What are the difficulties and pleasures of developing low-priced figures?　Interview with the development team of Frue Corporation's new figure brand "TENITOL" [Hobby Industry Inside Vol. 84

If you are interested in finished bishojo figures, you have probably heard of Frue Corporation. It is an entertainment company with two main businesses: the "girls' trend business," which includes the planning, development, and sale of print sticker machines and colored contact lenses for women, and the "world view business. In the "worldview business," the company plans and develops prizes for crane games (generally called prizes), consumer and smartphone games, and is also involved in animation production, including serving on the production committee for the animated TV series "Yuru Can△.
As part of its "world view business," FLEW has been developing the high-priced figure brand "F:NEX" for several years, and this year launched the low-priced figure brand "TENITOL. As the name suggests, they are aiming for a series that is easy to pick up, but what kind of hardships lie behind the development?　We interviewed Yuki Hosako, creative producer of TENITOL, and Kanae Imatani, project manager of TENITOL.

Which characters to make into figures depends on overseas sales data

─ First of all, please tell us about the work of Ms. Hosako and Ms. Imatani.

Mr. Hosako: I am in charge of development and product creation. Imatani and I worked together on the launch of TENITOL.


Imatani: I leave the product creation work to Mr. Hohosako, and I am in charge of sales and promotions.

─ I understand that Mr. Hohosako was originally in charge of prize figures.

Mr. Hosako: In the case of prizes, mass production is a major factor. Recently, the price of materials has been rising, but the wages paid to the factory workers are just as important to the price of the product. It is important to reduce the number of human labor. Therefore, of course, the top priority is to make attractive products, but another important point is to reduce the number of processes by narrowing down the specifications for prizes. （For a figure for sale (not for prizes), parts that would be divided into separate parts are combined into a single part in order to reduce the number of molds. We try to reduce the number of small processes, such as having to assemble the parts after painting, in order to lower the price.

─ FLEW already has a high-priced brand of figure products called "F:NEX," don't you?

Hosako: Figurines in the high price range have luxurious specifications and have qualities unique to that price range. TENITOL" was launched in order to compete in a different dimension, in a lower price range. Other companies are also offering low-priced figures, but I thought there was still room for us to enter the market.


Imatani: For example, we started "TENITOL" with the intention of appealing to the lightweight segment who cannot spend more than 10,000 yen, but would be willing to buy a figure for less than 10,000 yen, and to the segment who are buying a figure for the first time. Of course, people who like the character will buy regardless of the price, so there is some overlap, but not 100 percent of the same users. In that sense, it is challenging to start a new low-priced brand. To date, we have released four different types of "TENITOL," and judging by the response, we feel that we are making a good start.

─ Looking at the lineup, it seems that there are many familiar characters, such as "Hatsune Miku" and "Supersonico.

Hohosako: For the first lineup, we prepared characters that have been sold in the past. F:NEX products are sold overseas as well, so we are considering the lineup based on such overseas sales data.

Imatani: We sell directly from our e-commerce site or through other wholesalers. In China, we are also able to provide information on bilibili and others.

Hosako: "Eromanga-sensei" was well received when it was made into a prize figure in the past, and there were requests from overseas wholesalers, so we made it into a TENITOL figure as well.

Imatani: Not all products are popular with the same degree of enthusiasm around the world, and I feel that the main countries differ slightly depending on the character.

Hosako: China, the U.S. and Germany are growing, aren't they?

Hosako──What, Germany?

Imatani: In Europe, the image of a country where manga and anime are loved is that of France (......), but there are many people who like them in Germany as well.

Hosako: That is why we are planning our product lineup with overseas sales in mind. We are working on this with the vigor of going overseas.