Detective Conan Hits 7.99B Yen & Gen Z Treats Fandom as a Fixed Cost | Weekly Oshi News (May 1, 2026)

Here is our roundup of notable corporate oshikatsu (fandom activities supporting one’s favorite idol, character, or creator) marketing and fan business news from the week of April 24 to April 30, 2026.

This Week’s Highlights

The defining theme of this week was fandom activities starting to be discussed in “numbers” rather than just “emotions.”

Marketing support firm Reaplus conducted a study with four Gen Z women. Participants viewed their fandom spending not as casual entertainment, but as a monthly fixed cost, with some investing 20% to 60% of their disposable income. Similarly, in a survey by Oshicoco, while the majority of respondents said they “dislike” blind-box or random merchandise, roughly 40% answered that they “like” it. Regarding the acceptable number of variations in a random lineup, more than 80% answered “10 types or fewer.” Meanwhile, a survey by Yano Research Institute revealed that both the Nijisanji Project and hololive production are recognized by more than 90% of VTuber fans.

The movement in numbers also extended to box office performance and fundraising. Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway (Meitantei Konan: Haiwei no Datenshi) reached 7.99 billion yen at the box office, placing 93rd on Japan’s all-time chart. Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe (Kidou Senshi Gandamu Senkou no Hasawei: Kirukee no Majo) also surpassed 2.7 billion yen in box office revenue. AI character business operator Pictoria raised 330 million yen, and Sanrio announced its entry into the video game business through self-publishing. Additionally, VTuber agency operator Cover reported that its legal actions against rights infringements reached 149 cases for the year.

DIAGRAMKey Fandom and Entertainment Metrics Reported This Week

20–60%: Share of disposable income invested in fandom in some cases from a qualitative study with four women (Reaplus)
80%+: Respondents who want blind-box merchandise lineups kept to 10 types or fewer (Oshicoco)
7.99B yen: Cumulative box office revenue for Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway
149 cases: Legal actions including lawsuits and criminal cases handled by Cover in FY2025

Source: The Oshi Lab's summary of the article

The Reality of Fandom Consumption Backed by Multiple Survey Datasets

Oshicoco, Reaplus, and Yano Research Institute — Three Surveys Outlining the Contours of Fan Spending

Oshicoco, which provides marketing support specializing in Gen Z and fandom demographics, conducted an “Attitude Survey on Random Merchandise.” The survey targeted Instagram followers of the fandom media outlet Oshicoco (61% in their teens, 16% in their early twenties, and 13% in their late twenties). Although “dislike” was the majority response, roughly 40% of all respondents answered that they “like” random goods. Broken down by genre, about 60% of fans supporting VTubers or utaite (online vocal cover artists) said they “like” random merchandise. Conversely, among fans of domestic male idols and 2D anime or game characters, more than 70% answered that they “dislike” it. As for the acceptable number of item variations, over 80% hoped for “10 types or fewer” (survey period: April 21–23; 165 valid responses) (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

On March 30, 2026, youth marketing firm Reaplus conducted a qualitative survey in a group discussion format with four Gen Z women—three working professionals and one university student—lasting approximately 45 minutes per session. Among the participants, the study suggested that the traditional consumption habit of “buying unconditionally as long as my favorite is featured” has weakened, shifting toward an “investment decision” purchasing structure where they evaluate practicality, bonus perks, and alignment with the IP’s worldview. The report also noted behaviors such as investing 20% to 60% of disposable income into fandom activities, starting side jobs, and factoring “how easy it is to pursue fandom activities” into job-hunting criteria (PR TIMES (in Japanese)).

In November 2025, Yano Research Institute conducted a questionnaire among 25,277 men and women aged 15 to 44. From this pool, the institute extracted 1,200 respondents who listed watching videos as a hobby and said they liked VTubers, categorizing them as “VTuber fans” to examine awareness levels by agency. Topping the awareness rankings were the “Nijisanji Project” and “hololive production,” both recognized by over 90% of VTuber fans. “VSPO!” (Buisupo!) and “Aogiri High School” (Aogiri Koukou) followed with over 70% awareness each (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: What all three surveys share is that they do not treat fandom consumers as people driven purely by unmeasured passion. Oshicoco quantified the acceptable number of item variations, while Reaplus dug into the exact percentage of disposable income fans invest. When companies design campaigns today, they have reached a stage where they must discard the assumption that “fans will buy anything if it appeals to them” and instead verify pricing, bonuses, and worldview alignment individually. If you want to gauge fan enthusiasm accurately, you need quantitative reference lines like those in our analysis of Gen Z consumer behavior.

