...and of course, as you know, I'm channeling a very special brand of insanity to even think of these online rankings to begin with.
[*ahem*] For those fine folks linking in from some other blog, I suppose I should mention that this is a commentary on the manga rankings posted just three minutes ago
Before we get to the boring-methodology-part of the the post (With Math!) let’s just cover the basics:
Top 10 – 90% Viz
Top 25 – 88% Viz
Top 100 – 73% Viz
Anyone with eyeballs (or a braille display) already knew this; the top of the list is so freakin’ monotonous I even run a whole extra chart, denarutofied for your convenience and my sanity, but the percentages above are a kind of exclamation point. (The Top 500 is only 43.4% Viz, for comparison) (and this isn’t even the math I was warning you about)
In lieu of insightful commentary (and to give you folks something besides the formulas to chew on this week) I’m going to resort to my usual trick, “hey, let’s sort the list this way!”
Some Select Pulls from the database:
—
New to the charts this week:
(preorders and July releases only, not the back list)
460. ↑new (0) : Getbackers 25 – Tokyopop, Jul 2008 [52.8] ::
501. ↑new (0) : Gacha Gacha The Next Revolution 7 – Del Rey, Jul 2008 [41.4] ::
560. ↑new (0) : Switch 3 – Viz, Jul 2008 [28.7] ::
585. ↑new (0) : Cowa! – Viz Shonen Jump, Jul 2008 [25.4] ::
608. ↑new (0) : Yakitate! Japan 12 – Viz, Jul 2008 [21.9] ::
776. ↑new (0) : Very Very Sweet 1 – Yen Press, Jul 2008 [9.6] ::
801. ↑new (0) : Pretty Poison – Aurora LuvLuv, Jul 2008 [9] ::
963. ↑new (0) : Tetragrammaton Labyrinth 3 – Seven Seas, Jul 2008 [5.7] ::
979. ↑new (0) : Ultimate Muscle 20 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Jul 2008 [5.4] ::
1030. ↑new (0) : The Third 2 – Tokyopop, Jul 2008 [4.3] ::
1084. ↑new (0) : Suppli 3 – Tokyopop, Jul 2008 [3.1] ::
1196. ↑new (0) : Pick of the Litter 4 – Tokyopop, Jul 2008 [0.8] ::
1418. ↑new (0) : 500 Manga Creatures – Collins Design, Jul 2008 [0.1] ::
785. ↑new (0) : Gon 5 – CMX, Aug 2008 [9.4] ::
787. ↑new (0) : Dokkoida?! 3 – CMX, Aug 2008 [9.3] ::
796. ↑new (0) : Tsukuyomi Moon Phase 11 – Tokyopop, Aug 2008 [9.1] ::
811. ↑new (0) : JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure 11 – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Aug 2008 [8.7] ::
1470. ↑new (0) : Sugar Princess 1 – Viz Shojo Beat, Aug 2008 [0.1] ::
1475. ↑new (0) : Warcraft Legends 1 – Tokyopop, Aug 2008 [0.1] ::
1437. ↑new (0) : Eureka Seven Unlimited Answers: A Roadmap of Gekkostate and Beyond – Cocoro Books, Sep 2008 [0.1] ::
764. ↑new (0) : Black Lagoon 2 – Viz, Oct 2008 [9.8] ::
1100. ↑new (0) : Death Note vols 1-13 box set – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Oct 2008 [2.7] ::
1430. ↑new (0) : Beauty Pop 9 – Viz Shojo Beat, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::
1448. ↑new (0) : Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs 11 – Viz, Oct 2008 [0.1] ::
1435. ↑new (0) : Dry Heat – DMP June, Nov 2008 [0.1] ::
1444. ↑new (0) : Haruhi Suzumiya Yearbook – Cocoro Books, Nov 2008 [0.1] ::
—
Just Because:
535. ↑159 (694) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 2 – Viz Ghibli Library, Mar 2004 [32.8] ::
768. ↓-18 (750) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 1 – Viz Ghibli Library, Mar 2004 [9.8] ::
961. ↑240 (1201) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 3 – Viz Ghibli Library, May 2004 [5.8] ::
1128. ↑47 (1175) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 4 – Viz Ghibli Library, May 2004 [2.3] ::
1139. ↓-21 (1118) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 7 – Viz Ghibli Library, Sep 2004 [2] ::
1308. ↑20 (1328) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 6 – Viz Ghibli Library, Jul 2004 [0.3] ::
1582. ↓-108 (1474) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 5 – Viz Ghibli Library, Jun 2004 [0.1] ::
. (last ranked 25 May 08) : Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Watercolor Impressions – Viz Ghibli Library, Nov 2007 [0] ::
—
Now with Umlauts!
