Analysing the design of manga covers

In an ongoing series analysing manga, Livejournal user Telophase [no real name given] has turned her attention to cover design of American-released manga. Through her analysis, she has pinpointed several key elements that are more often found in the most popular mangas than the less popular.

Looking at the arguement, it falls into a similiar category of "which came first: the chicken or the egg?" Does the design sell more books, or do more successful books garner a different approach to cover design? Either way, it's a good conversation to be had.

I think if I had to point out the one thing that makes the difference between each group, it's that every one in the top 5 has one strong, recognizable graphic element in the design popping out at me and making one focal point on a character's face - the figure on Fruits Basket, who is popped out by the white and pastels in the background and whose face is a pale spot framed by brown and soft gold, the single figure on Samurai Executioner, Kenshin's hair and kimono popping him out in Rurouni Kenshin (note that his hair curls around his head and that his sword points directly at his face), the negative space surrounding Ren (the woman) in Trigun (her head is the darkest spot on the cover, and is in almost the exact center), and the boy's red hair and shirt in D.N. Angel frame his face.

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