[Librarian]

Not really all that unexpected for this one. Has some neat concepts, but the toys aren't something that seemed like they would move. Though Minipla I expected to do so somewhat well. Sometimes that can be surprising though. There have been other lines I would have sworn would have done so-so and sold out the wazoo. And ones I thought would have done better than they did. It happens time to time.

TBH, while I loved the comedic element, this is too over the top for Sentai. It's not the first time this has happened either though. Previously in the 90s there was a massive drop at one series too, with then a massive increase following it.

Next series will likely see an increase. Lupin vs Pat, as much as I love how absolutely silly it is and over the top, does kind of feel like a filler series to buy time for another year and kill time for other concepts later that are too early to do right now. Though I do absolutely love the Jackpot Striker concept. And the show itself is fun with the cockpit shenanigans.

And unlike previous years, there is no collectible gimmick this go round either really. So the merchandise is kind of slimmed down as it is. All around suggesting numbers were expected to be lower this time, and an increase will come later.

Coming off of how heavy the merchandise was for Kyu though, this isn't too surprising either. It does kind of feel like a more fun romp to let parent wallets recuperate. While an upcoming series should hit a better stride on merchandise by what it capitalizes on.

That being said though. I absolutely love how over the top it is and how much thought and work went into it. You can see various elements where they tried to work in some great things. DX mecha with elbows. The saw blade hand is perfect for Lupin as a safe cracker nod. Absolutely love some of the side mecha, the full combined form mecha is straight up cool in an almost "asura's wrath" kind of way.

My only complaint at all is maybe on the Patranger suits being too much white that it makes them look kind of non-descript. But at the same time, some of the other aspects of their characters needed that.

But tbh, some shows hit, some shows don't. Go-Buster was one that didn't do that great either in the modern 20 years worth of series. But then other stuff did truckloads better and is still celebrated by audiences. Go-Onger and Zyohger were straight up as ridiculous as this is, and they still did extremely well.

So I chalk this one up mostly to the buying craze Kyu was. With this feeling the effects more from that, alongside the lack of a heavy collectible gimmick. Formula-wise, this show really had nothing much new that other series didn't prove was already popular. Random dips happen. It's the nature of the market in general. Even the versus element had potential. And this really isn't factoring in ratings either.