BODY: For fans of Nana and Paradise Kiss, any new illustration from reclusive manga artist Ai Yazawa is an event. Pair her work with Japan's most aspirational beer brand, and you have a collector's item that will vanish from convenience store shelves before the ice melts.
Sapporo Breweries has announced the second installment of its "Yebisu Beer Ai Yazawa Original Design Can" series, set for a limited release on July 7—Tanabata, Japan's star festival. The first can, released earlier this collaboration cycle, was met with immediate sell-outs and a flurry of resale activity on Mercari and Yahoo Auctions.
This time, Yazawa leans into the seasonal mood. The new design features a stylish figure in a yukata, the lightweight summer kimono traditionally worn to fireworks displays and festivals. The composition channels the cool, slightly melancholic elegance that defines Yazawa's signature look—long limbs, sharp eyes, an air of effortless cool that built her reputation across two decades of shoujo and josei manga.
Quantities will be limited, and Sapporo has not disclosed specific allocation numbers. Based on the first release, expect online retailers to crash and physical stock to disappear within hours of the morning shelf-stocking.
The insider take
Tanabata is a shrewd launch date—it's the one summer holiday in Japan with explicit romantic mythology (the cowherd and weaver star meeting once a year across the Milky Way), and Yazawa's entire oeuvre traffics in bittersweet love stories. Yebisu, owned by Sapporo, has long positioned itself as the premium domestic option, and these Yazawa cans are a clear play for the 30s-and-40s demographic who grew up on Nana and now have the disposable income for ¥300 beer. Don't expect to find these in the wild after July 8—konbini regulars in Shibuya and Shimokitazawa will clear them out by lunchtime.
Originally reported by コミックナタリー - 最新ニュース (Japanese).