Tracking Weekly Shonen Jump volume sales is always of great interest to us here at OTAQUEST, as it is by these figures that series live or die in Shueisha’s legendary magazine. Going into this month, sales were particularly worth paying attention to as several new series were releasing their first volumes: Moriking, Time Paradox Ghostwriter, and Bone Collection, more specifically. Their future place in the magazine was therefore being decided, along with more established series showing what kind of potential they have for growth in the future.
Using the Shoseki Ranking blog, we can estimate the number of total sales based on each volume’s position in the rankings of various bookstores and storefronts. Looking at the data for the first week of August (3-9), we can see that Haikyu!! volume 44 has taken the top spot (no surprises there), along with Jujutsu Kaisen volume 12 and Chainsaw Man volume 8 at numbers 3 and 4 respectively.
Perhaps more interesting, however, is the position and estimated sales of newer series. Last time we checked in with Weekly Shonen Jump volume sales, we noted that MASHLE volume 1 was selling exceptionally well; this month’s volume 2 continues that solid performance with a position at number 42 and an estimated over 21800 units sold.
Sales for volume 1 of Moriking and Time Paradox Ghostwriter, however, weren’t so impressive. The former series came in at number 265, selling under 5000 units. The latter fared a little better, coming in at number 223 and a little closer to the 5K mark, but still proved disappointing. Both of these series will now be under the threat of cancellation, if not immediately than sometime in the future – we’ll have to wait and see how their second volumes fare this October.
One series that is definitely up for cancellation is Bone Collection. Already, rumors were floating around about this thanks to Manga Plus HTML trickery, but sales for volume 1 has put the writing on the wall: coming in right at the bottom at number 495, it barely managed to shift over 2500 units.
Finally, we should mention that sales for Mission: Yozakura Family are still proving surprisingly solid. It was reported last time that figures had increased steadily since its first volume, and that pattern continues for volume 4, which came in at 73 and over 10000 units sold. No doubt it will continue to stick around in the magazine for as long as this performance continues.
All in all, what can we learn from these latest Weekly Shonen Jump sales figures? Firstly, Moriking and Time Paradox Ghostwriter are in danger. No doubt about that. MASHLE, meanwhile, continues to be a strong performer and is benefitting from its shift to a battle manga. Finally, Bone Collection is going, going, gone – I, for one, won’t miss it.