But who’s the real demon here?

As the Demon Slayer juggernaut continues full steam like the infinity train its smash hit film is named after, fans are having a hard time keeping up with the flood of merchandise based on it. Playing your Demon Slayer Tamagotchi in one hand with your life-sized Demon Slayer Nichirin Blade in the other while dying your hair Demon Slayer purple and eating a Demon Slayer okonomiyaki leaves little room in the bank account.

Perhaps that’s why one 35-year-old fan in Kyoto was arrested on 16 November after convenience store security cameras caught him tearing open packages of Demon Slayer character key chains before purchasing the one with his favorite.

Like many anime-themed trinkets and figures of this kind sold in convenience stores and supermarkets, packages often randomly contain one of six or so types which the purchaser cannot know until opening. In this case, there are ten different key chains each with a different character.

The incident occurred at about 10 p.m. on 8 October in Kamigyo Ward when the construction worker allegedly entered the store and proceeded to break open three of the paper packages one by one and left the damaged goods, valued at 660 yen (US$6.36) each, on the shelf.

After police tracked him down, he told them he did it because he was looking for his favorite character, Shinobu Kocho. I haven’t seen the anime or read the manga, so I can only assume based on the nature of her fan, that she’s the one who double dips her chips and never uses her turn signal.

▼ YouTube clips neither confirm nor deny this to be the case.

Online readers were naturally offended that a grown man with a paying job would stoop to such childish lows.

“What a naughty man.”
“Just buy it. dude…”
“Come on, you can just hold them up to the light, or feel around the edges.”
“Is Demon Slayer so popular even with construction workers? I thought only fujoshi were into it.”
“That’s not very heroic.”
“He likes Shinobu?! Gross!”
“I’m really worried about society when a grown man commits crime to get anime toys.”
“Just buy it, and if it isn’t the one you want, sell it online. This isn’t hard.”

If there is a defense to be made for this vandal, it’s that charging 660 yen for a flat piece of plastic and a chain, and not even letting people choose the one they want, is a little dubious as well. Sure part of it is the excitement of the random draw, which is the foundation of the entire capsule toy industry, but maybe lower the price a bit if that’s the case.

Still, part of being an adult is surveying the situation and saying, “No! I will not play into this ruse to get my money, nor will I commit a crime to circumvent it.” Even if it means going without a cartoon butterfly girl dangling from the gearshift of your front-end loader.

▼ Or heck, I just made my own using a printer and old key chain I had lying around; cost me 80 yen and all of five minutes. I probably should have taken another minute to be more careful with the pen though.

That’s just the way life is. Sometimes things don’t work out your way and can even become downright tragic – like say, the death of family members, or your sister getting afflicted by some bizarre condition. But it’s the ability to forge ahead and even become stronger by overcoming these obstacles that makes a true mature adult.

If only there was a hit anime and manga with this premise, maybe we could avoid these problems in the future.

Source: Kyoto Shimbun, Itai News
Photos: ©SoraNews24
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