Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Sentai Sales Data

[BBally81]

Well look at the numbers. Gundam, Kamen Rider, Naruto, Dragonball, and One Piece are all in the double digits. Meanwhile, Ultraman, Sentai, and whatever Anpiman and Aikatsu are, are all single digits. How is that not bad?

Because the Ultraman franchise hasn't been a that big of an IP in the past several years especially compared to Kamen Rider and other Toei brands, that's why Tsuburaya was close to bankruptcy around 2008 and had to close down several of its institutions including its Ultraman Land theme park which at that point had been running since the 90s. So, this is still a success for Tsuburaya, you're just not taking that context into account.

Also it's Anpanman, which is an extremely popular IP in Japan for several decades since its debut as a picture book series in 1973 especially among children and other than the books, it also had manga, video games, toys and an iconic still ongoing anime series that's been running since 1988 and is so popular the IP overtook Hello Kitty as Japan's top-grossing character in 2002 and had remained so for a long time, and Aikatsu! is a super popular arcade collectible card game franchise that had many merchandises as well as video games and a highly successful long running anime.

 

[BBally81]

A better written series doesn't automatically mean better sales, Timeranger is highly regarded among Sentai fans but its merchandise sales are considered one of the all time lows for the SS franchise. It's obvious Trigger was quite successful attracting its target audience (children) to buy its merchandise even if it had a mixed reception among long time Ultrafans.

And Trigger also got hit by the pandemic, it was airing when the Delta and Omicron variants happened.

 

[raden238]

A successful toy formula never could be sustained for Sentai. Gaoranger toyline was so good they kept trying to replicate it over and over again to the point where the toy sales tanked. Ranger Keys were so good they didn't bother having collectibles for Go-Busters and they extended the toyline for 1 more year. Then they tried again for Ryusoulger. I never understood why they couldn't just keep the same gimmick for multiple seasons. There isn't a needed pressure to change the toy gimmick every year for just the sake of it. Same goes for Kamen Rider.

 

[Dr Kain]

A successful toy formula never could be sustained for Sentai. Gaoranger toyline was so good they kept trying to replicate it over and over again to the point where the toy sales tanked. Ranger Keys were so good they didn't bother having collectibles for Go-Busters and they extended the toyline for 1 more year. Then they tried again for Ryusoulger. I never understood why they couldn't just keep the same gimmick for multiple seasons. There isn't a needed pressure to change the toy gimmick every year for just the sake of it. Same goes for Kamen Rider.

Frankly, the toys have been hurting Sentai immensely for the last decade. Gekiranger was a show that was well written as it didn't give a damn about the toy gimmick and ended up being the last truly amazing Sentai series. I wish Toei would go back to making series like that rather than focusing on toys no one is buying anyway.

 

[raden238]

I wish Toei would go back to making series like that rather than focusing on toys no one is buying anyway.

Me too. But sadly, Toei only uses Sentai as a 23 minute toy commercial now. It use to be story first then designs second. Now its designs first, make the story around the toys. Its becoming a sitcom too. Almost pre-school humor levels.

 

[Dr Kain]

Me too. But sadly, Toei only uses Sentai as a 23 minute toy commercial now. It use to be story first then designs second. Now its designs first, make the story around the toys. Its becoming a sitcom too. Almost pre-school humor levels.

And yet the writers have Kamen Rider have often found a way to make a show around the toys still. Just look at Revice right now. That show has so much intrigue to it.

 

[Toku Prime]

Well look at the numbers. Gundam, Kamen Rider, Naruto, Dragonball, and One Piece are all in the double digits. Meanwhile, Ultraman, Sentai, and whatever Anpiman and Aikatsu are, are all single digits. How is that not bad?

The thing that often gets forgotten in conversations like this is that Bandai is a massive toy company with dozens, if not hundreds, of different toy lines.

The sales summaries only publish individual figures for their top ten highest earning brands.

So even though Sentai "only" made billions instead of tens of billions, it's continued presence in these lists tell us that it's still one of Bandai of Japan's biggest money makers.