Even before The Elusive Samurai volume 1 came out, it was pretty clear that sales of Yusei Matsui’s latest series were going to be pretty good. It got possibly the fastest Weekly Shonen Jump cover ever just fifteen chapters after its debut, while back-to-back releases of the first two volumes in July and August showed that SHUEISHA wanted to capitalize upon this early momentum.
That being said, the actual extent of its success is pretty surprising.
According to the Shoseki Ranking blog, The Elusive Samurai volume 1 managed to come in at number 39 on the first week of its release and actually rise to number 33 in the second. This is because the book was released on 2 July and therefore straddles the divide between the week beginning 28 June and 5 July, but the figures are pretty clear: it managed to shift an estimated 67,329 units during these two weeks alone.
What’s even more surprising is that sales for The Elusive Samurai volume 1 didn’t drop significantly heading into the third week of its release. It managed to remain in the top 100 at number 73, pushing the overall sales figure towards something closer to 80,000. At this point, it is worth reminding our readers that these figures are all just estimations based on a limited number of retailers, but they are undoubtedly evidence of wider success.
How rare is it for an author to launch three successful series in Weekly Shonen Jump? Certainly, there aren’t any other examples in recent memory, with Masashi Kishimoto failing to replicate the success of his heyday with Samurai 8. Perhaps Akira Toriyama is the closest, considering that he created both Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t even begin to approach Yusei Matsui‘s track record. Now that the author has strong sales for The Elusive Samurai alongside Neuro: Supernatural Detective and Assassination Classroom under his belt, he truly is in a league of his own.
You can read The Elusive Samurai for free via VIZ Media. Check out our review of the latest chapter here!