “I haven’t totally given up hope that Tsuritama could surprise and do pretty decently by NoitaminA’s meager standards – nothing huge, but maybe 3-4 K discs.”  The  final numbers are out and that prediction is looking pretty good – in fact, it was low.  The first volume sold a combined 4454 discs in its opening week.


That number is obviously not going to worry the Nisemonogatari and Fate/Zero of the world, but for what it is – a stubbornly unusual and smart series that airs on NoitaminA – it’s outstanding.  The mix – 2338 Blu-rays and 2116 DVDs – indicates that as expected, the demographic was almost evenly split among men and women.


Those numbers are on the borderline of what would normally get a series a continuation.  But even if that doesn’t happen (there’s been no talk of it that I’ve heard) it’s still great that producer Yamamoto Kouji and the NoitaminA team see a show like Tsuritama be rewarded, and actually make money.  And I’m glad that the Tsuritama staff, who clearly put a lot of love into this effort without much hope of commercial success, get to see that they reached the public in a big way.  With Chihayafuru getting a second season and Tsuritama doing so well, it’s been a good couple of months for the deserving underdogs of anime.

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18 comments

  1. l

    Good to hear that Tsuritama is selling better than feared. The show deserves all the recognition that it can get. However, I'm not strongly hoping that it sells well enough to earn a second season. I would certainly watch a second season if there is one. But unlike Chihayafuru, I don't feel as if Tsuritama needs a second season. Unlike Chihayafuru, Tsuritama feels complete as is. Nothing more needs to be said. It might be nice for there to be more, but nothing is lacking from the show if nothing more is said about it.

    What I want most for Tsuritama is a Blu-ray US release because the show is visually stunning. Sadly, Sentai hasn't given any indication that a Blu-ray is in the offering. More's the pity.

  2. B

    Kinda curious what they'd do with a second season of this show. I mean, they pretty much wrapped everything up there in the last episode. Kinda hard to see what they could even do with it.

  3. I think it would be pretty easy to do, if they wanted to do it. It's a fantasy, really, so nothing would be off limits. Not that I think it'll happen, but I think the possibility at least exists if the parties involved wanted to do it.

  4. C

    It's great to see Tsuritama sell well (and hopefully continue to do so), but I'm not hoping for sequel. I'm not sure where the series would go afterwards, especially since the main cast is scattered across the globe. Since it's clear that Tsuritama was planned out from the start due to its nigh perfect pacing, all plot threads were nicely tied up. This is one of the shows which I would prefer to leave on its own.

    Anyways, I'm glad that Tsuritama is doing pretty well. Tsuritama deserved the recognition, and it really depresses me to see a series like Guilty Crown sell over 10,000 units while better shows get shafted.

  5. Actually, GC ended up averaging about 7K – it fell off quite a bit after the first volume.

  6. A

    >indicates that as expected, the demographic was almost evenly split among men and women.
    I have to disagree. From what I've seen the fans of Tsuritama are overwhelmingly female. Even girls buy BDs these days (Tiger&Bunny showed that), especially for the sake of BD extras.

  7. Well obviously, there's no way to know for sure who's buying what, and there's some crossover. But the marketing data I've seen seems pretty conclusive that the trend still exists as a general rule.

    FWIW, most of the Tsuritama fans I know are male, though that's obviously a statistically insignificant sample size.

  8. K

    "FWIW, most of the Tsuritama fans I know are male, though that's obviously a statistically insignificant sample size."

    I actually know quite a few female fans who love the show (including myself) but I think it is a series that can appeal to both genders. 🙂

  9. M

    Being the proud owner of one of these DVDs, I'm extremely happy to see these numbers. Tsuritama certainly deserves it! After the great injustice that was Un-Go doing poorly in sales, this is fabulous news.

    I wouldn't mind a season two. There are still a few things they can do with this premise because it's still a very strange and surreal show. I wouldn't mind INTERGALACTIC FISHING that or another Kenji Nakamura project.

    What wonderful news…thanks for sharing this Enzo!

  10. N

    I don't understand much about how the DVD/Blue Ray market works, but figures like 5,000 or even 10,000 sound incredibly small to me – especially in a country with a population of nearly 130 million people. I wonder, what figure constitutes a smash hit?

  11. K

    It is extremely small but you have to take into account how much money these DVD/BR sell for in Japan. The prices balance out the sales (plus merchandise sales help a lot too).

    Anime is a niche in Japan but it is a profitable niche. And well there are huge hits like Madoka which sell 50,000 or pretty big hits like Tiger & Bunny which sell 20,000 (these huge hits sometimes support the smaller series in the end).

  12. S

    A second season would be great. But personally I'd rather see Nakamura do a sequel to Kuuchuu Buranko or something completely new and equally crazy.

  13. g

    The box art and extra prints inside is amazing if you haven't seen it yet!

    http://yoshi-x2.livejournal.com/16719.html

  14. Thanks, grey!

  15. S

    Wow, that really does look pretty awesome. Tsuritama's artwork is just amazing. Maybe I should get my hands on one of them too =3

  16. R

    Ahahaha….ahaha….one of those Blu-ray sales is mine and my wallet was bleeding. It's amazing how the shipping cost can actually be nearly 20% of a payment @___@

  17. Viewers of taste everywhere thank you for your sacrifice.

  18. a

    I wasn't aware that buying a blu-ray or DVD gave away my gender. That aside, great series. Hope it comes out on blu-ray.

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