Toho & Good Smile Announce Joint Venture; Jujutsu Kaisen Tops TikTok Trends (Dec 12, 2025)

Here is our roundup of the week’s standout news in corporate oshikatsu (fan support activities) marketing and fan business from December 5 to December 11, 2025.

This Week’s Highlights

This was a week in which IP-holding companies joined forces with one another.

On December 9, Toho announced the establishment of “To-Smile,” a joint venture with Good Smile Company. Good Smile Company is a firm that handles everything from the manufacturing to the sales of figures and toys on an integrated basis. The ownership ratio is 60% for Toho and 40% for Good Smile Company, with capital and capital reserves totaling 500 million yen. ANYCOLOR also announced its second-quarter financial results for the fiscal year ending April 2026. Revenue reached 10.558 billion yen (up 6.6% year-on-year), and the company revised its dividend forecast upward from 70 yen to 75 yen per share.

Numbers were moving on social media as well. On December 5, TikTok selected the anime Jujutsu Kaisen for the Grand Prize at the “TikTok Trend Awards 2025.” Videos using related hashtags exceeded a cumulative 1.6 million posts, and total views reached more than 6.7 billion. Meanwhile, COVER announced that it will hold a hololive pop-up shop at First Avenue Tokyo Station starting January 9, 2026.

500M yen

Capital and reserves for Toho and Good Smile Company's joint venture To-Smile

10.558B yen

ANYCOLOR Q2 revenue for the fiscal year ending April 2026 (+6.6% YoY)

1.6M+

Cumulative TikTok videos posted with Jujutsu Kaisen hashtags

6.7B+

Combined total views for Jujutsu Kaisen hashtags in Japanese and English

Source: The Oshi Lab's summary of the article

Toho and Nijisanji Turned IP Business Track Records into Hard Numbers

Toho × Good Smile Company — Strengthening IP and Anime Business with Joint Venture “To-Smile”

On December 9, Toho announced that it would establish a joint venture with Good Smile Company named “To-Smile, Inc.” effective December 15. With an ownership split of 60% for Toho and 40% for Good Smile Company, the venture has 500 million yen in capital and reserves (including 250 million yen in capital reserves). Hidehiko Hotta, Head of the Godzilla Department and Head of the Rights Business Department in the IP & Anime Division of Toho’s Entertainment Unit, was announced as the future President and Representative Director. The two companies will combine Toho’s IP production capabilities and theatrical distribution network with Good Smile Company’s manufacturing expertise and global sales network. Their stated policy was to roll out original toys, figures, and merchandise for TOHO animation titles, Godzilla, and other properties to the global market, centered on North America and Asia (ORICON NEWS (in Japanese)).

In its “Medium-Term Management Plan 2028” released in April of this year, Toho had positioned its IP and anime-related business as an independent segment.

Lab Note: Toho has elevated its relationship with an existing partner, Good Smile Company, into a new capital-backed company. Going beyond one-off licensing agreements to establish fixed equity stakes is a weighty decision. When an IP-holding company targets overseas markets, partnering with a player strong in manufacturing and logistics allows it to move faster than trying to build and hold those functions in-house.

ANYCOLOR — Upward Revision to Nijisanji’s Full-Year Earnings Forecast and Dividend

ANYCOLOR announced its second-quarter financial results for the fiscal year ending April 2026. Revenue stood at 10.558 billion yen (up 6.6% year-on-year), with operating profit of 4.069 billion yen and quarterly net income of 2.838 billion yen. Based on its performance through the second quarter, the company raised its full-year revenue and operating profit forecasts. It also revised its dividend forecast upward from 70 yen to 75 yen per share (an interim dividend of 35 yen and a year-end dividend of 40 yen). The primary driver behind the upward revision is growth in its commerce and events business. The 5th-anniversary project for the “Nijisanji Official Store” and online streaming tickets for the “Nijisanji WORLD TOUR 2025” performed strongly. The release of a trading card game jointly planned with Takara Tomy is also slated for early 2027. In addition, the first permanent store, “Nijisanji Nui Store” (specializing in plushies), opened on the 6th floor of Yokohama Vivre (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: What caught our attention was that the upward revision was underpinned by the steady accumulation of existing merchandise sales and live event tickets. Simply re-releasing content that fans already know—such as a 5th-anniversary project and a world tour—drove the numbers upward. In the fan business, this case demonstrates that periodically mining past assets tends to translate more directly into revenue than constantly adding brand-new initiatives.

