To begin with, I'm new in the fandom. I literally started watching the first season, even though I had my eye on it for a long time now (since I knew about the routes, something that I still think is genius).
What do I think of the story so far? LOVE IT. That's it. Thus, I started my research on the thing: the author, publication years, anime studio, and merchandise... and that's when all the alarm bells started ringing.
While The Quintessential Quintuplets franchise has:
- 14 manga volumes.
- A light novel.
- 2 anime seasons.
- 4 OVA episodes.
- A movie.
- 2 upcoming projects.
- +300 anime figures (no kidding).
The We Never Learn franchise has:
- 21 manga volumes.
- 2 anime seasons.
- 2 OVA episodes.
- 4 anime figures (no kidding... and Ogata, literally one of the original main girls, got nothing).
To me, this makes no sense at all. Both WNL and TQQ were published almost at the same time, from 2017 to 2020, and were really popular in Japan (I know that TQQ always sold better, but WNL was above the average for a romcom in Shonen Jump).
Also, the decision to FINISH the anime adaptation in the second season with an original ending, instead of, you know, taking advantage of the unique route trait of the story to release movies, alternate-route specials, or what-if episodes, is weird to me.
Other recent, similar ecchi series like Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs and Ayakashi Triangle, that sold far fewer manga copies and didn't have multiple anime seasons, have tons of merch, released as recently as last year.
They had all the potential to do a lot with the franchise, but they just decided to... stop?