Weekly Oshikatsu News (May 15, 2026): Akatsuki’s TOB for Sunny Side Up & Mercari-McDonald’s Anti-Resale Push

Here is our roundup of the most notable corporate oshikatsu (fan-activity) marketing and fan-business news from the week of May 8 to May 14, 2026.

This Week’s Highlights

The standout trend this week was a clear shift from building intellectual property (IP) in-house to buying and growing existing IP capabilities.

On May 13, Akatsuki announced a tender offer (TOB) for Sunny Side Up Group. The purchase price comes to approximately 13.9 billion yen, and following completion of the tender offer, the company also planned to change its corporate name to “Sunnys Holdings (tentative name).” During the same week, Fukuya, a member of the GENDA Group, made character merchandise company Toshinpack—which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year—a wholly owned subsidiary. Meanwhile, advertising agency Daiko invested in SIA Media, a company operating in the branded entertainment space. In all three cases, rather than creating IP from scratch on their own, these companies chose to bring businesses with established strengths into their fold.

Meanwhile, leading VTuber agency Cover announced its financial results on May 14. While revenue grew to 49.33 billion yen (up 13.7% year-on-year), net profit for the period was limited to 3.016 billion yen (down 45.7% year-on-year). Impairment losses tied to a shift in development policy for its “Holoearth” metaverse project and other one-time expenses weighed heavily on profits. On the anti-scalping front, Japan’s three major resale platforms—Mercari, Rakuma, and Yahoo! Auctions—moved in lockstep to ban listings of McDonald’s Happy Meal (“Happy Set” in Japan) Chiikawa toys.

A Wave of Deals to Buy and Grow IP Businesses Rather Than Build Them from Scratch

GENDA x Fukuya — Making 50-Year-Old Toshinpack a Wholly Owned Subsidiary

On May 11, GENDA Group company Fukuya announced that it would acquire 100% of the issued shares of Toshinpack, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. Fukuya has been operating the oshikatsu merchandise brand “fanfancy+,” while the broader GENDA Group has positioned mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as its primary engine for business growth. Toshinpack is a company that plans, manufactures, and sells character merchandise. Founded in 1976, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary this year; it has handled “fancy goods” (cute novelty and stationery items) since 1983 and licensed character merchandise since 1992. Through this acquisition, Fukuya expected to gain access to IPs it had not previously handled, while Toshinpack anticipated gaining access to the GENDA Group’s overseas sales network (GENDA (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Instead of simply expanding its own in-house brand, Fukuya bought a company on its 50th anniversary with a decades-long track record in licensed character goods. In the oshikatsu merchandise market, bringing in a company that already holds established licensing relationships is a much faster route than negotiating and accumulating individual license agreements one by one. For businesses exploring new IP-related ventures, this case offers a practical benchmark for weighing whether in-house development or M&A is the faster path forward. Being able to immediately plug into an existing asset like an overseas distribution network is another clear advantage.

Daiko x SIA Media — Building an End-to-End Pipeline from IP Development to Monetization

On May 11, Daiko announced an investment in SIA Media, a firm specializing in branded entertainment. SIA Media had already formed partnerships with major players including publisher Shueisha, Suntory Holdings, and Caravan Japan, a joint venture with major Hollywood talent agency CAA (Creative Artists Agency). Leveraging these alliances, the company stated that it would advance IP rollouts through content production and co-creation with influencers. In Japan, the individual stages of the IP value chain—original work development, contract and rights structuring, global expansion, and monetization—have historically been fragmented, making the creation of an integrated, end-to-end framework an ongoing industry challenge (PR TIMES (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: This investment rests on the idea of treating IP not as something you “create and finish,” but as a “business asset that continues to grow.” Rather than stopping at one-off collaborative campaigns, investing in a partner that already possesses the machinery for everything from rights structuring to monetization gives companies without internal IP development know-how a way to lower their barrier to entry. Having an overseas joint-venture partner built into the ecosystem from the outset is also a valuable reference point for companies looking to accelerate global expansion.