VTuber Companies Announced Initiatives to Meet Fans in City Hubs and Towers

hololive — An 11-Talent Pop-Up at First Avenue Tokyo Station

COVER announced that it will hold a pop-up shop for its VTuber group “hololive production.” The event will run from January 9 to January 22, 2026, at the “Ichiban Plaza” space inside First Avenue Tokyo Station. Eleven participating talents were lined up from hololive Generation 0, hololive Indonesia 1st Generation, and hololive English “-Myth-”: Tokino Sora, Robocosan, AZKi, Sakura Miko, Hoshimachi Suisei, Ayunda Risu, Moona Hoshinova, Airani Iofifteen, Mori Calliope, Takanashi Kiara, and Ninomae Ina’nis. A wide range of merchandise was prepared, including T-shirts priced at 4,400 yen each (tax included) and rubber mats at 3,850 yen (tax included). An interactive display was also announced where visitors would be able to write messages to the talents on the spot and post them up (eeo (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Bringing together 11 participating talents is what makes opening a shop in a high-foot-traffic location like Tokyo Station viable. The idea is to make up for the drawing power that a single talent might lack by leveraging the combined headcount of affiliated talents. Because permanent retail stores for VTuber agencies are still rare, deploying multiple talents simultaneously serves as the most effective pitch to commercial facility operators.

Shigure Ui × Tokyo Tower — A Collaborative Event Touring 5 Cities

A collaboration between illustrator and VTuber Shigure Ui and Tokyo Tower, titled “Shigure Ui in Tokyo Tower,” was announced for “Co・Lab-TOKYO-” on the 2nd floor of Tokyo Tower’s FootTown from December 17, 2025, to January 14, 2026. Alongside a “mystery-solving rally” where visitors would search for character panels inside the tower, the event was set to offer newly illustrated merchandise and a collaborative food and drink menu. Following the Tokyo run, it was announced that the collaboration will travel sequentially to Sapporo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka. It was also announced that regional location-exclusive acrylic keychains will be released for each host city (Inside (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: The key point here is that the event does not end in Tokyo; it tours five additional cities and prepares local specialty merchandise for each stop. Even within the same collaboration, creating items that can only be purchased by visiting a regional venue generates travel demand among fans. Designing a single project so that it doesn’t end after one run, but instead builds fresh excitement in each city, leads to sustained visitor traffic for sightseeing facilities as well.

The Volume of Fan-Posted Videos Became the Numbers Behind Award Races

TikTok Trend Awards 2025: Jujutsu Kaisen — 1.6 Million Tagged Videos and 6.7 Billion Views

On December 5, TikTok held the ceremony for the “TikTok Trend Awards 2025” and selected the anime Jujutsu Kaisen for the Grand Prize. As of November 2025, the cumulative number of videos posted with the hashtags “#呪術廻戦” and “#jujutsukaisen” had surpassed 1.6 million. Combined total views across the Japanese and English hashtags reached more than 6.7 billion. A theatrical film for the franchise was released in cinemas, and the broadcast of the third season of the TV anime is also scheduled to begin on January 8, 2026 (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: The figures of 1.6 million videos and 6.7 billion views cover posts using the two hashtags, including fan creations. The franchise itself also ran collaborations and posting campaigns with TikTok, so official hooks and fan posts overlapped to fuel the spread. This case shows that leaving room for fans to post their own content can ultimately become the biggest promotion of all.

USEN MUSIC AWARD 2025 — Mrs. GREEN APPLE Wins an Unprecedented 4 Crowns

On December 11, USEN announced the “USEN MUSIC AWARD 2025,” compiled from in-store background music airplay records and listener requests. Mrs. GREEN APPLE won first place across four categories—“J-POP,” “SNS,” “Anime,” and “J-POP / Western Music”—achieving the first four-crown sweep in USEN history. In the Anime category, Mrs. GREEN APPLE monopolized the top two spots, with first place going to “Lilac,” the opening theme for Oblivion Battery (Boukyaku Battery), and second place going to “Kusushiki,” the opening theme for The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto). Third place went to Aimer’s “Taiyou ga Noboranai Sekai” (“A World Where the Sun Never Rises”), a theme song for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Taking first place on an indicator completely separate from social media—in-store BGM airplay performance—is telling. Songs that generate buzz on social media and songs that keep playing inside brick-and-mortar stores do not necessarily match. The fact that Mrs. GREEN APPLE delivered results in both arenas backs up their staying power as anime theme song artists. When measuring the results of a media tie-up, tracking actual playback performance in physical stores alongside social media reactions offers a helpful perspective.

