Kadokawa‘s best-selling series from its productions and rights licensing from April to December 2024 were revealed in its updated earnings results, incorporating net sales data from its third quarter (October-December) on February 6 (via Gamebiz).
Topping Kadokawa’s list was Oshi no Ko with over 5 billion yen (~$32.8 million). Kadokawa participates in its anime adaptation as a production committee member and as the parent company of its subsidiary anime production studio Doga Kobo. Nevertheless, the figures below are non-consolidated (only refer to Kadokawa directly) and do not include sales from Doga Kobo. You can check out the rest of the highest-grossing titles below (Net sales, exact figures are not provided — only milestone amounts).
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Kadokawa best-selling titles (Net Sales, April-December 2024):
- Oshi no Ko: >5 billion yen (~$32.8 million)
- Delicious in Dungeon: >3 billion yen (~$19.7 million)
- Overlord: >2.5 billion yen (~$16.4 million)
- Re:ZERO: Starting Life in Another World: >2 billion yen (~$13.1 million)
- KONOSUBA: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!: >1.5 billion yen (~$9.8 million)
- Pan Dorobou: >1.5 billion yen (~$9.8 million)
- Bungo Stray Dogs: >1.5 billion yen (~$9.8 million)
- The Eminence in Shadow: >1 billion yen (~$6.6 million)
- Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian: >1 billion yen (~$6.6 million)
- Sword Art Online: >1 billion yen (~$6.6 million)
Total: Over 20 billion yen (~$131.3 million)
As the chart’s key at the bottom showcases, Kadokawa’s massive Oshi no Ko revenue was exclusively from the anime adaptation and its licensing revenue. The Delicious in Dungeon anime adaptation was also a major earner for Kadokawa. The company published the original manga under Harta magazine by Enterbrain, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Future Publishing.
As seen in the same chart but from April 2023 to December 2023 below, Delicious in Dungeon didn’t rank in the top 10 at all, showcasing how the anime reinvigorated the franchise and provided Kadokawa opportunities for more income from copyright licensing. Oshi no Ko‘s revenue has notably grown by well over 25% year-on-year.
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Kadokawa Top-10 Best-Selling Titles of 2023 (Net Sales, April to December 2023):
Kadokawa’s new financial report also broke down its animation/film sales for each quarter of fiscal year 2024 (FY2024). International sales, which include streaming and merchandising accounted for 30% of sales, the second-highest amount behind domestic merchandising (34%). The number of Kadokawa anime remains relatively stable year on year with April-December 2023 and 2024 having 44 and 41 titles respectively:
Speaking to Mainichi Shimbun in January, Kadokawa Chief Anime Officer Takeshi Kikuchi indicated the company wasn’t seeking to increase its productions, but instead create more sequels and more episodes. It also wants to increase its in-house studios. Kikuchi added that he wanted to increase annual anime revenue by 1.5x over the next 3 years; he said it was currently around 30 billion yen ($190 million). This strategy was reiterated in the new financial statement under “Future Outlook” (of Animation/Film Segment):
“In Animation, we will continue to advance initiatives to develop in-house production studios and aim to improve the quality of titles while increasing the number of episodes produced. In the next fiscal year, we again expect to achieve healthy sales from a diverse lineup that helps maximize the LTV (long-term value) of our IPs, including first-time animated adaptations based on popular original works from KADOKAWA such as The Summer Hikaru Died in addition to the latest iterations of popular series.
In Film, a theatrical adaptation of the popular manga series My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 is planned for a 4Q release. In the next fiscal year, we will aim to improve revenue with the release of multiple in-house productions and KADOKAWA-distributed titles.“
Source: Kadokawa Earnings Results (The 3rd Quarter Ended December 31, 2024), via Gamebiz
© Kadokawa
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