Merchandising and Constant Episodes

[ChiPsiUp]

So, in another thread I brought up the idea that sentai might be better if each series had less episodes. If it wasn't 49-50 episodes long we would have less filler, and more focused plot and character development. But Toei won't do that because they like having episodes airing every single week. When one series ends they start up a new one. They do this with sentai, rider, and even PreCure.

That got me thinking though. Do they really need to?

Compare it to the west. We've got tv shows made to sell toys as well. But we certainly don't air them around the year week after week nonstop.

Take for example. My Little Pony. This is certainly a merchandise driven show, regardless of the huge and expected bronies that latched onto the show, Hasbro is mainly concerned with how many MLP toys they're selling. And this year, they've only ordered 13 episodes of MLP, down from 26 of the past two seasons. They determined that their toy sales will NOT be hurt by less episodes.

The same goes for Transformers. Transformers Prime's third season will only feature 16 eps, down from 26 last season.

So why the difference? Are Japanese kids more likely to forget about a show if they don't see it all the time? Are toy sales patterns different, maybe in America sales are more seasonal but japanese toy sales are even around the year?

 

[Dessa]

I think the big difference, is that the US has reruns. Other than instances where a show is being pre-empted, if a show isn't airing, another show is in its place. Which becomes the "next big thing". If they make the shows shorter, that means that it would just be replaced faster.

 

[Neon]

I've honestly wondered the same question to be honest. Especially with recent series becoming so lacking of plot and progression. Why not do 25 episodes and then repeat them or something like that? Gives writers a break to plan for the next series and a shorter space of time to tighten the plots. With it being repeated that means there is also an entire year to promote and sell the toys.

I think things work completely differently though :/

 

[BoukenSilver83]

i agree, i mean i think the main problem with sentai and kamen rider is it's just too many episodes that requires so many toys/gimmicks to buy just to keep viewers watching, i mean look at kamen rider decade they had 30 episodes with a major card gimmick which was successful in ratings and sales, correct me if im wrong. there wasnt that many toys.

when there's a no gimmick season like gobusters with 50 episodes, it's going to be a bad season because it's just too much filler and not focusing on the fun stuff which are the gimmicks and the main plot. i wouldnt mind sentai and kamen rider being 30 episodes because you dont have to buy so much.

 

[lazycoconut]

I pretty much agree with Dessa on this - Japan doesn't air constant re-runs of stuff the way we get in the west.

I don't know whether the quality of show would be better with fewer episodes. Decade and Akibaranger were not like ordinary entries in the franchise, so it's hard to judge. I will say that at least 48-50 episodes means they have to work to make them, unlike the US networks that just go "how few episodes can we get away with for the maximum of profit?"

 

[BoukenSilver83]

I pretty much agree with Dessa on this - Japan doesn't air constant re-runs of stuff the way we get in the west.

I don't know whether the quality of show would be better with fewer episodes. Decade and Akibaranger were not like ordinary entries in the franchise, so it's hard to judge. I will say that at least 48-50 episodes means they have to work to make them, unlike the US networks that just go "how few episodes can we get away with for the maximum of profit?"

really? i guess that's why japan has a high dvr rates, it's odd that they dont air reruns.

 

[lazycoconut]

really? i guess that's why japan has a high dvr rates, it's odd that they dont air reruns.

I don't know that they don't re-run any, but they don't usually re-air dramas or tokusatsu etc. because there's always new stuff being made to replace it

 

[Glamador]

Gotta admit, it's a great way to boost DVD sales and rentals.

 

[Dessa]

From what I've seen, at least for anime and toku, there are some specialty channels (read: cable and/or premium channels) that re-air a series, but unless you count those anime that air on both national and local channels (giving a second shot for watching), they don't have reruns the way we do in the US.

I think a lot of it has to do with sweeps weeks in the US. Shows in the US want to schedule big episodes for those weeks, which are usually in November and in May. Since American shows ("normal", hour-long ones) run for less than a year's worth of episodes, there's pretty much no way they can air consistently air episodes each week between those times, unless they do their premiere for November sweeps. And since there's very much an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of thing, they want you to keep watching the show, even if it's not new, and not move onto the "next big thing". In more recent years, a lot of shows have adapted this into the "fall finale", where November sweeps falls, and then they play reruns until spring. Another point for playing reruns over the December/January period, is that there's a lot of holiday specials that pre-empt shows, let alone sporting events (which have the added bonus of pre-empting different things in different time zones). And, of course, there's precedent for shows that would otherwise have done very well ending up canceled, because of too many weeks being pre-empted by sports (*coughFireflycough*).

I don't know exactly how it works in Japan for evening anime, but for SHT (and overnight anime), it seems it's rare that it gets pre-empted. Heck, even for the Olympics, I think only Fourze was pre-empted, and it was only once in the 3-week event? They don't have the need for "rerun weeks because it may/may not get pre-empted" like the US does.

Also, if what we've heard about Toei beginning to plan the next series as soon as the current one starts airing, they may need that full time to prepare for it. Other than shows like LOST, which are set for a certain length of time, most American shows are perpetual, and they don't want to change it season-to-season. Also, things like SHT will always be filled by 2 Toei shows. In the US, shows are made by all sorts of different studios who are pretty much competing to get slots and good times. So they don't have the comfort that Toei does to prep the "next show", they're more focused on keeping the current show in the audience's eyes, so that they can keep that on the air, and working on something else in the background with no guarantee it'll air.

 

[BoukenSilver83]

does most of japan have dvr on their cable boxes, does toei and bandai reflect on that as well for the ratings? also how often do they release dvds of a series like gobusters and kamen rider wizard?

because if you miss an episode wouldnt be pointness to buy a toy to something that you haven't or if you look the character or not?