Convenience stores and food manufacturers are selling products featuring "Kimetsu no Yaiba" (Demon Slayer) to share in the TV anime's popularity.
As sales have been strong, expectations are high that this will boost consumer spending, which has been sluggish because of the spread of the new coronavirus.
Earlier this month, Lawson Inc. began selling about 50 kinds of products bearing illustrations of the main and auxiliary characters appearing in "Kimetsu no Yaiba" on packaging. The list of items includes "Karaage-kun" chicken nuggets and onigiri rice balls.
This was not the first time for Lawson to run an anime-related promotional campaign, but this is "the largest ever," according to a Lawson official.
Leading sushi-go-round restaurant chain Kura Sushi Inc. began selling some of its dishes designed in the image of "Kimetsu no Yaiba" characters in September.
Among the specialty items on the menu is a 220 yen set of three kinds of sushi, including red tuna that is topped with avocado and created in the color of the main character's hair and haori kimono coat.
A Kura Sushi official said the items are popular, especially among families, and same-store sales increased in September for the first time in seven months.
Beverage-maker DyDo Drinco, Inc. on Oct. 5 launched coffee and other products with "Kimetsu no Yaiba" illustrations on some of the cans and sold 50 million of them in about three weeks.
In December 2013, the Bank of Japan estimated "Kumamon," the black bear mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, generated economic effects worth about 120 billion yen in the two years through October 2013. There are views that "Kimetsu no Yaiba," whose popularity has spread across generations, might surpass the economic effects of "Kumamon."
Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc., said: "Businesses are eager to take advantage of any opportunities to sell goods, as consumers are becoming more budget-minded amid the pandemic. A mechanism to prolong the boom is necessary to expand the economic impact."
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