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The story
Sanrio’s earnings presentation materials revealed that domestic sales of “Pompompurin” nearly doubled year-over-year, while in China, “My Melody” sales jumped 65%. It’s a sign that the character business, once dominated almost entirely by Hello Kitty, is diversifying. On 5ch, reactions came from many angles — people asking why Pompompurin suddenly got popular, “China risk” arguments about over-reliance on the Chinese market, and predictions of competition from rising characters like Chiikawa.
From Sanrio’s earnings presentation materials: Domestic “Pompompurin” sales roughly double, “My Melody” up 65% in China — character lineup diversification advances
Masayuki Shibata, Editorial Staff
2026.11.06 17:26
Source: gamebiz.jp / Original article here
What people said
It can dominate across Asia
Chiikawa's the one that's just having a moment.
Sanrio characters have been cycling through booms since I was a little kid, and I'm an old man now.
Sanrio's been popular in China for years now.
Whenever a limited item drops, scalpers swarm in — and that's because they want to flip it to China too.
The anime was fun though.
I saw a Chinese nationalist woman destroying her merch, declaring she wouldn't buy anything if there's a VIVANT collab.
Haha, "China risk" lol
When exactly are they actually going to avoid that risk, lol
So they cancelled the VIVANT collab because they were worried about the Chinese market.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Cinnamoroll is full of kindness and friendship.
You don't get it.
Sounds like someone brainwashed into waiting for a story to be handed to them by somebody else.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Over the past several years, Sanrio has shifted its strategy away from near-total reliance on Hello Kitty toward diversifying its character lineup, and this earnings report can be seen as numerical proof that the strategy is paying off. China, where scalping of limited-edition goods is also a factor, has become a major growth market for Japanese character merchandise — though there have also been cases where companies reportedly held back on announcing collaborations due to political tensions, and the “China risk” argument in the thread is an extension of that same topic. It’s worth noting that the specific reason behind Pompompurin’s resurgence is not explained in the earnings materials, and no definitive answer emerged in the thread either.
*This article is compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “From Sanrio’s earnings presentation materials: Domestic “Pompompurin” sales roughly double, “My Melody” up 65% in China.”
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