How To Successfully Market the Sextuplets
I have spent a lot of time looking at ososan official art and when you get to the point where the sextuplets are basically tattooed to your retinas, you start to Notice Things.
I believe that after years of selling the boys to the public, the marketing team has really gotten a hold on what makes a merch set successful. The key is to appeal to the character's charm points, which have shifted over time. I think that now, the characters have settled into very specific categorizations that allow for the most profit to be made and the most investment return for shareholders!
so here it is, the key to successfully merchandising the matsuno sextuplets.
let me explain. in around 70% of merch sets, especially those that are the most successful, karamatsu and osomatsu are drawn are more masculine/handsome, todomatsu looks more cheeky and cute, and ichimatsu, choromatsu, and jyushimatsu are moe.
Note: there is a distinct difference between cute and moe. todomatsu almost NEVER falls into the moe category, because moe involves some level of unintentional cuteness that todomatsu lacks. todomatsu knows he's cute, and for that reason he can never be moe.
Here are some clear examples of each category in popular sets:
Ikemen karamatsu and osomatsu:
Moe choromatsu, ichimatsu, and jyushimatsu
cute and/or cheeky todomatsu
See what I mean? Now I don't have enough images (30 image limit) to go too deep into this, but it actually didn't used to be like this at all. I wasn't a fan in 2015, but when you look at all of the official art from back then, it was wayyyy simpler and much more in character.
And this isn't to say that they're not technically "in character" in the newer, post 2017 official arts. All of these sets are still pulling from traits that they have from the actual show... but it's so funny to me how disconnected the official art is from the anime.
Although the main goal of both is to make a profit for investors, the methods they use are starkly different. The point of the anime is to make people laugh and tell a story (debatable). But the main goal of the merchandise is to make the sextuplets as marketable as possible, which means forgoing some of their less desirable traits in favor of their more attractive ones.
Like, yes there ARE fans that would totally buy a stand of jyushimatsu farting or of todomatsu making that face.... but how many MORE fans would buy a stand of jyushimatsu smiling cutely and todomatsu winking at the camera while dressed as idols?
Anyways, MOST of the time, they fall into those categorizations... but in newer sets, i think they're aiming for something like this
Note: when i say "suggestive" i don't mean that subjectively. i mean that recently they are intentionally putting karamatsu in more revealing clothing than the rest of the bros. they've actually always done this, but now i feel like it's way more obvious. the best example of this is his birthday outfit
(See what I mean? now these categorizations aren't an exact science. sometimes the bros lapse into other categories or there will be no "categories" at all)
In regards to official art, osomatsu san is an anomaly compared to other anime. While there are still aus in other anime official arts, they still have some level of restraint when it comes to things like fan service and staying in character. But ososan has been around for a decade, so the official art team has had enough time to get lost in the sauce and completely forget about the anime.
But the result of this is that the official art ends up entirely divorced from the actual anime. If you took a person who only knows ososan through the official art they see on twitter, the actual anime won't make any sense to them. like "why are they all just wearing hoodies, i thought the blue guy wears leather straps and corsets... why is the purple one crapping on the table??"
Same for like, casual fans who watched the anime and movies and haven't seen any official art, how do you explain some of this to them??? "yeah so this is the jersey maid set, no it's not from the show... they wouldn't wear that? ... yeah but it's fun and cute and-.... they're neets and don't know how to do the housework a maid does?...yeah"
All in all, it makes sense why they do this and i can't exactly blame them for it. if the fans don't care about the boys being in character and buy merch of them anyways, why should the marketing team care? if the fans decided not to buy the newer sets, they would have to go back to the drawing board. but this is what sells and i don't think the fans are gonna stop buying these newer sets any time soon.
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