Akatsuki x Sunny Side Up — Expanding IP “Outlets” Through a Tender Offer

On May 13, Akatsuki announced that it would conduct a tender offer (TOB) for Sunny Side Up Group at a purchase price of 1,320 yen per share, bringing the total acquisition value to approximately 13.9 billion yen. After the tender offer is completed, Akatsuki planned to change its corporate name to “Sunnys Holdings (tentative name)” and carry out a business integration through a share exchange. Historically, Akatsuki’s strength has been digital IP production, whereas Sunny Side Up Group has excelled in public relations and branding. The two companies had already built a working relationship through earlier collaborations, including launch PR for the “ASOBUILD” entertainment complex in Yokohama in 2019 and a partnership on the “Happy Kuji” online lottery service beginning in 2024 (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: What Akatsuki is reaching for here is the full spectrum of “touchpoints between IP and everyday consumers,” encompassing real-world events, retail store promotions, and corporate tie-ups. The stronger an IP is in the digital realm, the more it tends to rely on outside partners when building physical, real-world touchpoints. We can read this integration as an investment in a structure that holds both digital and physical touchpoints under one roof. Choosing a partner with whom it already had a proven track record of collaboration also reduces the risk of post-merger integration failure.

DIAGRAMThree Approaches to Acquiring IP Capabilities This Week

GENDA x Fukuya (Toshinpack)

Full acquisition of a 50-year-old character merchandise planner and manufacturer
Combines Fukuya's fanfancy+ brand with Toshinpack's long-standing licensing relationships
Connects licensed character goods directly to GENDA Group's overseas sales network

Daiko x SIA Media

Capital investment in a branded entertainment firm with major publishing and Hollywood links
Bridges fragmented stages from original IP development and rights design to global monetization
Lowers entry costs for companies lacking in-house IP development know-how

Akatsuki x Sunny Side Up

Approx. 13.9 billion yen tender offer (1,320 yen per share) and planned integration into Sunnys Holdings
Unites Akatsuki's digital IP production with Sunny Side Up's PR, branding, and retail promotions
Builds on prior collaborations from Yokohama ASOBUILD (2019) and Happy Kuji (2024)

Source: The Oshi Lab’s summary of corporate announcements (May 11–13, 2026)

VTuber Giant Cover Sees Net Profit Drop Behind Rising Revenue

Cover — Net Profit Down 45.7% Despite 49.3 Billion Yen in Revenue as Holoearth Impairment Weighs on Earnings

On May 14, Cover Corp. announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 2026. While revenue climbed to 49.33 billion yen (up 13.7% year-on-year), net profit for the period came in at 3.016 billion yen (down 45.7% year-on-year). Two one-time expenses were the main drivers behind the profit decline. First, the company recorded an impairment loss on software assets of approximately 3.2 billion yen following a shift in development policy for its “Holoearth” metaverse project. Second, it booked roughly 1.8 billion yen in write-offs and valuation write-downs on slow-moving historical inventory. By business segment, merchandising—led by its trading card game—performed strongly at 23.747 billion yen (up 15.6% year-on-year). On the same day, Cover announced that it would end service for Holoearth on June 28 at 9:00 p.m. JST (Mogura VR (in Japanese), Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Cover’s core merchandise and trading card operations continue to grow their top line; the drop in net profit stems from the exit costs of pulling back from the metaverse space and writing down older inventory. We can view this as a move to make an early call on scaling back a new venture so the company can concentrate on areas that are actively growing. The more a fan-business company invests across multiple new channels, the more essential it becomes to have the judgment to spot initiatives that aren’t taking root and wind them down early. The impairment was recorded as an extraordinary loss, while inventory write-offs and valuation write-downs were included in cost of sales.

DIAGRAMCover Corp. FY2026 Financial Results and One-Time Charges

49.33B yen: Full-year revenue (up 13.7% year-on-year), supported by 23.747B yen in merchandising (up 15.6%)
3.016B yen: Net profit for the period (down 45.7% year-on-year)
Approx. 3.2B yen: Software asset impairment loss from shifting development policy on the Holoearth metaverse
Approx. 1.8B yen: Write-offs and valuation write-downs on slow-moving past inventory

Source: The Oshi Lab’s summary of Cover Corp. earnings coverage (May 14, 2026)

Mercari and McDonald’s Align to Shut Down Scalping

Mercari, Rakuma, and Yahoo! Auctions — Banning Listings of McDonald’s “Chiikawa” Happy Meal Toys

