K-ON!! Band Sets New Record

Hip, hip, hooray!

Not content with simply stealing the hearts of otaku, the K-ON!! girls’ newest single, “Go! Go! Maniac”, stole the top spot of Oricon’s weekly singles ranking according to ANN. “Listen!!” came in second place, because there’s apparently no such thing as overkill.

“But Stilts,” I pretend you’re asking, “who are they beating?” Good question! Looking at today’s daily rankings, the #3 slot belongs to enka-singer Fuyumi Sakamoto’s “Asia no Kaizoku/Mata Kimi ni Koi Shiteru” (“Asian Pirates/I’m in Love with You Again”). It was released over a year ago and recently climbed to the top, only to be unseated by Hokago Tea Time’s songs. And in #4 is “Mahō no Ryōri ~Kimi kara Kimi e~” (“Magical Cooking ~From You to You~”) by the curiously-named Bump of Chicken, who have done songs for video games and anime, too. It was released on April 21 and made it to the top of both the daily and weekly charts. Clearly, both songs were worthy contenders for the cultural steamroller that is K-ON!!

I’m pleasantly surprised by this development. To me, the vast majority of the songs from the first season of K-ON! were generic and forgettable J-pop tunes. When I first heard the OP and ED for the second season, I thought, “Hey, they’re actually taking risks and experimenting with different styles. Good for them!” It’s nice to see that they’ve been rewarded for their efforts.

K-On! and Haruhi DVD Sales

According to the latest Amazon Japan DVD sales rankings, both the Haruhi and K-On! DVD releases are performing quite well. Of particular interest are the K-On Blu-ray releases, with the Volume 2 Blu-ray (August 19 release) occupying the #2 ranking, Volume 1 at #16, and the Volume 3 (September 16 release) at #21.

The first Endless Eight Haruhi DVD (September 25 release) is currently ranked at #11, but has accrued quite a few negative one-star reviews, for a cumulative score of 1.5 stars. This would seem to indicate that Japanese fans are just as frustrated with Endless Eight as we are, but are still willing to purchase the DVDs.