Two Theatrical Anime Films Broke Box Office Records One After Another

Detective Conan and Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway — Consecutive Box Office Milestones

The theatrical film Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway (Meitantei Konan: Haiwei no Datenshi) opened across 526 theaters nationwide in Japan on April 10 as the 29th installment in the film series. Over its first three days, it recorded an attendance of 2,318,009 viewers and box office revenue of 3,502,137,800 yen. Performing at 101.8% of the previous film, Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback (Sekigan no Zanzou), it marked the biggest opening in the history of the franchise. By April 19, it had surpassed 4.22 million admissions and 6.3 billion yen in revenue. Over the weekend of April 24–26, it ranked second behind the newly debuted The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. During that same weekend, Conan drew 674,000 moviegoers and earned 1.002 billion yen. Cumulative attendance exceeded 5.33 million viewers, and box office revenue reached 7.99 billion yen. On Kogyo Tsushinsha’s all-time Japanese box office chart, it surpassed The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (7.90 billion yen) to claim 93rd place, closing in on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (8.00 billion yen) (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe also surpassed 2.7 billion yen in box office revenue and 1.59 million in attendance. Serving as the second chapter in a trilogy following the first chapter released in 2021, it became a bigger hit than its predecessor at the box office. The film announced that an “Illustration Card Designed by Director Shukou Murase” would be distributed starting May 1—its 14th week in theaters—as the final theatergoer gift of its first run (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Both films represent long-tail hits where attendance and box office revenue continue to build weeks after opening. Rather than letting the buzz end with opening-weekend momentum, the productions keep creating reasons to visit theaters by adding new admission gifts and communicating weekly milestone updates as news. This continuous topic generation that sustains long theatrical runs offers a valuable reference for corporate fan marketing, which often tends to rely on one-off events.

Food and Energy Companies Created Customer Touchpoints Through Characters

Pizza Hut Japan, Wakasa Seikatsu, and TG Octopus Energy — Three Distinct Approaches to Building Touchpoints

Starting April 24, Pizza Hut Japan rolled out a campaign built around the slogan “Pizza Hut That’s Too Much JOY” (JOY-sugiru Piza Hatto). Three television commercials featuring a new character, “Hut Alien” (Hatto Seijin), also began airing nationwide (planned and produced by Hakuhodo and AOI Pro.). 三角絵海 of the company’s Marketing Division stated, “While the brand name ‘Pizza Hut’ is recognized by many people, when asked ‘What kind of brand is it?’, the image was not yet sufficiently established.” She explained that the company wanted to establish an image as a brand that provides an uplifting experience simply through ordering. The commercials also promoted deals such as “Second Pizza Free on Takeout Orders” and takeout pizzas priced at 810 yen on “Hut Days” (dates containing an 8, 9, or 10) (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Health supplement company Wakasa Seikatsu turned its official character “Buruburu-kun,” originally created in 2006, into a plush toy several years after its debut. This move was a direct response to fans saying they wanted to feel closer to the character. In September 2023, Justin Bieber visited the company while sightseeing in Kyoto and introduced the plush on his Instagram, which generated widespread buzz. In April 2025, the company opened a specialty store called “Buruburu-kun no Omise” (Buruburu-kun’s Shop) in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto. According to the report, the company views nuidori photos—snapshots fans take of plushies placed in everyday scenes or travel destinations—posted by fans as “extremely high-value communication.” It also places the plushies around its offices, using them as a shared language among employees (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

TG Octopus Energy and Metaverse Creators Inc. jointly developed and released Octopus Energy Tycoon, a tycoon-style game on Roblox. The game was designed so that as players collect the brand character “Constantine” and develop a town, wind turbines, solar panels, and electric vehicles appear. TG Octopus Energy is a joint venture between Tokyo Gas and the Octopus Energy Group. The company stated that it utilized Roblox as a new touchpoint to connect with families, including children (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Pizza Hut chose a commercial character, Wakasa Seikatsu chose plush toys, and TG Octopus Energy chose a game—each selecting a different touchpoint. Yet their underlying goal is the same: creating an initial spark of affection among demographics that are not moved by explanations of products or utility rates alone. Wakasa Seikatsu’s phrase “shared language” is symbolic here. A character can serve as an external promotional tool while simultaneously acting as an internal instrument to align brand understanding across the company.

