Illustrator NAGANO's beloved series, Chiikawa, is hitting the big screen with its first theatrical anime film, "Chiikawa: The Secret of Mermaid Island," premiering on July 24, 2026.
To celebrate, the official team has teamed up with 7-Eleven Japan for a special collaboration, rolling out 11 limited-edition food items inspired by dishes from the movie. One of these, the "stewed redfish," already sparked quite a conversation. But wait, there's more! The collab also features a lottery campaign with exclusive prizes, including an "Ichiyo Futaba Lamp" shaped like the islanders. The kicker? It's advertised with the line, "Just pop in AA batteries, and it lights up!" This detail has fans once again exclaiming how utterly... heartbreaking the design is.
This lottery campaign is part of the joint collaboration. Simply purchase any of the co-branded items and enter via LINE for a chance to win exclusive original Chiikawa merchandise.
The collaboration menu includes the following delicious treats:
But the real talk of the town is the "Ichiyo Futaba Lamp," limited to just 100 winners. Shaped like the two leaf-clad islanders, Ichiyo and Futaba, it lights up with AA batteries.
Sounds perfectly normal, right? Well, if you know the story behind Ichiyo and Futaba, you might just find this design to be... a little bit hellish.
As soon as the lottery prize was revealed, netizens took to X (formerly Twitter), with one user posting, "It's not just 'it lights up with AA batteries!'" The post quickly went viral, sparking discussions about how even the lottery prizes are loaded with dark humor. Is Chiikawa really this dark, lol?
Other netizens commented that this collaboration seems to be leaning heavily into the series' more melodramatic plot points. It looks like the official team is quite adept at these kinds of stunts, and we can almost picture author NAGANO's delighted expression... lol.
This whole marketing move really highlights the savage mindset behind the collaboration. Seriously, no humanity, lol!
Given the battery-related plotline, it's no surprise that the official team previously collaborated with Panasonic on batteries. So, it seems you can definitely buy a set and light up this lamp, no problem... lol.
This collaboration's "stewed redfish" alone was enough to tug at fans' heartstrings, and now they're dropping another emotional bomb with this lottery prize. It just goes to show that this movie is going to be truly heartbreaking, and even the merchandise is here to deal out some emotional damage!
via： セブン‐イレブン公式