Thursday, December 14th.
After school, Shiga Taka skipped club activities, packed his things, and hurried to a nearby store specializing in animation merchandise.
Upon entering, he immediately began searching for the first volume DVD of the Death Note anime. To his surprise, after checking every shelf and section, he couldn't find it anywhere.
Frowning, he approached the counter and asked, "Excuse me... I heard the Death Note anime DVDs were released today?"
"That's right," the clerk nodded. "But I'm afraid the volume you're looking for has already sold out. If you'd like, you can leave your contact information, and we'll notify you as soon as we restock. We also accept pre-orders, which only require..."
Before the clerk could finish, Shiga Taka had already turned and left.
No DVD? What a waste of time!
Even if he had to pre-order, that would be for the second volume, which wouldn't be released until January. That was still a long way off.
After leaving the store, Shiga Taka visited several more shops before finally finding the first volume DVD of Death Note at a large video store.
He tucked the DVD into his bag and muttered, "I didn't expect it to be so hard to find. As expected, this anime has the potential to become a masterpiece."
He didn't buy DVDs for every anime he watched. He only purchased them if he believed they had the potential to become masterpieces or classics.
The last anime that prompted him to buy a DVD was 1998's Cowboy Bebop. Before that, it was 1995's Neon Genesis Evangelion. Any further back, and the time was so distant that he hadn't even started junior high school, so buying DVDs wasn't even a consideration then.
In other words, Death Note was the third anime he'd ever bought a DVD for, and in his opinion, it had the potential to stand alongside Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
He just wasn't sure if Lin Zhiyan and LSP could handle the subsequent content.
After all, the intellectual battles in the early parts had been so brilliant. Any misstep in the plot or production later on could turn what might have been a masterpiece into just an ordinary, albeit good, anime.
If they could maintain the initial quality until the end, he wouldn't hesitate to buy three copies—one for his collection, one to share with others, and one as a backup.
With that thought, he sighed. "I hope the production team can keep it together."
Monday morning.
Inside the president's office at L.S. Production.
"Don't worry, Senior," Nanase Mayumi said, placing a cup of coffee on Lin Zhiyan's desk and offering words of reassurance. "Our animation is so good; it's bound to sell over 5,000 copies."
Lin Zhiyan blinked in surprise and looked up at her. "Only 5,000?"
In another timeline, there was a general benchmark for DVD sales in the animation industry:
2,899 copies was the break-even point. 5,000 copies was the threshold for a second season. 10,000 copies was the mark for a bestseller. 36,872 copies was the "masterpiece wall." * 78,671 copies was the "god-tier wall."
However, these numbers weren't always accurate. Each animation had different production and marketing costs, as well as varying DVD prices. In the early days, DVD sales were the main source of revenue, and buying discs was the most direct way to support an animation.
As the internet grew and the animation industry became more globalized and its supply chain more sophisticated, DVD sales' share of overall revenue declined, diminishing their importance.
While that might be true, given Death Note's current popularity, selling only 5,000 DVDs wouldn't necessarily result in a loss, but it would definitely be considered a catastrophic failure.
Lin Zhiyan had anticipated that the DVD sales for this timeline's Death Note might fall short of the 15,000 units sold in the other timeline. However, he had never imagined they would be as low as just over 5,000.
Therefore, hearing Nanase Mayumi's reassuring words did not calm his mind; instead, it only made him more anxious.
So, in her view, the minimum acceptable sales for the Death Note DVDs was 5,000 units.
This was hardly reassuring.
After all, Nanase Mayumi was unaware of the original Death Note's sales figures in the other timeline, nor did she know what Lin Zhiyan's expectations for DVD sales were.
She simply believed that selling over 5,000 units would guarantee a profit, and as long as it was profitable, there was nothing to worry about. That was why she had said what she did.
Realizing that Lin Zhiyan's expectations far exceeded 5,000 units, she quickly backtracked: "Actually, I think selling over 10,000 units should be perfectly fine too."
With that, she gave a "Heh heh" smile, trying to charm her way out of the situation.
Lin Zhiyan wasn't really blaming Nanase Mayumi. He let out a long sigh. "Let's hope so."
Just then, a new email appeared on his computer desktop. The sender was the contact person at the distribution company responsible for handling the DVD release on behalf of L.S. Production.
Lin Zhiyan opened the email immediately and finally learned the first-week sales figures for the first volume of the [ Death Note ] DVD: 13,875 units.
The DVD had been released on Thursday, so the "first-week sales" actually covered only four days.
13,875 units in four days. The data made Lin Zhiyan involuntarily relax.
While it was too early to determine the average sales per volume, four days of sales this strong suggested the final first-volume sales would likely exceed 20,000 units.
Moreover, in this timeline, the animation was an original work.
The TV station had only broadcast the eleventh episode so far. The audience had no idea what would happen next, whether the animation would become a legendary masterpiece or just a well-crafted piece. This uncertainty likely kept many viewers on the fence, hesitant to buy.
Once the entire series aired, if it achieved legendary status, those hesitant viewers would likely jump in. In that case, it wouldn't be impossible for the first-volume sales to surge past 25,000 units.
As for reaching 300 million, Lin Zhiyan felt it would be difficult. After all, the Death Note theme was a bit niche for animation.
Regardless, the sales would definitely surpass the original version in the other timeline, so he should be satisfied.
Actually, when he thought about it, the presence or absence of a source material made a huge difference for an animation.
With a source material, there was natural hype before the premiere, eliminating the need for massive promotional spending. However, this also meant that once the animation started selling DVDs, some viewers might choose to buy the original work instead to show their support.
In other words, fans' spending enthusiasm would be split.
Without a source material, there was no such division.
Although initial promotion was challenging, once the animation gained good reviews and popularity, fans' enthusiasm and spending would focus entirely on the DVDs. It was no wonder the final sales were so high.
Of course, Lin Zhiyan felt his own actions had contributed to Death Note's current sales.
He had almost cultivated an idol-like persona, so many people probably bought the DVDs just for him. The Death Note in the other timeline didn't have this advantage.
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