The new market for eyeglasses opened up by anime! Anime opens up a new market for eyeglasses! Anime collaboration glasses specialty store "Anime Glasses" [Gemba of Collaboration No.7

With today's growing collaboration between various industries and subcultures such as anime and voice acting, there are many people who say, "Whoa, they're doing it! You're doing it," "What? You did it! and "Oh, that's what I've been waiting for! Akiba Research Institute is going to visit the sites where these "collaborations" are being planned and ask about the appeal of the projects, interesting episodes, hardships, and other behind-the-scenes stories about their production! The seventh installment of this series is called "Gemba of Collaboration.

In this seventh installment, we will visit "Anime Glasses," a store specializing in anime collaborations. There are many collaborations between anime and glasses, but these collaborative glasses are different!　We interviewed Mr. Kyosuke Asakura, President of t.n.t., who left his job as an eyeglass specialist to start his own business, about how he started his business, the difficulties he faced in creating the collaborative glasses, and the strengths and popularity of Anime Ganes.

-- First of all, please tell us about your company.

Asakura: I myself originally worked for another eyeglass specialty store. After that, I decided to set up my own eyeglass specialty store and started the first store, Butler Eyeglasses Eyemirror. The name of the store may remind you of glasses made in collaboration with butler characters, but here we mainly deal with regular brand products. Seventy percent of the total sales are regular brands. The next store to open, "Anime Glasses," is a 100% collaboration eyeglasses store.

-- So the store started with "there are glasses" rather than collaboration?

Asakura: That's right. We started with the idea of selling a variety of general brands. About 10 years ago, when we started the store, three-price stores (so-called "three-price stores") were beginning to appear, and the traditional eyeglass specialty stores were in decline. The emergence of stores that were more affordable for young people was drawing them away from eyeglass specialty stores, and as a result, eyeglasses for young people were no longer being sold. In fact, there are many brands for young people, but many people are unaware of them, and customers who actually visit eyeglass specialty stores often ask, "What?　When customers visit eyeglass specialty stores, they are often surprised to learn that this brand has eyeglasses as well. There are so many stylish and cool eyeglasses out there, but there is no opportunity for people to know about them or to pick them up. This is not good for the eyeglass industry. When we thought of ...... as a way to get more people to pick up a pair of glasses, we came up with the idea of collaborating with anime. It was meant to be a catalyst or a priming tool. We wanted people to learn about the joy of glasses through anime.

-- So, you have always been an anime fan?

Asakura: I can't say it out loud, but I like it to the extent that I have participated in ...... and Comiket since my Harumi days.

-- That's quite a lot of fun (laughs).

Asakura Ha ha ha (laughs). (laughs) Actually, I also do coterie magazines and cosplay. Comiket was also the inspiration for my first pair of collaborative glasses, "Touhou Project [Touhou MEGANE].

-- I hear that you have collaborated on many glasses with characters other than eyeglass characters.

Asakura: Yes. We have received many responses like that. But there are also various collaborative products such as bags, T-shirts, shoes, and so on. Nothing is said about collaborating with such products, even though the collaborating characters do not have those images. But for some reason, only glasses are always pointed out to me as "...... even though I am not a glasses character" (laughs).

-- Is it because glasses are recognized as one of the body parts?

Asakura: Why only glasses? I think. In fact, in many cases, glasses that are inspired by the character are better received than the glasses of the eyeglass character.

-- What kind of glasses are popular?

Asakura: Image glasses, in which the character's image is designed into the glasses, are popular. Models such as Saber (Altria) and Rin Tohsaka models from the "Fate" series are very popular. Originally, glasses of characters wearing glasses are simple and it is difficult to distinguish them from ordinary glasses, so they do not sell well.

In order for glasses worn by characters with glasses to sell well, the glasses must be popular and have individuality. However, such a pattern is rarely seen. Models of eyeglass characters that still sell well are the Barnaby model from "TIGER & BUNNY" and the Akemi Homura model from "Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

-- they are cool, aren't they? Do you have any price selling points?

Asakura: We mainly sell products priced at around 14,000 yen for the frames only, and that is our best-selling price range. If you add lenses, the price increases by 6,000 yen, and the most popular price is around 20,000 yen. This may seem a little more expensive than buying at a discount eyewear retailer.

-- Customers who are accustomed to a reasonable price range from their first pair of glasses will buy them if they are satisfied with the added value! Is that right?

