Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

Chapter 220 Unbeatable Achievements

With the official broadcast of the Attack on Titan anime, viewers' impressions of the first episode have been appearing online.

"It looks really good!"

"It looks great, and you can tell the production budget was huge."

"It feels like the entire budget was spent on production. After all, the voice actors for Eren and Mikasa are both newcomers, so the voice actors probably didn't cost much. Also, besides the opening theme, there's another OST called 'Give Your Heart,' which was written by Riko herself. It probably wasn't expensive."

"But I have to say, the voice actors really fit the characters perfectly. Eren and Mikasa are exactly the voices I imagined."

"IG's reputation speaks for itself, it's really good, it's just... the change in the narrative order of the manga is a bit awkward."

"Yeah! The beginning wasn't the Trost District battle from the beginning of the manga, which made me think I was watching the wrong anime."

"Huh? I haven't read the manga, but I think the beginning of the anime is really good. The oppressive feeling of the giants is absolutely terrifying!"

"The OST fits perfectly! The opening theme is so energetic!"

"It is said that the late-night version is the most faithful to the original work, and the complete version and the censored version in the evening are completely different experiences."

The censored version isn't bad either, but with some scenes cut, the sense of despair felt when facing giants is somewhat weakened.

“My parents only let me watch the evening episodes… but I’m not a kid anymore. I secretly recorded the late-night episodes and watched them again after school the next day when they weren’t home. It felt like sneaking a drink, both guilty and exhilarating.”

"Haha, kids are so cute. I'm watching late-night shows openly, since I'm already at work and nobody cares."

"I thought reading the manga was impactful enough, but the anime's Titans, combined with the voice acting and background music, were truly breathtaking."

"I also feel a bit... especially about the part where Ellen's mother was eaten."

I hadn't heard of Allen's voice actor before, but this time he truly brought out the feeling of powerlessness, from anger to despair to utter helplessness.

"The production team is just too good; IG really did a great job!!"

"Tetsuro Araki really has some skills. I thought he was very good at pacing when I watched his Death Note. The setup, insertion, and climax of the opening scene of Attack on Titan was like editing a movie."

"The original work is just too excellent! The manga itself is very good! Especially that 3D Maneuver Gear, it's really interesting."

"Yes, the 3D Maneuver Gear design is already amazing in the manga, but it's a completely different thing when it's made into an anime."

“I used to say that Attack on Titan would be the kind of work that could only be presented through imagination, but I never expected that IG would actually bring the scenes I imagined to life, shot by shot.”

"Yes, the jets, reeling in, turning, wall kicks—every detail is meticulously done; it's exactly the scene I imagined when I read the comics!"

"The OST by Riko-sensei is so fitting. No wonder she's the original author. Did she have the music in her head when she was drawing the manga?"

"That's actually quite possible."

……

Online reviews of the first episode of the Attack on Titan anime are generally positive, and the viewership ratings for the first episode have also been released.

In an era where television remains the primary platform for anime broadcasting, the success of an anime series is still largely determined by its viewership ratings.

The highest viewership rating on the first day of the evening slot reached 4.9%, with an average of around 4.8%!

The uncut version aired late at night had much lower ratings on its first day, peaking at only 3.8% and averaging around 3.4%.

It's true that late-night slots tend to have lower viewership than evening slots; there's nothing that can be done about it.

However, the viewership ratings for Attack on Titan's premiere were quite good!

This achievement is comparable to that of Naruto Shippuden, another flagship title from Jump!

In the past two years, the viewership rating of the Naruto Shippuden anime has been between 4.8% and 5.6%, with an average of 5.2%.

But you should know that... Attack on Titan has only aired its first episode.

Just like with comics, the performance of a newly launched work cannot be compared with that of a popular work that has been airing for a long time.

Moreover, the viewership ratings for Attack on Titan during the late-night slot were extremely high, even though the late-night ratings for Attack on Titan were a full 1 percentage point lower than those for the evening slot.

However, this rating is very high for a late-night slot. In a late-night slot where the average rating is below 2%, it's a complete game-changer!

Aside from Attack on Titan fans, the only people who can sit in front of the TV after 1 a.m. are those who get up to get a drink of water and glance at it casually.

But the fact that late-night slots are competing so closely with evening slots is already outrageous.

The viewership ratings for a typical late-night anime can be several points higher than those for an evening anime. Attack on Titan only differed by one point, which means that most of the core viewers who watch the evening anime got up again late at night to watch it again.

The data must have blown up at the TV station.

Those inside the company, seeing the record-breaking late-night release, are probably already discussing the scheduling with Shueisha overnight.

It's clear that many fans of the original Attack on Titan manga specifically waited until late at night to watch the uncut version, which is why the late-night viewership ratings hit a new high.

So the anime started very well, which relieved the executives of JUMP and TV Tokyo, while they were also looking forward to seeing if the anime's performance would improve.

really!

Over the next two months, as each episode of the Attack on Titan anime aired, the viewership ratings continued to rise.