Talent and Characters Stepped Into the Spotlight of Advertising

Luup × Reiwa Roman, Sports Biz × Captain Tsubasa — Redefining Advertising and Management

On April 28, Luup, operator of the electric kickboard and micromobility sharing service “LUUP,” announced its entry into the advertising business using its own physical and digital infrastructure. Its first advertiser is yutori, which plans and sells apparel brands. That same day, Luup launched a promotion for yutori’s brand “9090” featuring the comedy duo Reiwa Roman. The advertising program supports vehicle wraps, docking port decorations, and in-app banners. According to Luup, the number of ports in Tokyo reached 8,100 as of April, surpassing the combined Tokyo store count of Japan’s three major convenience store chains. Luup CEO Daiki Okai cited the “Pokémon Jet” aircraft liveries as an ideal advertising case study and said, “We want to aim for campaigns that make riders happy” (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

On April 23, athlete management agency Sports Biz announced that it had signed a management contract with Tsubasa Ozora, the protagonist of the soccer manga Captain Tsubasa. This contract marks the first installment of its new “IP Athlete Management” business. In this new venture, fictional characters born from stories are managed as “IP Athletes” right alongside real-life athletes. The company also reported plans to develop content featuring co-appearances with real athletes and to expand into the global market (Koubo (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: LUUP linked talent popularity to street-level mobility infrastructure as an ad medium, while Sports Biz brought a manga character into the framework of athlete representation. Both initiatives reposition people and characters who command fan support outside conventional advertising categories. New fan touchpoints are born when a company questions its own assumptions about what counts as an “ad slot” or a “management client.”

A Beauty Brand Rebuilt Its Products Based on Customer Voices

Boldies × Cleo’s Beauté — Executing a Rebrand From Tens of Thousands of Customer Comments

On April 22, Boldies held a press presentation to commemorate the rebranding and new product launch of its haircare brand “Cleo’s Beauté.” Alongside CEO Chihiro Nakata, model Yu Yamada took the stage as a special guest. Since its launch in April 2022, the brand has focused primarily on direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales, surpassing 1 million cumulative units sold. Nakata stated, “Since our founding, we have engaged with tens of thousands of customer voices through the dedicated concierge on our in-house e-commerce site, giving form to requests for ‘more diverse fragrances’ and ‘more refined packaging.’” The presentation also premiered the brand movie Cleopatra in Tokyo, directed by Kodai Kobayashi, who is known for directing music videos for artists such as Vaundy (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Even more than the milestone of 1 million units sold, what stands out here is that disclosing the process of “engaging with tens of thousands of voices” has itself become part of the branding. Many companies cast celebrities, but very few explicitly ground the rationale for a rebrand in raw customer feedback. When speaking about their relationship with fans, more companies are showing the design process rather than just the final sales numbers.

Virtual Live Viewing Experiences Expanded Through Streaming Technology

Epic Games × Hoshimachi Suisei, SPWN — Two Technologies Expanding How Fans Watch

Epic Games announced an interactive music performance by VTuber Hoshimachi Suisei titled “Hoshimachi Suisei LIVE 2026 ~~STELLAR in Fortnite~~.” The performance was announced to take place inside Fortnite starting at 8:00 PM JST on May 2. Developed in partnership with Black Tower Studios using “Unreal Editor for Fortnite”—a tool that enables developers to build custom islands—the event was designed so that players do not merely watch the stage, but become part of the performance through interactions linked to in-game emotes (Weekly ASCII (in Japanese)).

Meanwhile, entertainment platform “SPWN” officially released a new “Multi-Angle Feature” that allows viewers to freely switch between up to 11 camera feeds while watching a broadcast. The feature brings an oshi-kamera (“fave cam”) viewing experience—where a fan follows a specific performer continuously—to online livestreams. Even when viewers switch camera angles, the live comment feed remains unified on screen. The feature was first introduced at “VSPO! SHOWDOWN 2026 powered by RAGE,” held on March 21 and 22. At this esports event featuring members of the popular VTuber group “VSPO!”, viewers could freely switch between each player’s individual gameplay perspective and the overall match broadcast (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Hoshimachi Suisei’s case brings a VTuber into an existing global gaming platform (Fortnite). SPWN’s case moves in the opposite direction, giving viewers inside a dedicated streaming platform the power to choose who they watch. What both share is that they reduce the amount of time viewers spend being completely passive. For companies planning livestreams, deciding where to leave room for viewer choice within the act of watching determines whether the experience becomes truly memorable.