Mercari announced a ban on listings of the toy bonuses included with McDonald’s Chiikawa Happy Meals (“Happy Sets”), which went on sale May 15. Rakuten-operated “Rakuma” and Yahoo-operated “Yahoo! Auctions” announced similar measures, bringing all three major secondary marketplaces into alignment. Mercari’s restriction runs at least through June 14 and continues afterward while it considers that a safe trading environment cannot be ensured. Throughout this window, the platforms announced they would issue user alerts, monitor and remove prohibited listings, and take strict action—including account usage restrictions—against accounts that repeatedly post inappropriate listings. Over the past few years, Mercari has stepped up its response to fraudulent and abusive listings, notably during the 2025 release of the “Nintendo Switch 2.” This latest measure is a direct extension of the new policy framework introduced at that time (Inside (in Japanese), AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: What stands out here is that three competing flea-market and auction giants moved in unison to ban listings in the exact same product category. Back when the Nintendo Switch 2 launched in 2025, Mercari stopped short of banning listings outright, limiting its response to removing fraudulent posts, requiring identity verification, and suspending auction features. This new step sits along the same trajectory as that existing anti-abuse policy. For companies handling high-demand collaborative merchandise, this case serves as a useful gauge of how far marketplace platforms are willing to go on their own initiative to tighten anti-resale measures.

McDonald’s — Preventing Bulk Purchases for Resale Through a Purchase-Right System

For the Chiikawa Happy Meals launching May 15, McDonald’s introduced an unconventional sales method. McDonald’s announced that on the initial launch days of the two waves—May 15 and May 29—the meals would be sold exclusively to customers holding a “Happy Meal Chiikawa Purchase Right” distributed through the official McDonald’s app. For May 15 and May 29, McDonald’s announced a limit of four meals per person during each breakfast and regular-menu period; for May 16–28 and May 30–June 11, the limit was four meals per group per transaction. The lineup featured eight figure designs in total: Wave 1 included “Chiikawa,” “Hachiware,” “Kurimanju,” and “Rakko,” while Wave 2 featured “Usagi,” “Momonga,” “Shisa,” and “Furuhonya” (Used Bookstore) (Inside (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: A defining feature of this week’s news is that the marketplace listing bans and the retailer’s purchase restrictions were announced almost simultaneously. Pairing secondary-market listing rules with primary-retail purchase limits is an important consideration in designing anti-scalping measures. For companies releasing popular collaborative items, coordinating with distribution and resale platforms prior to launch is rapidly becoming a baseline prerequisite. The fact that three rival flea-market platforms acted at the same time is further evidence that industry-wide standards are shifting.

DIAGRAMDual-Sided Anti-Resale Coordination for Happy Meal Chiikawa

Official App Purchase Rights (May 15 & May 29)McDonald's restricts launch-day sales to customers holding digital purchase rights in its official app
In-Store Quantity LimitsMay 15 and 29: 4 meals per person during each breakfast and regular-menu period; May 16–28 and May 30–June 11: 4 meals per group per transaction
Three-Platform Listing Ban (Mercari: At Least Through June 14)Mercari, Rakuma, and Yahoo! Auctions simultaneously prohibit listings of the Happy Meal Chiikawa toys
Active Monitoring and Account PenaltiesPlatforms issue warnings, delete prohibited listings, and restrict accounts that repeatedly violate rules

Source: The Oshi Lab’s summary of Mercari and McDonald’s announcements

Cross-Industry Companies Engage Fans Through Physical Store Experiences

Sumadori x Omotesando — Addressing Gen Z’s “Hesitation Around Alcohol” at an Experiential Store

From May 13 to May 31, Sumadori—a company backed by Asahi Breweries that promotes “smart drinking” (mindful, inclusive drinking culture)—held an experiential event titled the “Time Travel Exhibition” at its “SUMADORI Meets” space in Omotesando, Tokyo. The event was planned by seminar students from Atomi University. Designed to help both drinkers and non-drinkers discover their own comfortable way of enjoying beverages, the exhibition offered an interactive journey through the history of alcohol. Nationwide brand awareness for Sumadori has reached roughly 50%, climbing to 60% among people in their 20s and 30s. The company opened “SUMADORI Meets” this past April as a dedicated hub to shift from the awareness phase to practical adoption (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Hosting a student-planned experiential event inside the company’s own permanent venue is a distinctive touch. Because Sumadori’s recognition has already reached about 50% nationwide and 60% among 20- and 30-somethings, the company is shifting the center of gravity of its investment from expanding awareness to encouraging hands-on practice. This case demonstrates that once brand awareness reaches a sufficient threshold, providing a physical place where people can actually experience the concept becomes the logical next move.

