ICv2 has the April sales figures, and it was a cruel month indeed for manga, with none at all in the top ten. In fact, the first manga to make the list is volume 11 of Berserk, at number 14. Then we have volume 25 of Inu Yasha at number 21.
Here are the rest of the manga on the list:
39 SAMURAI DEEPER KYO VOL 18
44 RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 25
52 ROZEN MAIDEN VOL 1
53 BLEACH VOL 12
54 INITIAL D VOL 22
57 RUROUNI KENSHIN VOL 26
59 OH MY GODDESS VOL 2
61 FULL METAL PANIC OVERLOAD MANGA VOL 4
62 ART O/LOVING
63 FUSHIGI YUGI VOL 18
64 GET BACKERS VOL 14
66 BOYS O/SUMMER VOL 1
68 ANIMA VOL 1
72 KING O/HELL VOL 13
75 ANGEL SANCTUARY VOL 13
77 CONFIDENTIAL CONFESSIONS DEAI VOL 1
78 HANA KIMI VOL 11
82 ALMOST CRYING VOL 1
83 BLAME VOL 4 GN
84 GUNGRAVE ANIME MANGA
86 ONE PIECE VOL 10
87 SCRAPPED PRINCESS VOL 3
88 DEATH NOTE VOL 5
90 JU ON VIDEO SIDE
92 SHRINE O/MORNING MIST VOL 1
94 BOYS BE VOL 9
98 LA ESPERANCA VOL 2
99 KINGDOM HEARTS VOL 3
100 PHD PHANTASY DEGREE VOL 6
It looks like April was not chock full o/manga, as the ICv2 folks would probably put it, at least not for people who buy their books in comic stores. Compare this to March, when vol. 13 of Fruits Basket was number 2 on the top 100 graphic novels and vol. 9 of Naruto was number 5, with respectable showings from Fullmetal Alchemist (no. 15), Kingdom Hearts (no. 19) and Negima (no. 21).
In fact, Furuba and Naruto, which both made the USA Today top 150 books (not comics, books!) list in April are completely absent from the ICv2 list, which covers only comics stores. Kingdom Hearts, which also made the USA Today list, is number 99 on the ICv2 list. Obviously it’s bad to extrapolate from a single month, but gee, it does look like the most popular titles are doing better in bookstores. To test my hypothesis, I’ll be watching next month to see how vol. 7 of Fullmetal Alchemist does in stores vs. comics stores. (We bought our copy in Borders.) But I’ll really be convinced if Death Note does poorly in the ICv2 top 100 for May. That’s a grownup title, and it’s the sort of thing I would think would sell well in comics stores. We’ll see.
To me, bookstores do a much better job selling manga than comic shops do. I see Barnes and Noble and Borders stock a wntire isle with manga vs. a comic shop devoting a small bookcase in the back.
I try to support my local comic shop but I’m thinking manga does quite well in bookstores or we would not be seeing entire isles dedicated to just manga.