As we all know, the charts have been going crazy with popular titles such as Jujutsu Kaisen and Tokyo Revengers as of late, and as such, there were a number of titles that had the potential to sell well, but couldn’t. This post’s aim is to guide you to some of the titles that were left out, which you should be paying attention to if you’re looking for something other than the heavyweight titles mentioned above to read. Note that, we are not able to list out all of the Manga that were not ranked for the month. Most importantly, although the low sales, it doesn’t synonymously agree with the quality that a title possesses. Perhaps on a different post, we shall look at other charts to highlight some other titles, however for now, we would like to shift our attention to those on Oricon’s sales chart.
Oricon sales chart in April had a number of new releases in its first week, but many of them were titles you have already known. Due to stronger sales by these titles, many of us might have let titles such as Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareta Beast Tamer, Saikyoushu no Nekomimi Shoujo to Deau and Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san go unnoticed.
Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareta Beast Tamer, Saikyoushu no Nekomimi Shoujo to Deau
Yuusha Party is an adaptation of the light novel of the same name and is currently on its 5th volume and managed to sell 49,292 copies in its first week (in the span of five days). For many, it can be considered low but it is a reasonable number given that it is an adaptation of a Light Novel. For more information about the title, you can check out Kodansha’s Comic Plus page right here.
Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san
Kawaii dake ja Nai Shikimori-san is a special case of a work that initially started its launch on Twitter, and after a while, it was officially launched through Magazine Pocket, a Manga application by Kodansha. Its popularity did not stop there, recently the work has received an Anime adaptation announcement (Source: ANN) on an unannounced date. Its 8th volume sold 38,097 copies in the first week and number of copies sold went up the week after to 43,454 copies. In addition, the title had also received good positions in several awards including: 5th place at Next Manga Awards 2020 (Source: Natalie.mu), 9th place at Tsutaya Comic Awards (Source: Natalie.mu), and 8th place at Japanese Bookstores Recommend 15 Top Manga for 2020 (Source: Natalie.mu). In 2020, Oricon reported that the release of its new six volumes, which were released on the same day had copies sold exceeding 1.4 million copies (Source: Oricon).
While the second week does seem a lot busier with the release of well known titles such as: Detective Conan, Enen no Shouboutai and Yuru Camp△, there were a number of titles that may have been overlooked. Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumeishite Kudasai!: Keiyaku kara Hajimaru Wedding and 2-gatsu no Shousha: Zettai Goukaku no Kyoushitsu were among them, but Kakkou no Iinazuke and Mokushiroku no Yonkishi were definitely a show stealer with the first already had an Anime announced. That said, our focus would be on the two below:
Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumeishite Kudasai!: Keiyaku kara Hajimaru Wedding
An adaptation from the Light Novel of the same name, Dareka Kono Joukyou wo Setsumeishite Kudasai!: Keiyaku kara Hajimaru Wedding‘s 5th volume had a decent turnout in its first week selling 41,554 copies back in April. Fortunately, for those of you interested in giving the series a try, both Manga and Light Novels have official English releases through Renta! and J-Novel Club. So, be sure to check them out!
2-gatsu no Shousha: Zettai Goukaku no Kyoushitsu
The title had quite a weak debut with the 11th volume manged to sell only 31,433 copies in its first week, though we may see sales uplifted with the announcement of the live action adaptation, which should begin in Fall 2021 (Source: Natalie.mu). According to Shogakukan’s Big Comic Spirits (where the manga is serialized) official Twitter account, the title has exceeded 1.3 million copies in circulation (you can see it on the cover of the magazine).
As for the third week of April, sales were a lot more modest with only one title exceeding 100,000 copies sold and the Top 30 chart was cut at 30,721 copies being the lowest. Although sales were not as great, there was a title that may catch the eyes of many, Ao no Orchestra. The work is Makoto Akui’s second solo work where his first being Moukin-chan. The Mangaka has also worked on other titles such as Kokoro ga Sakebitagatterun da., an adaptation of a film of the same name and The Creator: Kami Manga Senki. However, he was only responsible as an artist for the two. You may be more familiar with him if you have read Magi, who he served as an assistant to Shinobu Ohtaka, the Mangaka for the series.
Ao no Orchestra
The first week saw the number of copies sold for its 9th volume at 39,760 copies. The title reached the mark of 1 million copies milestone back in August 2020, as reported by Dengeki. According to Kobayashi Shou however, the title has surpassed 2 million copies in circulation as of January 2021. Ao no Orchestra was initially launched in 2017 via Shogakukan’s Manga ONE app (Source: ANN).
What was interesting in the month of April was one series that we had thought would sell well given its popularity, and the fact that it was the final volume released. Jigokuraku did not perform as expected, thus we believe it would be a worthwhile title to highlight.
Jigokuraku
Drawn and written by Yuuji Kaku, Jigokuraku is a well-known series which was published by Shuiesha and serialized in Shounen Jump +. The official English releases are out and available for grabs through Manga Plus, and Viz Media has released eight volumes so far with the 9th volume coming out soon on July 20th. Yuuji Kaku alongside Yukinobu Tatsu were assistants to Chainsaw Man‘s Tatsuki Fujimoto, where the latter then became an assistant to Yuuji Kaku on his Jigokuraku project. Interestingly, Yukinobu Tatsu went on to start his very own work, Dandadan which was launched digitally via Shounen Jump + to great success. Jigokuraku has so far exceeded 2.85 million copies in circulation as of the 12th volume (Source: here). However, Volume 13 opened its first week with relatively low sales, 39,759 copies. Understandable, given that it had only three days. Sales improved to 43,929 copies the week after to see its two-week sales reach 83,688 copies. The work was also placed 4th on “Japanese Bookstores Employees Recommended Manga for 2019” (Source: Natalie.mu) and is set to receive a TV Anime adaptation on an unannounced date (Source: ANN).
And that is all folks! Let us know what you think in the comment section below! Any titles you did not see ranked, but would like to highlight? Don’t shy away from making your suggestions!
Consider following my blog by clicking on the button below: Follow Erzat on WordPress.com