Shakugan no Shana
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@xdrfiredogx said in Shakugan no Shana:
Do you have any data to back up the assertion that those specific titles have lost them money? Some of them make sense, but others maybe less so.
My data is whatever Sam and other JNC staff have said on the discord server over the years. The consensus is that series with old anime (read: more than 5 years ago) don't sell.
Here's Sam saying Orphen, Outbreak and Daimaou are losing money. I'd like to show you more, but that's the only one I've got saved. You could join the discord and search through it if you want, since I can't be bothered.
Though unfortunately, as much as I'd love for older series like SnS to get licensed, I do agree that the odds are much worse for them to be profitable. Not just because they may be less familiar to would-be readers but also because the style tends to feel very different than what modern readers might be use to.
Yeah, the current fad is isekai. Anything that's not that will face an uphill battle.
From what I've gathered, late 90s->late 00s were defined by urban fantasy series (Boogiepop, Shana, Index, Haruhi, etc.); the late 00s->early 10s were magic battle high school (Daimaou, IS, etc.); trapped in a game world stories (SAO, Log Horizon) had a brief stint before isekai fully took over in 2014. Some people say the next big thing will be rom-coms, but I'll believe that when I see it.
Slayers is a great example... reading it, there is a style to it that doesn't feel anything like anything more modern.
Slayers at least seems to have enough name recognition for the hardcovers to do well. (I'm assuming, since JNC is even giving it the audio book treatment now)
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Hello,
The comment above was a good comment to wrap up this side discussion. At least in this topic. If anyone wishes they are free to open up a new topic to discuss various speculation points on old anime in relation to sales.
Otherwise let’s bring this topic back around to Shakugan no Shana.
Thank you
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D DoubleMangekyo referenced this topic on
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Like so many others, I would love to see Shana get picked up by JNC since it's my favorite anime series.
Maybe JNC could do a kickstarter-like drive to gauge interest in the series. I know it's kind of a weird comparison to make, but Hasbro did just that when they considering revamping an old board game from the early 90s called HeroQuest. It ended up being a huge success, and they more than cleared their goal.
I think Shana has enough of a cult following that it would actually do really well with that. Wouldn't actually cost anything unless it was successful in raising the necessary amount and JNC getting the license from Dengeki Bunko.
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@khanman Kickstarter wouldn't be a good idea.
To quote a response by JNC staff from What can us fans do to to expediate the liscening process?:Companies don't like being told "we don't trust that your series will be successful so we want to prove it will sell first." They also don't like being told "we thought it would be popular but not enough people funded, sorry."
I've lost all hope of JNC ever getting Shana. The reason? In a recent licensing stream it was made clear that JNC will not be printing any more of their licenses (barring spin-offs), and people should be asking Yen Press instead. You can thank Kadokawa for this.
Old series like Shana (FMP, Slayers) tend to do well physically, but have horrible digital sales. And even the decent physical sales are dependent on a title having enough name recognition to bring in the old fans. Crest of the Stars, for example, does not have good physical sales.
Basically, JNC has no financial incentive to license Shana since Kadokawa wouldn't allow them to print it anyway, and the digital sales would be subpar.
EDIT: Sam said it himself back in January:
Classic series like full metal/slayers sell terribly, 100% of the time. Only print editions sell for those. Later volumes of classic series can sell <100 copies each digitally. So our ability to license classic series is tied to our ability to put out print editions (otherwise we're looking at 5-figure losses for longer series.)
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@DoubleMangekyo That’s such a major disappointment to hear that they’re not doing any future print offerings of new/future series, except in that very limited case. I always preferred physical copies, between Amazon being stupid and computers & tablets crashing, etc. I would’ve loved to see this series or Cat Planet Cuties picked up. Maybe their stance on print will change and it’ll happen one day….
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@DoubleMangekyo said in Shakugan no Shana:
I've lost all hope of JNC ever getting Shana. The reason? In a recent licensing stream it was made clear that JNC will not be printing any more of their licenses (barring spin-offs), and people should be asking Yen Press instead. You can thank Kadokawa for this.
Well that is a damn shame. Don't ask me to explain why - because I couldn't - but I greatly prefer physical for some reason for some of the series like FMP and CotS/BotS and would have likely gone physical for this as well, even though I actually read far more digital than physical.
But yeah, based on this, the odds seem to have gone from maybe 5% chance to no chance 😔
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@DoubleMangekyo but then the problem is - What about Yen Press? Do JNC communicate with Yen Press in any meaningful way on matters like this?
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@c933103 I don't think Yen Press would need JNC to tell them that a Classic series would need a physical print in order to sell well, they have their own older series licensed, and they could look at their own physical vs digital sales to verify that.
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I highly doubt this series would sell any worse than Earl and Fairy.
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R Rahul Balaggan referenced this topic on
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Great novels to read. 2023 and we don't have this novels licensed, only VIZ first 2 light novels. Shakugan no Shana has a great fanbase, who knows if this novel can sell well or not... Maybe yes, nice anime, nice manga and nice novel.
In 2023 the volume 27 is out in Japan also. Praying for the license.
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L LurkingMcLurk referenced this topic on
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Old topic but seems it's where support needs to be shown. So, still hoping for this to get picked up.
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bring Shana!!