How Talents Use Products in Everyday Life Became the Deciding Factor in Casting

Oisix × Shori Sato — An Ambassador Appointment Built Around “I Was Already Using It”

On December 4, Oisix ra daichi released a commercial featuring Shori Sato (of the group timelesz) as the brand ambassador for its food delivery service “Oisix.” Oisix had 360,000 subscribers (as of the end of September 2025), and cumulative shipments for its “Kit Oisix” meal kit series had surpassed 200 million meals (as of August 2024). Sato was already known among fans as a cooking enthusiast, and the fact that he had been using Oisix privately beforehand served as the catalyst for his appointment. The three-part commercial series began streaming on the web and social media on December 4, and aired as a TV commercial in the Hiroshima region starting December 6. From December 4 to March 5, 2026, the company also announced a campaign offering a trial set (TV Guide Web (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: The simple phrase “Actually, I was already using it before” sets this apart from commercials that merely put a product into a celebrity’s hands. It is precisely because Oisix has an established track record of 360,000 subscribers and 200 million cumulative Kit Oisix meals that this line carries persuasive weight. This example illustrates how more companies are basing their ambassador selection criteria not just on name recognition, but on a history of genuine product use.

FamilyMart × BE:FIRST — Christmas Commercial Sparks Strong Social Media Response

On December 9, FamilyMart began airing a new commercial, “Famima × BE:FIRST Christmas Chicken,” starring the group BE:FIRST, whom the chain appointed as its Christmas ambassadors. The commercial depicted the members enjoying a Christmas party with FamilyMart chicken, and featured their new song “Gaitou” (“Streetlight”), released digitally on December 8, as the tie-up track. Posts from the official account drew comments such as “This makes me so happy!” and surpassed 1.1 million impressions as of December 8. FamilyMart had appointed BE:FIRST as ambassadors back in September, and had also released collaborative items such as socks and handkerchiefs under its “Convenience Wear” line starting September 29 (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: The crucial point here is that everything from the September ambassador appointment to the apparel release and the commercial launch was designed as a continuous sequence. Because the brand spent several months building up touchpoints, the official post was able to top 1.1 million impressions as of December 8. When casting talent, companies need the mindset to structure the partnership as an ongoing series of touchpoints rather than ending it after a single commercial.

Characters Lined Retail Shelves as Everyday Household Goods

Uniqlo × Tamagotchi, Shimamura × Dragon Quest — Translating Classic Characters into Daily Necessities

Uniqlo announced that it would release its “Tamagotchi” UT collection on December 19. Inspired by the pixel art of the original first-generation Tamagotchi, the shirts featured designs of characters such as Mametchi and Kuchipatchi. Prices were set at 1,990 yen each (tax included) for the shirts, while the original Tamagotchi device was priced at 2,990 yen (tax included) (Inside (in Japanese)). Meanwhile, Shimamura announced that it would release Dragon Quest hair accessories at stores nationwide and on its online store on December 13. Alongside headbands modeled after Slime, Liquid Metal Slime (Hagure Metal), and Erdrick’s Helmet (Roto no Kabuto), the announced lineup extended broadly into everyday sundries such as hand mirrors and hairbrushes (Inside (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: T-shirts at 1,990 yen each, alongside everyday accessories like headbands and hand mirrors—both fall squarely within the price range of regular clothing and household goods aisles rather than a dedicated “character merchandise corner.” Because they look like ordinary products to shoppers who aren’t already fans, even people unfamiliar with the characters can pick them up easily. If the goal is expanding awareness, placing items on shelves along everyday shopping routes generates far more impressions than confining them to specialty shops.

Sanrio × Casio, Sanrio × Doutor — Turning Stationery and Coffee Shops into Oshikatsu Gateways

On December 4, Casio Computer released the “KL-SP10-SA2,” a Sanrio collaborative model of its “NAME LAND i-ma” smartphone-connected label printer, along with six types of dedicated tape. Built around a “balletcore” concept, the designs depicted Hello Kitty and My Melody in tutu-inspired outfits, while Cinnamoroll and Pompompurin wore jacket outfits. The dedicated smartphone app came equipped with 94 emojis and 36 decorative frames (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)). Meanwhile, Doutor Coffee announced that it would run a Christmas promotion featuring Sanrio’s Pochacco from December 20 to December 25. Customers who purchased a slice of cake in-store would receive an original cake pick, while those who purchased three or more slices for takeout would receive a coaster. Scanning the 2D barcode on the front of the coaster would also unlock an AR photo frame (Cho! Animedia (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: Both the label printer and the cake purchase bonuses simply add an oshikatsu layer onto existing products and services. Casio attaches characters to stationery, and Doutor attaches them to food and beverage, without either company altering its core business. Because there is no need to modify their flagship products, the barrier to entry is low, making this a blueprint that other industries can easily emulate.

