Tokyo — Sanrio Ends Tie-Up With Spy Drama After China Backlash

Sanrio, the Japanese company that owns Hello Kitty, said it has ended its commercial association with the TV drama Vivant after Chinese state media and social media users accused the show of a "deliberate smear" against China, according to a statement the company posted on the Weibo social media platform and reported by the Guardian.

What is Vivant and who makes it?

Vivant is a spy thriller produced by the Japanese broadcaster TBS. Its second season follows a salaryman played by Masato Sakai who is drawn into a web of international crime and espionage. The series had carried a commercial tie-up with Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty and other licensed characters sold worldwide.

What happened in the disputed episode?

The backlash traces to the October 4 episode, in which a Chinese agent is shown cutting off the fingers of a Japanese intelligence officer and stabbing him in the abdomen. The scene depicts members of a secret unit of Japan's self-defence forces being subjected to what Chinese state media described as "ruthless violence" at the hands of Chinese agents.

What did Chinese state media say about the scene?

The state-run tabloid Global Times said the acts shown in the episode "bear striking similarities to the torture inflicted on Chinese nationals by invading Japanese troops" during the second world war, and argued the drama "distorts the truth by attributing these atrocities to modern Chinese characters," according to the Guardian's account of the outlet's coverage.

What did Sanrio say when it cut ties?

Sanrio said it concluded the drama "contained elements inconsistent with Sanrio's core values" and decided to end its association with the production. In a fuller statement posted on Weibo, the company said: "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 har[mony]" — the company's statement, as quoted in the Guardian report, frames the move as a return to its stated corporate philosophy rather than a comment on the merits of the dispute between Tokyo and Beijing over the scene's historical framing.

Why does the dispute matter beyond the show itself?

The episode's cancellation underscores how entertainment content tied to the second world war remains a flashpoint between Japan and China, particularly when a Japanese production depicts Chinese characters inflicting violence that critics say echoes accounts of Imperial Japanese Army conduct during the war. Sanrio's decision to apologize and withdraw its branding shows how a licensing partner — rather than the broadcaster TBS itself — absorbed the commercial consequence of the controversy, a pattern consumer-facing companies with character licenses or storefronts in the Chinese market have followed in past disputes over on-screen content. Neither TBS nor Chinese government authorities issued statements quoted in the Guardian's report addressing whether the episode itself would be altered or pulled from distribution.

The Guardian's original report, including the full text of Sanrio's Weibo statement and Global Times' characterization of the episode, is available here.