Even assuming Mario did 70k+ like last week, that ranking is not encouraging for Xenoblade 2. :(

I know Rakuten is only one retailer, but it also didn't exactly set COMG on fire either. At least it seems to have done decently on Amazon but at this point I'll be positively surprised if it did over 100k.

Not really, you need to read the "warning". Pre-orders are not counted there. The ranking is weekly based and Xeno2 has been doing impressively well on e-commerce sites like Rakuten. (better metric than amazon, fyi). That's why is in that position. I suggest you go to previous week rankings (there is a link there) and see it by yourself. The game is doing amazingly well. In Kyoto was almost out of stock all stores I visited. Only Yodobashi had.

Rakuten Books Sales Ranking Week 48, 2017 (Nov 27 - Dic 03)

01./02. (001./004.) [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo)
02./01. (004./003.) [3DS] Pokémon Ultra Sun (Pokémon Co.)
03./03. (006./005.) [3DS] Pokémon Ultra Moon (Pokémon Co.)
04./00. (012./000.) [3DS] Kirby Battle Royale (Nintendo)
05./05. (014./013.) [NSW] Splatoon 2 (Nintendo)
06./00. (015./000.) [NSW] Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Nintendo)
07./00. (016./000.) [3DS] Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome amiibo (Nintendo)
08./07. (019./022.) [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo)
09./00. (021./000.) [PS4] Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi (Koei Tecmo)
10./04. (023./012.) [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon Dual Pack (Pokémon Co.)
11./09. (038./032.) [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
12./06. (043./015.) [PS4] Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone DX (Memorial Pack) (Sega)
13./08. (050./031.) [PS4] Call of Duty: World War II (Sony Interactive)
14./19. (052./119.) [NSW] 1-2-Switch (Nintendo)
15./00. (059./000.) [NSW] Dragon Ball: Xenoverse 2 - Deluxe Edition (Bandai Namco)
16./00. (081./000.) [3DS] Attack on Titan 2: Future Coordinates (Spike Chunsoft)
17./17. (085./107.) [NSW] Pokkén Tournament DX (Pokémon Co.)
18./00. (095./000.) [NSW] Resident Evil: Revelations (Capcom)
19./00. (098./000.) [3DS] Crayon Shin-Chan Gekiatsu! Oden wa Rudo Dai Konran!! (FuRyu)
20./21. (112./153.) [NSW] Arms (Nintendo)

Not really, you need to read the "warning". Pre-orders are not counted there. The ranking is weekly based and Xeno2 has been doing impressively well on e-commerce sites like Rakuten. (better metric than amazon, fyi). That's why is in that position. I suggest you go to previous week rankings (there is a link there) and see it by yourself. The game is doing amazingly well. In Kyoto was almost out of stock all stores I visited. Only Yodobashi had.

I....did. Several times. But somehow I seem to have missed the important bit? I get that it's a weekly ranking, but I assumed it was like COMG in that the pre-orders run in a diffrent statistic and then show up in bulk as sales on FW.

So none of the pre-order sales on day-one are included and these are basically just spontaneous pick-ups? Now that I think about it, it makes sense, Amazon counts a pre-order as a sale as well. Thanks for claryrfying!

That does paint a friendlier picture for XC2.

Not really, you need to read the "warning". Pre-orders are not counted there. The ranking is weekly based and Xeno2 has been doing impressively well on e-commerce sites like Rakuten. (better metric than amazon, fyi). That's why is in that position. I suggest you go to previous week rankings (there is a link there) and see it by yourself. The game is doing amazingly well. In Kyoto was almost out of stock all stores I visited. Only Yodobashi had.

Not really, you need to read the "warning". Pre-orders are not counted there. The ranking is weekly based and Xeno2 has been doing impressively well on e-commerce sites like Rakuten. (better metric than amazon, fyi). That's why is in that position. I suggest you go to previous week rankings (there is a link there) and see it by yourself. The game is doing amazingly well. In Kyoto was almost out of stock all stores I visited. Only Yodobashi had.

Even if they're wildly different markets, it's also encouraging that XC2 was the best selling game on the franchise first week in the UK. I know, it's nothing to do with Japan, but I think XC2 will be another step in the franchise in the right direction.