Hello Kitty × Cath Kidston — A British Brand Focuses on the “Red” of Her Ribbon

A collaboration between Sanrio’s Hello Kitty and the British lifestyle brand Cath Kidston launched on December 12. Cath Kidston’s creative team focused specifically on the shade of “red” used in Hello Kitty’s ribbon when she debuted in 1974. Centering on the red that has also served as Cath Kidston’s own brand symbol for more than 30 years since its founding, the team created three art designs: “Scene,” “Provence,” and “Patchwork.” The collection rolled out across a wide array of items, including pajamas, tote bags, and towel handkerchiefs (Anime! Anime! (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: What Cath Kidston focused on was not Hello Kitty as a whole, but a single specific element: the red of her ribbon. The brand used the shared red as one point of connection, alongside motifs from Cath Kidston’s archives and elements of Hello Kitty’s world. When an overseas brand teams up with a Japanese IP, narrowing the focus to a single point that overlaps with its own brand heritage results in a much more natural collaboration than simply slapping the character onto products as-is.

In-Game Experiences Connected to Real-World Store Touchpoints

Don Quijote × Yakult — A Collaboration in Fortnite Leads to In-Store Coupons

On December 9, Pan Pacific International Holdings (which operates the Don Quijote discount store chain) and Yakult Honsha announced a limited-time collaboration. The tie-up takes place inside Don Quijote Hide and Seek (Don Quijote Kakurenbo), Don Quijote’s official game within the online game Fortnite. Fortnite had been played by more than 500 million people worldwide, and Don Quijote Hide and Seek had recorded approximately 400,000 cumulative plays since its launch in March 2025. It was announced that Yakult-themed items would appear inside the game, and that a campaign linked with Don Quijote’s official “majica” app would allow players to earn coupons for use at physical stores (AdverTimes. (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: It was precisely because Don Quijote’s in-house game already had a track record of 400,000 cumulative plays that this collaboration with Yakult came together. The essential point is that the initiative did not stop at in-game promotion, but drew a direct line to in-store purchases through app-linked coupons. Designing a pathway that ties in-game contact directly to brick-and-mortar retail sales is the core of this initiative.

Virtual Sanrio Puroland — A VRChat Theme Park Becomes Permanent

On December 11, Sanrio opened “Virtual Sanrio Puroland,” its theme park on VRChat, as a permanent installation. A space that visitors could previously access only during the limited run of the “Sanrio Virtual Festival” event became accessible 24 hours a day, at any time. Visitors could enjoy multiple attractions and virtual parades every day. To coincide with the grand opening, four new worlds—including “KizunaAI Dream Garden,” a collaborative world with virtual artist KizunaAI—were also added (Mogura VR (in Japanese)).

Lab Note: This is a decision to turn a venue that could previously be visited only during limited-time events into a permanent sightseeing destination. A one-off experience can generate temporary buzz, but it cannot create a reason to return next time. By making it a place accessible 24 hours a day, it transforms into a “place to bring friends” that fans can visit again and again. For companies building XR facilities, making a space permanent offers a viable option to prevent event fatigue.

Corporate Structure & Financial Metrics

• Toho and Good Smile Company announced plans to formalize their partnership into the joint venture To-Smile with a 60/40 equity split
• ANYCOLOR grew Q2 revenue and raised full-year guidance by mining existing 5th-anniversary and world tour assets

Multi-Talent, Multi-City & Everyday Retail

• hololive combined 11 talents for Tokyo Station, while Shigure Ui paired a 5-city tour with local exclusive goods
• Uniqlo, Shimamura, Casio, Doutor, and Cath Kidston integrated characters into everyday retail shelves and core products

Digital Spaces as Ongoing Touchpoints

• Jujutsu Kaisen and Mrs. GREEN APPLE turned fan video volume and in-store BGM airplay into award-winning metrics
• Don Quijote linked Fortnite gameplay to majica store coupons, and Sanrio made Virtual Sanrio Puroland open 24 hours

Source: The Oshi Lab's summary of the article

This Week’s Takeaways

This was a week in which companies turned their relationships with fans into permanent systems.

Toho and Good Smile Company announced the establishment of a joint venture that deepens their existing collaborative relationship, while ANYCOLOR made its existing fan relationships visible through the hard numbers of an earnings report. The pop-up initiatives for hololive and Shigure Ui were likewise accompanied by a deliberate “design of numbers”—combining multiple talents or touring multiple cities. Meanwhile, the figures behind the TikTok and USEN awards emerged from the steady accumulation of fan actions.

Collaborative products from Uniqlo, Shimamura, and Sanrio line everyday retail shelves rather than special-occasion character merchandise corners. Similarly, the Don Quijote × Yakult Fortnite campaign and Sanrio’s move to make its VRChat park permanent are attempts to turn temporary experiences into ongoing touchpoints. How can companies keep fan initiatives from ending as one-off campaigns, and instead embed them into corporate structures, measurable metrics, and everyday consumer pathways? Take a look at this week’s developments alongside our guides to Design Principles of Oshikatsu Marketing and Practical Cases in Fan Marketing.

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Weekly Oshikatsu News brings you a weekly roundup of the intersection between oshikatsu and business. You can browse past issues in the Oshikatsu × News category.