649. ↑10 (659) : MÄR 15 – Viz, Sep 2007 [18] ::
1239. ↓-315 (924) : MÄR 1 – Viz, Apr 2005 [0.4] ::
1397. ↑110 (1507) : MÄR 2 – Viz, Jun 2005 [0.2] ::
1400. ↑195 (1595) : MÄR 5 – Viz, Jan 2006 [0.2] ::
1504. (1132) : MÄR 14 – Viz, Jul 2007 [0.1] ::
1619. (1646) : MÄR 6 – Viz, Mar 2006 [0.1] ::
. (last ranked 13 Apr 08) : MÄR 10 – Viz, Nov 2006 [0] ::
. (last ranked 20 Apr 08) : MÄR 9 – Viz, Sep 2006 [0] ::
. (last ranked 1 Jun 08) : MÄR 8 – Viz, Jul 2006 [0] ::
. (last ranked 15 Jun 08) : MÄR 12 – Viz, Mar 2007 [0] ::
. (last ranked 22 June 08) : MÄR 3 – Viz, Sep 2005 [0] ::
. (last ranked 29 Jun 08) : MÄR 4 – Viz, Nov 2005 [0] ::
. (last ranked 29 Jun 08) : MÄR 11 – Viz, Jan 2007 [0] ::
. (last ranked 29 Jun 08) : MÄR 7 – Viz, May 2006 [0] ::
. (last ranked 6 Jul 08) : MÄR 13 – Viz, May 2007 [0] ::
—
And In Last Place:
1704. (last ranked 8 June 08) : Sunflower 1 – DMP June, Sep 2007 [0.1] ::
##
That should be plenty to confuse google and the other spiders; let’s get to the meat of this weeks commentary,
Previously when figuring out the top 50 series I took the top ranked volume of a given series as a base, then added one tenth of the scores for all remaining volumes in the series. The thinking behind that method was to account for a popular series like Naruto (with 33 ranked books) without creating an unsurmountable barrier to other series that might have one or two equally highly ranked volumes — but only 4-5 volumes total
The trouble with this method is that a highly ranked one-shot (that not-quite-manga vampire/lycanthrope/romance abomination Dark Hunger, for example) is going to beat any number of other, perhaps more qualified series because of its high score and a quirk of the math.
The fix in place this week is to use the combined score of the top two books in a series as the base series score (and then add 1/10 of the rest, as before) which doesn’t change anything really when comparing series (as long as they have at least two books in them) but automatically puts any one-shot or single volume at a disadvantage.
This is, in my opinion, a good thing. And since it’s my chart, that’s what we’re going to see from now on.
[*math warning*]
Some popular single books will still make the series chart: either as a series-of-one or as the lone representative of a title with only one ranked volume. Short of disqualifying books for arbitrary reasons, though, I can’t get around that. I suppose I could add the top three volumes but the two formulas already look like this
=IF(F3=F2;L3+O2;L3)
=IF(F3=F4;” “;IF(F3=F1;L2+L1+((O1-L1)/10);O3))
where F is the column with the series title in it, L is the score for the volumes, O is a running tally for the series — and contains the first formula — and the second formula either outputs a space if we haven’t hit the end of a series listing, or does the math — top volume plus second volume plus one tenth of all the rest (the running total of which is conveniently already in the O column). And of course this is predicated on having a properly sorted sheet: volumes sorted first by series title, then by score lowest-to-highest, with an extra line at the end of each series to store last weeks ranking and the publishing info and…
Have your eyes glazed over yet?
SO ANYWAY, this is the thing that works for the two-volumes-plus-a-fraction solution, and to get it up to three-volumes-etc. I think I’d have to nest another IF function in the second formula, maybe two to account for series with only one or two ranked volumes —and honestly I had to break out pencil and paper to wrap my brain around this pair.
[/math]
The most dramatic jumps produced by the new method are in those series that had multiple volumes ranking in the midlist (where most volumes all had about the same score — as expected, the series score doubles.)
38. ↑46 (84) : Red River – Viz, Jan 2008 [380.79] ::
50. ↑42 (92) : Naoki Urasawa’s Monster – Viz Signature, Dec 1899 [318.62] ::
43. ↑40 (83) : Inuyasha – Viz, Mar 2003 [357.82] ::
24. ↑34 (58) : Vampire Hunter D – Dark Horse, Apr 2008 [466.52] ::
36. ↑32 (68) : Miki Falls – HarperCollins, May 2007 [383.63] ::
47. ↑29 (76) : Sundome – Yen Press, Jan 2008 [327] ::
37. ↑27 (64) : Black Cat – Viz Shonen Jump, Mar 2006 [381.42] ::
23. ↑21 (44) : Claymore – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Apr 2006 [474.82] ::
12. ↑12 (24) : Fullmetal Alchemist – Viz, Apr 2005 [626.64] ::
25. ↑11 (36) : Blade of the Immortal – Dark Horse, Mar 1997 [460.13] ::
Those series that fell in the rankings are titles that had previously been carried by just one book: something like Negima, for example, has a strong fan base that buys the most recent book just as soon as it comes out — but only the most recent because they already own all the rest
18. ↓-5 (13) : xxxHolic – Del Rey, Apr 2004 [544.27] ::
15. ↓-7 (8) : Negima! – Del Rey, Apr 2004 [579.74] ::
34. ↓-8 (26) : +Anima – Tokyopop, May 2006 [406.82] ::
41. ↓-11 (30) : One Piece – Viz Shonen Jump, Jun 2003 [362.24] ::
46. ↓-11 (35) : Kamichama Karin – Tokyopop/Del Rey, Sep 2005 [337.1] ::
40. ↓-11 (29) : Tail of the Moon – Viz Shojo Beat, Jan 2008 [365.97] ::
45. ↓-11 (34) : Yurara – Viz Shojo Beat, Jun 2007 [341.99] ::
27. ↓-13 (14) : Rosario+Vampire – Viz Shonen Jump Advanced, Jun 2008 [443.79] ::
33. ↓-17 (16) : Dark Hunger — Feehan, Zid – Berkley, Oct 2007 [414.7] ::
39. ↓-17 (22) : Wild Ones – Viz Shojo Beat, Dec 2007 [372.71] ::
(These are just from this weeks Top 50; there are other more dramatic swings but it doesn’t help to go up 220 places in the rankings if you started below 500.)
My only complaint is that the new, carefully crafted formulas still didn’t knock Dark Hunger out of the Top 50. Would you people just stop buying it already?