During the Battle of Trost District, Eren transformed into a Titan and, protected by the precious courage and selfless sacrifice of the human soldiers inside the walls, successfully moved a stone to plug the breach in the high wall.

At the climax of this thrilling storyline, the evening viewership rating peaked at over 5.8%!

This viewership rating surpassed that of "Naruto Shippuden" and was second only to the highest viewership rating of 6% for "Pokémon DP," which has extremely high popularity in Japan and is watched by almost everyone!

Naruto has been airing on television for several years, and viewers have long since developed a stable viewing habit. As soon as that time comes, people tune in to TV Tokyo to watch it.

The fact that the giant was able to run right up to the passing grade on his very first appearance on television speaks volumes.

Moreover, Attack on Titan isn't the kind of show that's suitable for the whole family to watch together; many parents change the channel when they see scenes of Titans eating people.

The fact that it achieved a 4.9% rating in the evening slot indicates that at least a significant portion of the audience stayed solely because of the work itself.

Many of these viewers were either readers of the original work or were dragged along by friends who read comics.

They knew the evening programming would be cut, but they still tuned in to watch TV on time because they wanted to support the Giants in their own way.

Adding in the new viewers who became fans purely because of the trailers and promotions, the premiere's performance has already exceeded expectations.

The peak viewership rating for the Midnight Attack anime also exceeded 4%!

It completely set a new viewership record for Tokyo TV's late-night slot this year.

Moreover, it wasn't just the Attack on Titan anime that achieved extremely high viewership ratings when it aired on television.

Because at this point, Japanese animation wasn't really concerned about viewership ratings; ratings were only a rough reference. The most important factor was actually...

Disc sales.

After all, young people in Japan rarely watch live TV these days. In the era before anime was mainly streamed online, they would record it with a VCR or watch DVDs, Blu-rays, and other discs.

Therefore, the discs and related anime merchandise are the key!

The first week's DVD sales for Attack on Titan were... 31000 copies!

The total DVD sales for the first season ultimately averaged 27000 units!

This result is even far higher than that of Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece, which only sold around 7000 to 10000 copies of their TV anime.

Japanese fans have also complained that the Naruto Shippuden anime DVDs, which have too many flashback scenes, only sold a little over 3000 copies in their first week.

Yes, you read that right. As three famous shonen manga, Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece had much lower first-week sales for their discs compared to Attack on Titan.

In fact, the first season of Attack on Titan was famously the best-selling DVD of its time.

Ultimately, Attack on Titan differs from Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece in terms of plot content.

The main difference lies in their depth. The three major shonen manga are like light novels in online literature, and readers rarely read them a second time after reading them once.

The role of DVDs is similar to that of online novels being published as physical books; fans will buy them to read at home if they like the novel and want to read it a second or third time.

Therefore, generally speaking, apart from die-hard fans, fans of light novels will not buy physical books to read a second time.

But for works with a certain depth, fans are willing to watch them a second time, and naturally they will buy into them.

Therefore, the Attack on Titan anime is more like the Death Note anime in a strict sense. When the Death Note anime aired in 06, its first-week sales were also extremely high, with 13000 copies sold in the first week and an average of 15000 copies sold in total.

The reason why Attack on Titan anime DVD sales were higher than Death Note is because... firstly, Death Note anime aired in 06.

It's 2009 now, and the market size is different.

Furthermore, the Attack on Titan anime is indeed more popular and has a wider audience than Death Note.

In fact, the sales of Attack on Titan DVDs, which aired 13 years ago, were even more impressive, with 71000 copies sold in the first week...

It was the top-selling disc that was out of stock at the time.

But that's mainly because it's 2009 now!

Similarly, the Japanese DVD market in 2009 was smaller than that in 2013.

Furthermore, the original Attack on Titan could only be broadcast in the late-night slot, unlike the summer vacation and prime-time slot in this world, and it wasn't broadcast on a major network like TV Tokyo, which has a large audience.

That naturally means fewer viewers will be able to watch the anime on time.

Everyone needs to sleep at night, so what can we do if we want to watch cartoons?

Of course, I bought the DVDs and watched them.

That's why the sales of Attack on Titan anime DVDs were incredibly high in the previous life.

But the current Attack on Titan is doing well, even better than in its previous life, mainly due to its high viewership ratings.

Many late-night programs on Japanese television do not feature product placements, and therefore do not generate advertising revenue.

But prime time in the evening is definitely a time for advertisers to make a killing!

Moreover, the higher the viewership, the higher the advertising revenue share!

Therefore, considering both DVD sales and viewership ratings, the revenue generated by the Attack on Titan anime after its broadcast was much higher than in the previous life!

Meanwhile, online reviews kept getting better and better, and by the end of the Battle of Trost, there was a flood of positive feedback online!

"Attack on Titan anime...it's so good!"

"Attack on Titan is definitely the best anime of all the new series in 2009!"

"This is so exciting! Although it looks terrifying, it's a genuine shonen manga at its core!"