Sanrio Ends Vivant Tie-Up After Outcry in China
Sanrio, the Japanese company that makes and owns Hello Kitty, has apologised and ended its commercial tie-up with Vivant, a Japanese television drama, after criticism in China.
The company announced its decision in a post on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform. Sanrio said it had concluded that the drama contained elements inconsistent with its core values. It also said it will strengthen its review processes for all future collaborative projects.
Vivant's second season is a spy thriller produced by Japan's TBS network. It stars Masato Sakai as a salaryman drawn into international crime and espionage. Sanrio characters My Melody and Cinnamoroll had featured in merchandise themed on the show.
The objections centre on how the drama portrays Chinese characters. In the 4 October episode, a Chinese agent is shown cutting off the fingers of a Japanese intelligence officer and stabbing him in the abdomen, according to The Guardian. Chinese state media condemned the series' depiction of Chinese agents using ruthless violence to torture members of a secret unit of Japan's Self-Defence Forces, which is Japan's military. It described the portrayal as a deliberate smear against China.
China's Global Times newspaper went further in its comparison. It said the acts shown in the drama bear striking similarities to torture inflicted on Chinese nationals by invading Japanese troops during the Second World War.
Sanrio is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker 8136.T. The company describes its business as character licensing, the planning and sale of gift products, and theme park operations. Its decision to end the association has been reported by Reuters, which described the move on 29 October 2026.