Suntory Kuro Oolong Tea x Shibuya — A Three-Day Pop-Up Aburasoba Shop with Unlimited Topping Button Presses

Suntory Beverage & Food announced plans to open a pop-up shop called “Meal-Ticket Musou Aburasoba Kuro Oolong Tei” at Shibuya Sakura Stage for three days only, from May 29 to May 31. The shop was planned as a brand experience store for “Suntory Kuro Oolong Tea OTPP,” a government-certified Food for Specified Health Uses (FOSHU). The noodle dish was supervised by “Chukasoba Takano,” a popular restaurant in Yokohama known for its long lines. Inside the pop-up, Suntory planned to install a meal-ticket vending machine where customers would have 30 seconds of “unlimited button pressing” to select from all 24 available toppings—yielding more than 2.5 million possible combinations. The menu was announced at a flat 2,500 yen (tax included), targeting consumers in their 20s and 30s (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Suntory translated the functional attribute of a certified health beverage into playful, approachable elements: aburasoba (soupless ramen) supervised by a famous destination shop and an “unlimited button-pressing” game mechanic. Charging a flat 2,500 yen keeps customers focused purely on the fun of choosing toppings rather than worrying about the bill. Narrowing the run to just three days in Shibuya can be read as a deliberate play to generate buzz and urgency.

Hotel Mikazuki x Oshicoco — Treating Your Favorite Plushie as “One of the Hotel Guests”

Hotel Mikazuki, a resort hotel in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, teamed up with oshikatsu-specialized research firm Oshicoco to announce an accommodation package called the “Nui-Gurui Hocance” (Plushie-Obsessed Hotel Staycation). The concept is billed as “starting from 1 person, 1 room, and 1 plushie.” By adding 2,750 yen (tax included) to a standard accommodation plan, guests receive perks announced to include a personalized welcome card for their oshi plushie, plushie costume rentals, access to three dedicated nui-dori (plushie photography) photo spots inside the hotel, and an oshi-color cocktail (PR TIMES (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: All three of these companies have adopted designs that go beyond one-off product sales to “communicate values through a lived experience.” Sumadori builds in the option of not drinking; Suntory incorporates participatory showmanship through unlimited button mashing; and Hotel Mikazuki embeds the perspective of treating a fan’s plushie as an actual guest right into the stay. Across industries, we are seeing the spread of a mindset that prioritizes creating a compelling reason to visit a space before trying to sell a product to fans.

Railway, Automotive, and Beverage Makers Expand Their Fan Touchpoints

Keio Corporation x AZKi — Drawing Fans Along the Rail Line with One-Day Passes and a Custom Train

Keio Corporation announced that it would run a collaborative campaign with hololive talent AZKi from May 22 to June 7. The railway operator stated that it would install life-sized character standees at four stations—including Shinjuku Station—allowing fans to participate in a digital stamp rally via QR codes (2D barcodes). It also announced the sale of a collaborative one-day rail pass priced at 1,500 yen (tax included), along with the operation of one train set on the Inokashira Line sporting a limited-edition collaborative headmark badge, plus a pop-up shop at Shibuya Station (Inside (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Keio Corporation is rolling out multiple touchpoints at once: station standees, a digital stamp rally, a limited one-day pass, a custom-headmark train, and a pop-up shop. For a railway company, the true role of a character collaboration lies less in the direct sale of merchandise and more in motivating fans to travel along its rail lines. Combining multiple touchpoints within a single campaign offers a great blueprint for carefully designing a fan journey that guides physical movement.

Suzuki x Street Fighter 6 — Backing Esports as an Annual Partner

Suzuki announced that it will sponsor “CAPCOM CUP 13,” the official tournament for Capcom’s hit fighting game Street Fighter 6, as a top partner. In the previous fiscal year, Suzuki built a full-scale custom motorcycle inspired by the character “Juri,” which more than 10,000 fans reportedly experienced in person. For the current fiscal year, the automaker has expanded the scope of its sponsorship to serve as an annual partner across four major tournaments (Response.jp (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: After generating a track record of over 10,000 fan interactions through last year’s real-life custom motorcycle collaboration, Suzuki is now widening its sponsorship footprint to four major tournaments this year. We can see a measured, step-by-step approach here: rather than ending with a single one-off tie-up, the company gauged fan response first and then scaled up its investment—all while keeping its core product, motorcycles, front and center.

ZONe ENERGY x Uma Musume — A Returning Golden Week Collaboration Tradition

Starting May 2, ZONe progressively rolled out a collaboration between its “ZONe ENERGY” energy drink brand and Uma Musume Pretty Derby. Timed to match the franchise’s “GOLD WEEK” campaign, the company announced that on May 26 it would release “ZONe ENERGY TOUGHNESS GOLD,” featuring a revival of the drink formula from its 2022 collaboration can alongside brand-new packaging artwork. It also announced a point-collection campaign where buyers can enter to win collaborative merchandise (Inside (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Keio Corporation and Suzuki are using rail lines and motorcycles to create touchpoints with people who might not ordinarily buy character goods. ZONe, by contrast, is aiming to turn a recurring tie-up that has run since 2022 into an established seasonal staple. Cultivating new audiences and maintaining continuity with existing fans are both indispensable for expanding fan-business touchpoints. This also shows that simply pairing characters with a company’s flagship everyday product can function effectively as an entry point.

