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In the nationwide box-office attendance rankings for September 25–27 released by Kogyo Tsushinsha, “Bayside Shakedown N.E.W.: Race Through the Metropolis,” now in its second week of release, overtook “Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island,” which was in its ninth week, to climb to No. 1.
On the thread, opinions split over how to read the numbers: Chiikawa’s strength is said to come from a “bonus-goods” strategy that racks up repeat viewings, which then sags in weeks without giveaways. Some cheered the No. 1 finish, while others offered a cooler take, noting that overall attendance hadn’t actually grown. Posters also lamented Eri Fukatsu’s absence from the cast and traded predictions on how things might shift once a new Chiikawa release drops next month.
September 28, 2026, 1:22 PM
Kogyo Tsushinsha has released the nationwide box-office attendance Top 10 for September 25–27, with “Bayside Shakedown N.E.W.: Race Through the Metropolis,” starring Yuji Oda and now in its second week, rising to No. 1. Last week’s No. 1, “Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island,” slipped to No. 2.
The “Bayside Shakedown” series follows Shunsaku Aoshima, an unconventional officer who left corporate life to join the Wangan Police Station’s Criminal Investigation Division. In the new theatrical entry, Aoshima, now a detective with the First Investigation Division, races through the sprawling metropolis of Reiwa-era Tokyo. Katsuyuki Motohiro returns as director, with Oda reprising his role as Aoshima. The cast also includes Shu, Jin Shirasu, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Takahisa Masuda (NEWS), Kayo Noro, Shiori Tamai (Momoiro Clover Z), Karin Fujiyoshi (Sakurazaka46), Nagisa Saito, Jiro Sato, Yusuke Santamaria, Miki Maya, Miki Mizuno, Masahiro Komoto, Susumu Terajima, Atsushi Ito, Kenichi Takito, Yutaka Matsushige, and Kohei Matsushita.
Source: natalie.mu / Original article here
What people said
Oda seems fired up too.
Good news for Fuji TV, huh?
it's not worth watching (´･ω･｀)
While Chiikawa's running, it hogs its screening slots and eats into other films' showtimes, so it can't rack up much and stalls out. Rough, and this'll just keep happening.
Even he doesn't think he's young anymore.
Didn't you notice him holding the documents a little further away to read them?
That was for real.
This time I'm swooning over mature Oda's little gestures like that.
Add up the Sat-through-Fri totals for the weeks without bonus goods since opening day, and Chiikawa's probably not even cleared 5 billion yen — and that includes summer vacation lol. No bonus goods, and of course Bayside Shakedown wins easy. It's cruising on weekdays too.
Bayside Shakedown had its own bonus too — the "investigation HQ file" — and it still lost in its opening week lol
The gap's only going to get worse, lol Chiikawa.
It only shows up for the bonus goods, so it pointlessly hogs screening slots even in non-bonus weeks — genuinely a nuisance.
Even once it's up on Amazon Prime I won't feel like watching it.
Who's even going to watch that.
Next weekend, you mean — the three-day holiday starting October 10.
Wait, is the Blu-ray bonus just a phone-call scene between Aoshima and Sumire?
It's only No. 1 in the ranking — actual attendance hasn't grown at all.
This isn't really the time to celebrate 'beating a 9th-week Chiikawa!'
That alone has Fuji TV laughing it up.
It's already lost to Spider-Man in its second week.
Village of Eight Gravestones too!
Did it bounce back?
It's just that Chiikawa's its only real rival.
Week-over-week it's dropped off a cliff, so it's not like it actually bounced back.
It's not doing badly — the mistake is weighting late-night showtimes too heavily, for one, as you can tell from Sunday's numbers being lower.
So you're cherry-picking the comparison against two weeks back, huh — still not looking at actual screening/seat counts?
It wasn't even screening two weeks ago.
If it clears 5 billion yen, you can proudly call it a smash hit.
Even past 4 billion it'd count as a success, but somehow that feels a bit underwhelming.
I wonder if they've even finished handing out that 60-plus-page booklet bonus yet…
Can it reach even a quarter of the anime version's attendance?
Background and Points of Debate
The box-office attendance ranking measures weekly rank by “number of moviegoers,” not box-office revenue, so it doesn’t necessarily mean the top film drew the largest audience overall. As posters on the thread point out, “Chiikawa” is now in its ninth week of release and is known for a strategy of driving repeat viewings through collectible merchandise bonuses. Attendance tends to dip in weeks without a giveaway, whereas “Bayside Shakedown” climbed the rankings on the strength of being a fresh release in only its second week. While the No. 1 finish made headlines, some pointed out that overall attendance hadn’t actually grown from the previous week — reading “No. 1 equals smash hit” too simplistically misses what’s really going on. The absence of Eri Fukatsu’s character, Emi, from this installment has also been a talking point among longtime fans of the series.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Nationwide Box Office Attendance Ranking] “Bayside Shakedown” Overtakes “Chiikawa” for No. 1 — Three Films Debut.”
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