BODY: If you've ever wanted to eat affordable sushi while a tiny Bangboo watches over your soy sauce, today is your lucky day. Sushiro, Japan's largest conveyor-belt sushi chain, has launched its first-ever collaboration with Zenless Zone Zero, the urban fantasy action RPG from HoYoverse (the studio behind Genshin Impact). The campaign kicks off nationwide on June 24.
The headline draw is a set of limited-edition mini figures handed out with eligible drink orders. Having seen them up close ahead of launch, I can confirm the hype: they are genuinely, dangerously cute. The lineup leans on ZZZ's most marketable faces and its mascot-like Bangboo companions, the kind of palm-sized collectibles that turn a casual lunch into a "let me order one more drink" situation.
Beyond the figures, the tie-in brings themed menu items and original merchandise to participating locations, following the well-worn but reliable playbook Sushiro has used for previous anime and game crossovers. Quantities are limited, and as anyone who has chased a Sushiro collab knows, popular items tend to vanish within the first weekend.
For HoYoverse, the partnership is another step in pushing ZZZ deeper into mainstream Japanese pop culture, meeting players not in a game lobby but at the dinner table.
The insider take
In Tokyo, Sushiro collabs are practically a competitive sport. Fans map out which branches restock when, and resale listings for the figures will almost certainly surface on Mercari before the week is out. What makes this one notable is the pairing itself: Sushiro typically reserves these splashy crossovers for blue-chip anime IPs, so handing the spotlight to a relatively young live-service game signals just how much commercial muscle HoYoverse now wields here. Expect lines at flagship stores in Shibuya and Akihabara, and don't be surprised if the figures are gone before you finish your first plate.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).