Hard Numbers on In-Game Ad Impact and the Spread of Brick-and-Mortar Collaborations

Hakuhodo DY Holdings and ARROVA released the results of a survey examining advertising inside games and metaverse spaces (in-game advertising). The survey covered 2,860 consumers aged 15 to 49 nationwide across Japan. Within social VR environments, “advertisements displayed on spatial walls, billboards, and buildings” recorded a purchase-intent arousal score of 11.3%—roughly 1.7 times higher than the 6.8% recorded for conventional digital “in-app banner ads.” Meanwhile, the percentage of respondents reporting discomfort toward ads was 11.3% for in-game wall and billboard ads in smartphone games and 10.0% in social VR. Both figures were significantly lower than the discomfort rate for pop-up ads that appear while launching an app (19.4%) (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: Spatial advertisements inside social VR generated roughly 1.7 times the purchase-intent score of conventional in-app banner ads while provoking less user discomfort than pop-up ads. Because the study quantifies both positive impact and user annoyance in hard numbers, it gives marketers practical data for making ad-spend decisions. Companies weighing investments in metaverse or in-game advertising can use these figures as a concrete benchmark against existing digital ad formats.

YuYu Hakusho x Bull Pulu — A Bubble Tea Collaboration Across 31 Stores Nationwide

A collaboration between the classic anime YuYu Hakusho and bubble tea chain “Bull Pulu” was announced to run from May 21 to June 7 across 31 stores nationwide. The tie-up was announced to feature merchandise using newly drawn illustrations of Yusuke Urameshi, Kazuma Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei, alongside character-inspired drink and food menu items. The collaborative merchandise will also be sold through an online shop (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: By rolling out the collaboration across 31 physical stores simultaneously while also selling the merchandise online, this campaign widens purchasing access so that neither fans who can visit a store nor those who live too far away are left out. In multi-store collaborations, offering physical store experiences and online merchandise sales as a combined package is a reliable way to prevent lost sales opportunities.

From May 14 to June 7, “Minori Cafe Fukuoka PARCO” inside the Fukuoka PARCO department store served a special “Subjugation Fair” (Tobatsu Fair) menu from “Chiikawa Restaurant.” The lineup was a Fukuoka-exclusive version crafted with local Kyushu and Okinawa ingredients, including Hakata Amaou strawberries from Fukuoka Prefecture, kabosu citrus from Oita Prefecture, and mangoes from Okinawa Prefecture. A companion merchandise shop opened alongside the cafe, and advance reservations were required for the first four days when heavy crowds were expected (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

The Oshi Lab Note: The Hakuhodo DY survey demonstrated with data that spatial ads can spark purchase intent in a way that doesn’t feel intrusive or pushy. Meanwhile, the YuYu Hakusho and Chiikawa tie-ups calibrate the scale and local character of their collaborations through a 31-store national footprint and regional ingredients, respectively. Although virtual advertising and brick-and-mortar cafe collaborations may look like separate topics on the surface, both are connected by the exact same underlying question: how to design a compelling “reason to be in that specific place.”

Editorial Takeaways for the Week

This was a week in which multiple companies simultaneously concluded that buying or partnering for existing strengths is faster than building IP capabilities from scratch in-house.

The three moves by GENDA, Daiko, and Akatsuki all use capital investment or M&A to bring IP development, PR, and rights-structuring expertise into their organizations in one fell swoop. At the same time, Cover’s earnings report drew a sharp contrast between businesses that are growing and those that did not pan out. While merchandising continues to thrive, the company booked exit costs from the metaverse space as extraordinary losses. This reminds us that fan business is not about blindly pouring money into every new channel; having the resolve to wind down areas early once you judge they won’t grow is just as vital.

Finally, the anti-scalping push by Mercari and McDonald’s combines listing restrictions on secondary platforms with purchase limits imposed by the primary seller. Alongside our guides on Design Principles for Oshikatsu Marketing and How to Create a Collaboration Cafe, use this week’s developments to re-examine whether your company’s own IP strategy currently centers on “building,” “buying,” or “partnering.”

Weekly Oshikatsu News brings you a curated weekly roundup of the latest developments at the intersection of oshikatsu and business. You can browse past issues in our Oshikatsu x News category.