TakaraTomy Arts Pushes Gacha Machines Into North America
TakaraTomy Arts is betting that anime character merchandise demand in the U.S. is narrow but deep, and it is building retail and machine placement around established Japanese IP rather than a broad product mix.
Reporting from 1 source: Animenomics.
TakaraTomy Arts is expanding its Gacha capsule toy vending machines across North America through partnerships with amusement operator Genda and with Mitsubishi and Sega Fave. The company is piloting a capsule toy specialty store in Santa Monica, California, and running a separate placement deal with Genda's crane game operation. CEO Toshihisa Kondo says U.S. buyers already follow Japanese IP, unlike Japan's wider, character-agnostic market.
TakaraTomy Arts is placing Gacha machines through Genda's crane game operation across North America while running a capsule toy specialty store in Santa Monica with Mitsubishi and Sega Fave. Managing director Toshio Hasegawa described the store's aim as an authentically Japanese multi-brand retail experience drawing on products from all three partners.
CEO Toshihisa Kondo drew the contrast with Japan: U.S. buyers tend to want Japanese IP products, while Japanese consumers treat characters as optional. In Japan, capsule toys marked 60 years on the market last year, and demand has risen since the COVID-19 pandemic among locals and tourists.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.