Anime Vice Anime/Manga News

As we mentioned before, Gonzo isn’t looking so great. It recently closed it’s official online shop and there are no knew anime series currently in the works. Now Canned Dogs reports some more interesting information about the history of their steady rate of destruction.

Sales of the first volume DVD for Gonzo anime:

12,318 Strike Witches LE vol.1
11,906 Vandread vol.1
*8,486 Last Exile vol.1
*8,029 Vandread the second stage vol.1
*7,456 Rosario to Vampire vol.1
*7,403 Gatekeepers vol.1
*6,996 Saki vol.1
*6,992 Kiddy Grade vol.1
*6,376 Hellsing vol.1
*5,990 Saishuu heiki kanojo vol.1
*5,558 Fullmetal Panic! vol.1
*4,332 Crono Crusade vol.1
*3,998 Black Cat vol.1
*3,821 Seto no hanayome vol.1
*3,773 Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of URUK~ vol.1
*3,538 Witchblade
*3,074 Choujyuushin Gravion Zwei vol.1
*2,732 Gankutsuou vol.1
*2,722 GANTZ vol.1
*1,978 Kaze no Stigma vol.1
*1,802 Gad Guard vol.1
*1,668 Choujyuushin Gravion vol.1
*1,542 SAMURAI7 vol.1
*1,508 Samurai Girl Real Bout Highschool vol.1
*1,374 Getsumentoheiki Mina
*1,278 Blassreiter vol.1

Price of Gonzo shares in yen:

2006/01/16 - 635,000 - Giniro no kami no Agito
2006/04/04 - 456,000 - Witchblade, Glass Fleet
2006/07/03 - 365,000 - Brave Story, NHK ni youkoso!
2006/10/23 - 179,000 - Pumpkin Scissors, Red Garden
2007/01/22 - 122,000 - Afro Samurai, Getsumentoheiki Mina
2007/03/26 - *85,800 - KG movie, R x J, Seto, Stigma, Bokurano
2007/10/11 - *74,000 - Dragonaut
2008/01/09 - *53,800 - Rosario to vampire
2008/03/25 - *44,550 - Tower of Druaga, Blassreiter, S.A
2008/07/01 - *23,300 - Strike Witches
2008/07/22 - *17,300
2008/07/29 - *15,140
2008/08/19 - **6,800
2008/10/10 - **4,990 - Linebarrel
2009/05/29 - **2,470 - Saki, Shangri-la
2009/06/07 - **1,630
2009/07/29 - ***,630 - Delisted from Tokyo Stock Exchange

Can you believe that Gonzo’s shares where at one time worth almost $6,600, and dropped all the way to $6 before they were delisted; ouch. Now they are even selling Black Cat vol. 7 on their closing down sale for sixteen cents each. That’s right SIXTEEN CENTS.

What caused Gonzo to fail? Bad anime, that’s what. Some anime was in fact really great, like Last Exile, Gankutsuou, and Hellsing, but the real problem is that most of these good series are just one shots, and don’t make good franchises. Then there was there other anime series that just plain sucked, made by a group of people who thought they understood what us otaku want. “More boobs, more dragons, bam Dragonaut.” In such a competitive market, they just couldn’t stand out.

The doctors are trying their best to save it, but it doesn’t look good.