Up until this point we have been investigating more into the economic success of the products of the CSToys website in order to construct more research. As stated in the previous post, the translations are being targeted towards the current series that are airing, namely Kamen Rider Ghost and Dobutsu Sentai Zyuohger, respectively. Because these are the series that are currently airing over there in Japan, there is a much higher demand for said products over the older products. In Japan, the toys that are being sold go hand in hand with the show they air alongside with. Unless there is a throwback to the original series later on in some way, once the show ends, its products will be discontinued, or made in fewer quantities than they were before. This is all to prepare the toy market for the new exciting products designed for the 2016-2017 run, and so forth.
If we break down our research as of now, we have currently studied the Japanese Fiscal reports for the Quarter 4 releases of all Super Sentai and Kamen Rider seasons from the years 1991-2016 (Super Sentai) and 2000-2016 (Kamen Rider), namely their "Heisei Era" runs. We have also highlighted the series which performed the best in regards to sales, as well as the worst ones. Interestingly, the 2015 run of "Shuriken Sentai Ninninger", although having a gimmick, performed the worst in regards to toy sales in the past 16 years since "Mirai Sentai Timeranger", which, in comparison, did not have a gimmick. We believe that by doing this, we will be able to discover exactly how these certain shows managed to perform better than others in regards to toy sales, the overall popularity of the show, and the years in which they aired.
The current series that are airing in Japan, and have released their products for sale, are "Dobutsu Sentai Zyuohger" which is celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the franchise, and "Kamen Rider Ghost", which is celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the franchise. The anniversary seasons in particular have a unique advantage over other series, because of the title they carry that gives them leverage to "make references to past seasons" in the forms of toys and gimmicks related to said toys. That being said, "Kamen Rider Ghost's" season gimmick are "Eyecons". miniature versions of eyeballs which have a rotating pupil in the center. The "Eyecons" can be inserted into other toys to activate specific sounds and effects.
On the other hand, although being an anniversary season, and having its 35th anniversary predecessor have a "Ranger Key" gimmick, the current season of "Dobutsu Sentai Zyuohger", has no distinguishable gimmick. What it does have however, are small cubes called "Zyuoh Cubes"which can unfold into characteristic animals. The cubes can then stack on top of each other to form a giant robot. Although combinable in various unique ways to increase the appeal of the products themselves, they don't have any direct function with the other toys in the toy line as of now. We still do not know how well this series will do in regards to toy sales, but hopefully the 40th Anniversary title will give it some leverage.
The translations are progressing well, and we hope to have a significant amount of them completed by the deadline we have set for it. We have also kept our teacher sponsor informed of our progress, and how we plan to continue with our research, as well as our translations of the said products.
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