Sanrio has ended its commercial tie-up with the Japanese TV drama Vivant after Chinese state media and netizens condemned the show’s portrayal of Chinese agents as “deliberate smears.”
The company announced the decision in a statement posted to Weibo on October 28, concluding that the collaboration “contained elements inconsistent with Sanrio’s core values”. The company also apologized for the concerns the collaboration caused and pledged to strengthen its review processes for future projects.
The backlash centered on the second season of the TBS spy thriller, which stars Masato Sakai as a salaryman drawn into international espionage. In an October 4 episode, a Chinese agent is depicted cutting off the fingers of a Japanese intelligence officer and stabbing him in the abdomen.
Chinese state media outlet CCTV criticized the scenes as bearing “striking similarities to the torture inflicted on Chinese nationals by invading Japanese troops” during World War II, accusing the drama of “distorting the truth by attributing these atrocities to modern Chinese characters”. The Global Times, affiliated with the ruling Communist Party, echoed the criticism and noted that the drama “glorifies SDF intelligence personnel”.
The controversy erupted at a time of increasingly fractious relations between Beijing and Tokyo, following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about a potential Taiwan contingency.
China is a crucial market for Sanrio. The company reported 781 million yuan (approximately $117 million) in revenue from the Chinese market in the first half of 2026, up more than 40% year-over-year . With that kind of stake, the backlash—which trended on Weibo and drew direct criticism from state media—left little room for the company to maintain the partnership.
Sanrio said in its statement: “Since its inception, Sanrio has consistently used its characters to convey values such as care and connection, and remains committed to its corporate philosophy of fostering harmony among all people. We take the feedback we have received regarding this incident very seriously”.
The episode underscores the growing pressure brands face when commercial partnerships intersect with geopolitical tensions. For Sanrio, the calculation was clear: protect a rapidly growing market by severing ties with a drama that crossed a line Beijing deemed unacceptable. The company’s characters have long been associated with warmth and innocence—and Sanrio has now made clear it intends to keep them far from anything resembling a wartime torture scene.
Source: The Guardian
Discover more from Redbeanime
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