Companies Growing IP Advanced Business Expansion and Rights Protection Simultaneously

Sanrio, Pictoria, and Cover — Simultaneous Expansion and Defense of IP Businesses

On April 21, Sanrio announced the launch of its self-published video game brand, “Sanrio Games.” As its first title, the company announced plans to release the console game Sanrio Party Land simultaneously worldwide in autumn 2026 for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. It reported plans to release roughly 10 titles over a three-year period. While Sanrio owns more than 450 characters, there remain many countries and regions where it has not yet been able to roll out physical merchandise or theme parks. Consequently, the company positioned video games—a platform less constrained by geography—as a vehicle for globalization where fans around the world can interact with its characters (Inside (in Japanese)).

Pictoria, which plans, develops, and operates AI characters, raised a total of 330 million yen in funding. The financing combines a third-party allotment of new shares underwritten by Canon Marketing Japan, Mizuho Capital, GOLDEN EGG Ventures, and Skyland Ventures with loans from Mizuho Bank, Kiraboshi Bank, and the Japan Finance Corporation. Pictoria operates the AI VTuber “Nen Tsumugi.” According to the company, for corporate clients it handles everything end-to-end on its proprietary technology stack—from AI character planning and AI development to speech synthesis, 3D character asset production, and ongoing operations. Its solutions have been adopted across a wide range of industries, including publishing, securities, real estate, banking, airports, professional sports, local governments, and commercial facilities (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

On April 30, Cover, operator of the VTuber group “hololive,” published its report on actions taken against rights infringements during fiscal year 2025. Legal actions including civil lawsuits and criminal cases totaled 149 cases, while takedown actions targeting X, YouTube, and TikTok reached 1,411 cases. The company reported responding across five key areas: sender information disclosure requests for malicious posts on social media and anonymous message boards, lawsuits in foreign courts, shutting down malicious aggregator sites, working with police on arrests for improper commercial exploitation, and pursuing criminal charges over posts threatening life or physical safety (Inside (in Japanese)).

DIAGRAMTwo Sides of Scaling an IP Business

Expanding IP Reach (Sanrio & Pictoria)

Sanrio launched Sanrio Games to reach global regions without stores or theme parks, planning around 10 titles in 3 years
Pictoria raised 330 million yen to scale its end-to-end AI character development and operations across diverse industries

Defending IP and Talent (Cover)

Handled 149 legal actions (including lawsuits and criminal cases) and 1,411 takedowns across X, YouTube, and TikTok in FY2025
Acted across five areas: sender disclosures, overseas lawsuits, shutting down malicious aggregator sites, police arrests for commercial abuse, and criminal cases for threats

Source: The Oshi Lab's summary of the article

Lab Note: Sanrio and Pictoria represent moves to “expand IP,” while Cover represents a move to “defend IP,” yet both stem from the exact same backdrop. Growth in the value of characters and talent creates a need to manage the risks of unauthorized use and defamation. Companies entering the fan business must build the cost of responding to rights infringements into their business plans with the same weight as their growth roadmaps.

This Week’s Takeaway

This was a week in which companies began treating fan enthusiasm through numbers and contracts.

Reaplus reported cases of spending “20% to 60% of disposable income” in an exploratory qualitative study with four women, without statistical representativeness. In Oshicoco’s survey, more than 80% of respondents preferred “10 types or fewer.” Sports Biz managing a manga character in parallel with real-life athletes and Cover disclosing the exact number of its anti-infringement actions are extensions of the same trend. Fan passion can no longer be discussed merely as “vaguely strong.” Companies, too, are now required to engage with fandom quantitatively.

At the same time, Wakasa Seikatsu’s “shared language” and Cleo’s Beauté’s “tens of thousands of voices” remind us that the foundation beneath all of this is an accumulation of relationships that cannot be reduced entirely to numbers. While grasping the big picture through survey data, use our guides on the principles of oshikatsu marketing design and Gen Z consumer behavior as starting points to re-examine the distance between your company and its fans.

Weekly Oshikatsu News brings you a weekly roundup of fandom and business every week. You can browse past issues in our Oshikatsu × News category.