Explaining the company’s 45-year history in the genre, Toei’s senior managing director, Takeyuki Suzuki, said: “It’s because we have a business model in which royalties from toy sales are plowed back into production funds.

For example, a toy belt modeled after the one worn by Kamen Rider Fourze, which the protagonist uses to transform himself into a masked crusader, is a hot-selling item. Priced at 6,825 yen ($87), sales are expected to reach 800,000 units.

And then there are all sorts of “Astroswitch” gadgets that can be inserted into the belt. Sales of these products have already topped 30 million units.

Each year, the market is flooded with 6,000 related items–books, fashion accessories and so on–aimed at children.

The company also realized it would have more luck promoting the toys if the shows drew good viewer ratings from the children’s mothers. After all, it is the mothers who hold the purse strings.

The bottom line is all about whether the profits from toy sales and other merchandise can cover pricey the production costs for tokusatsu special effects, such as miniature sets and costumes.

“To be honest, it is a bit of a luxury being able to create miniature sets and props because it requires so many staff members and hours and hours to shoot scenes,” Suzuki said. “But creating scenes that appear to really exist is what gives tokusatsu that special something. And that is very important.”

Tokusatsu director Hiroshi Butsuda put it this way: “Think of when children are having fun crashing toy blocks. I think scenes where miniature towns are destroyed will always attract people.”