15 Best Selling Anime of 2016

With 2016 coming to end, it seems like a perfect time to check out the best selling anime of the year. All of the average sales data is from Someanithing, and it only accounts for Japanese sales data.

Series with an asterisk (*) means that they will have volumes that will be released in 2017.

 

15. Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet - 5,469 copies per volume

Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi

Studio: David Production

Episodes: 5

Quick Pitch: The failure of the Space Colonization Program has led humans to near extinction. A nameless wander finds a dead city with an abandoned planetarium. Hoping that there is treasure and supplies, he finds a robot named Hoshino, and she wants to show the wander the stars.

 

14. Mob Psycho 100 - 5,823 copies per volume*

Genre: Comedy / Horror / Supernatural

Studio: Bones

Episodes: 12

Quick Pitch: Mob is an 8th graders with psychic abilities, but avoids using them in public due to the negative attention. However, he works a part-time job with a "psychic" named Reigen, who uses Mob's powers to solve ghost related problems.

 

13. Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress - 6,115 copies per volume

Genre: Action / Fantasy / Survival

Studio: Wit Studio

Episodes: 12

Quick Pitch: The story takes place on an island called Hinomoto. Humans live in fortresses to that protect them undead monsters called Kabaneri. One bite is enough to turn a person into these creatures, which cannot be killed due to their steel hearts.

 

12. New Game! - 6,276 copies per volume*

Genre: Comedy / Slice of Life

Studio: Doga Kobo

Episodes: 12

Quick Pitch: Aoba is a high school graduate and lands a job as a character designer for a video game company.

 

11. Tsukiuta. The Animation - 6,286 copies per volume*

Genre: Music

Studio: Studio Pierrot

Episodes: 13

Quick Pitch: Six Gravity and Procellarum are rival idol groups who live in the same dorm. The daily lives of the men are explored, with a soundtrack created by various Vocaloid producers.

 

10. WWW.Working!! - 6,417 copies per volume*

Genre: Comedy / Slice of Life

Studio: A-1 Pictures

Episodes: 13

Quick Pitch: Daisuke is a high school student who gets a part-time job at Wagnaria after his father's business goes bankrupt. While Daisuke's carefree family can annoy him, it's his quirky co-workers that will test his nerves.

 

9. High School Fleet - 7,847 copies per volume

Genre: Action / Military / Sci-Fi

Studio: Production IMS

Episode: 12

Quick Pitch: Akeno enrolls at Yokosuka Girls' Marine High School in order to become a Blue Mermaid, which are women who are tasked with keeping the ocean safe. When Akeno and her classmates set sail on a destroyer ship, an incident leads to them being accused of mutiny.

 

8. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable - 8,031 copies per volume*

Genre: Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Supernatural

Studio: David Production

Episodes: 39

Quick Pitch: The quiet town of Morioh is home to some bizarre people. Jotaro Kujo is sent to Morioh to investigate news of a string of murders, and he meets his uncle Jousuke Higashikata. Learning that someone is creating Stand users, Jotaro asks Jousuke to help put a stop to thinks before a enemy more powerful than Dio is created.

 

7. Joker Game - 8,378 copies per volume

Genre: Drama / Historical / Mystery

Studio: Production I.G.

Episodes: 12

Quick Pitch: Before the events of World War II, Japan created a spy organization called D Agency. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki, eight spies are to infiltrate and gather information on countries that are moving towards war.

 

6. Re:Zero - 10,147 copies per volume*

Genre: Action / Adventure / Fsntasy

Studio: White Fox

Episodes: 25

Quick Pitch: After leaving a convenience story, Subaru is transported to a fantasy world. Alone and confused, he is mugged, but is saved by a mysterious girl named Satella. As thanks, Subaru offers to help Satella find a stolen insignia. Things take a dark turn as the pair are murdered...and Subaru wakes up to re-live the events.

 

5. Macross Delta - 10,348 copies per volume*

Genre: Action / Mecha / Music / Romance

Studio: Satelight

Episodes: 26

Quick Pitch: A mysterious phenomenon called the Var Syndrome is plaguing the people of the Brisingr Globular Cluster. A team of idols called Walküre can use the power of song to calm people infected by Var Syndrome, but the Windermer Kingdom has plans to weaponize the disease.

 

4. B-Project - 10,762 copies per volume*

Genre: Comedy / Music

Studio: A-1 Pictures

Episode: 12

Quick Pitch: Tsubasa's first job is to oversee the idol unit B-Project for Gandala Music. The unit is made of three groups: Kitakore, THRIVE, and MoonS. Tsubasa has the task of managing the different personalities of the unit.

 

3. KonoSuba - 10,845 copies per volume

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / Parody

Studio: Studio Deen

Episodes: 10 + 1 OVA

Quick Pitch: Kazuma dies a pathetic death while on his way home after buying a video game. After death, Kazuma meets an obnoxious goddess named Aqua who offers him two choices: go to heaven or be reincarnated in a fantasy world. Choosing a new life, Kazuma is told he can bring one thing with him to make his new life easier...and he chooses Aqua out of spite.

 

2. Koyomimonogatari - 31,355 copies per volume

Genre: Comedy / Mystery / Supernatural

Studio: Shaft

Episodes: 12

Quick Pitch: Araragi is tasked with solving mysteries that the women in his life are having.

 

1. Love Live! Sunshine!! - 57,801 copies per volume*

Genre: Comedy / Drama / Music / Slice of Life

Studio: Sunshine

Episodes: 13

Quick Pitch: Chika is a normal girl without any talents or interests. However, when Chika high school is set to merge with another school, she is inspired by μ's to create an idol group to help her school stay independent.

 

Comedies and music related anime really dominated that sales chart, with 9 out of 15 series falling into one of those genres. Another interesting observation is that despite international criticism, none of the top sellers are pure moe or ecchi. 

Did any of your favorite anime make the best sellers list?

Source: Someanithing