Asakura: Yes. Thankfully, we have a large number of repeat customers. We are very happy to have so many repeat customers because we created this eyeglass shop with the future of the industry in mind, and we want people to know the appeal of eyeglasses.

-- Did you encounter any difficulties in producing glasses in collaboration with animation?　Since the company was established by a professional eyeglass maker, it seems that there are not many such difficulties, but...

Asakura: There are many. It is common for a project to go wrong due to rights issues, and in many cases, the factories would not produce the glasses in the first place. In fact, we were sometimes told, "I don't understand the point of combining anime and glasses," and the reality was that we could not get glasses made unless we could sell them. The eyeglass industry is an old industry, and not many people would shake their heads when it comes to something new. Even if we were confident that the glasses would sell, we would never get started unless we could get them made.

-- You mentioned that "Touhou Project" was your first collaboration.

Asakura: I felt the affinity between Touhou Project and glasses when I saw a coterie magazine called "TOHO MEGANE" written by Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. So, we approached Mr. Nabeshima to obtain his permission and asked the publisher of "TOHO PROJECT" for permission. We were lucky that we were able to work together with the artist to make a solid proposal from the design stage, and above all, that "TOHO PROJECT" was understanding and flexible to new ideas. Of course, there were some difficulties. If we put more emphasis on design, the functionality of the glasses would deteriorate. It took a lot of time and effort to work out the details. Now we sell more than 20 types of glasses in total, and they have become a hit product, selling more than 12,000 pairs.

-- Once one collaboration was successful, wasn't it easier the next time around?

Asakura: It is true that it became easier to make proposals because we had a track record. Currently, we release 25 to 30 types of products a year. We make glasses for several characters in one title, so in terms of the number of units, the number is about that high.

-- Is there anything you look for when selecting titles that sell well?

Asakura: There are various factors such as disc sales, Twitter trends, doujin events, and the number of circle participants, but the deciding factor is my sensitivity (laughs). (laughs) Anime collaboration is a narrow genre, but I feel that there is a wide range of designs. Not only character motifs, but also well-designed and gimmicky glasses are persistently popular.

-- Just the fact that these are collaborative glasses started by a professional eyeglass maker makes them feel "a little different," but what are your actual "strengths"?

Asakura: People often notice on the train that they are wearing our glasses. There are many collaboration glasses, but the way we make our glasses is not the same way of making plastic frames of the same shape and color and arranging a lineup of many colors. We create them from molds. The price range is a little higher than chain stores' collaboration glasses, but since we make them from the mold, we are confident that once you compare them, you will feel our "commitment. We started this project with the desire to let young people know how fun glasses can be, so we did not want to do it by just changing the color to a conventional design. And obviously, this is not the era of wearing character objects. Otaku are becoming more and more common, and we wanted to take advantage of this trend, so in the end, we focused on creating glasses that people could wear to the workplace. Some customers purchase our glasses because they like the design without knowing it is a collaboration. When we offer them the attached eyeglass wipe, some of them even say, "I don't need it" (laugh). We are confident that we can compete on design alone.

-- What are your plans for the future?

Asakura: We receive many inquiries from overseas users, so we are focusing on anime that are popular overseas. We often receive requests from our customers for merchandising, but it seems that most of the works that come to our attention are either already in the works or have been started by other companies. It is inevitable that popular animations become a battleground. However, we would like to deliver good products by pursuing design and eyeglass functions that take advantage of our strength as an "eyeglass shop. We want our customers to actually hold our products in their hands, so we are thinking of opening stores in regional areas as well! We are thinking of opening stores in rural areas as well.

-- Thank you very much. I have a pair of glasses I'm interested in, so I will visit you next time I make glasses!

(Interview and text by Shinobu Tanaka)

Two winners each will receive two sets of "Anime Glasses" original "Fate/HF" lens cleaner and eyeglass wipe set!

This time, "Anime Glasses" presents to our readers the original "Fate/stay night [Heaven's Feel]" lens cleaner and eyeglass wipe set! We will be giving away two versions each of "But Toosaka" and "Sakura Matori" to two lucky readers. Please read the detailed application guidelines before applying.

<Prize

Fate/HF Lens Cleaner & Eyeglass Wipe Set: Rin Tohsaka: 2
Fate/HF Lens Cleaner & Glasses Wipe Set: Sakura Matori: 2

<Entry Requirements

Entry period: June 13, 2019 (Thu) - June 20, 2019 (Thu) 23:59

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