Are young people who can't be woken up for work lured out by co-branded pop-ups?

“Compared with cost-effectiveness or practicality, young people care more about pleasing themselves in collaboration events to satisfy their spiritual needs.”

In the past two years, “collaboration” events have become a favorite of many ACG fans.

From milk tea and coffee for eating and drinking, to digital stationery for studying, to clothing, shoes, and bags for wearing, to transportation cards for travel… Collaborations cover every aspect of ACG fans' daily life, from high-end digital products costing thousands to free electronic merch. Their variety is increasingly rich, presenting a dazzling array of options. The companies participating in collaborations have also expanded beyond traditional ACG and food/retail industries, with the cross-circle effect growing stronger.

Collaboration events have also become more normalized, extending from holidays, anniversaries, and character birthdays to everyday collaborations. Young people are surrounded by collaborations almost 365 days a year. It is reported that in 2025 alone, there were over ten thousand collaboration events, averaging dozens per day.

From the demand side, young ACG fans are increasingly inclined to participate in offline collaboration events when going out with friends. They are willing to spend time, energy, and money to create beautiful memories with friends or with the characters they love.

During these events, many young people share their collaboration strategies or experiences on social platforms, giving them unique meaning: perhaps a milestone commemoration of years of following a series, a reward for hard work in study or career, or aesthetic satisfaction from customizing collaboration souvenirs…

What exactly are young people seeking when they chase collaborations? When the “collaboration craze” becomes a widespread cultural phenomenon, can we catch a glimpse of the spiritual world of young ACG fans?

01 Why Are Young People So Fond of Collaboration Events?​

Many may not understand: why are today's young people so keen on chasing collaborations?

The simplest reason is: Because they love 2D characters, they want to “own” them in the real world!

Apart from creating and watching works, the easiest way to connect with virtual anime characters is to get their merchandise. Compared to ordinary merch, collaborations have unique appeal.

As the saying goes: Everything can be collaborated. In today's era of abundant material life, everyday items not only serve their functional purposes but can also become props for users to express their individuality.

When familiar IPs and characters appear in practical forms around you, stepping out of the cold screen into daily life, the sense of companionship is greatly enhanced, allowing fans to experience novelty and satisfaction.

Collaborative products usually combine practicality and spiritual value, satisfying both basic consumption and IP consumption in one go. For example, when faced with a mouse, given the choice between an ordinary, slightly cheaper mouse with no special attributes and a uniquely designed collaboration mouse featuring a favorite character, and possibly a limited edition, most ACG fans will choose the latter as long as the price premium is not excessive.

Some collaborations are not physical objects but transform an entire space into scenes from the anime. Compared to passively receiving audio-visual information, offline experiences offer multidimensional, immersive two-way interaction. When fans walk in, they feel like they have broken the dimensional wall and entered the world of their favorite character.

Alternatively, some scenes in the work are themselves based on the cultural elements of a real place, or even have explicit design prototypes. Fans travel thousands of miles, crossing the gap between dimensions, to finally check in at the actual location, sharing the same space with their beloved character, finding intersections with their favorite character in reality, and feeling the traces of their life.

This new form of tourism is called “sacred site pilgrimage” (anime pilgrimage). It provides both the joy of pure travel and the feeling of spiritually closing the distance to the beloved character.

This form of tourism has long existed in Japan, such as Ghibli Park in Nagoya, the hometown of the author of Natsume's Book of Friends (Hitoyoshi), and the Tokyo locations of Makoto Shinkai's famous film Your Name.. Some new anime even partner with scenic spots to promote tourism right from the start of broadcasting.

As more domestic anime with strong local characteristics become popular and with the planning and collaboration of enterprises, domestic “sacred site pilgrimage” tourism is also developing rapidly. For example, Longhu Mountain Scenic Area has collaborated with two major domestic IPs, Under One Person and Sword Coming, attracting many viewers to visit.

Gift economy is also an important part of collaborations. As the saying goes, “Each generation has its own eggs to collect.” The various peripheral gifts of ACG collaborations are the eggs this generation wants. Collaboration paper bags, fridge magnets, badges—paired with milk tea, snacks, trendy toys that young people are already accustomed to buying—since they are buying anyway, it's better to have a collaboration gift than none. “Why not take it?”

Usually, collaboration events are time-limited; once the window closes, it's gone.

This sense of urgency gives collaboration products an extra function compared to regular merch: They carry a memory, recording the irreproducible and unique connection made with the loved work at this time and place.

Offline collaboration events not only provide a space for audiences to interact with anime works but also become physical spaces for communication and interaction among like-minded fans.

Contemporary young people are increasingly trapped in atomization—loneliness, lack of communication, social anxiety. Many turn online for connection, but screen-based interaction cannot fully replace face-to-face communication.

Pop-up events, markets, sacred site pilgrimages, and other offline collaboration events provide lonely young people with an opportunity to connect with others, to gain a sense of belonging in group activities, and to satisfy social needs.

This is not simply about willingly spending money—not all collaborations require real cash; some only need check-ins, content creation, or sweepstakes to participate.

Its greater charm lies in the fact that enthusiasts can actively “approach” the virtual world they love, projecting and releasing their passion, anchoring a point in their lives.

In this process, young ACG fans invest (energy/time/social interaction/money) and receive souvenirs or returns of certain value, gaining positive spiritual feedback. Compared to cost-effectiveness or practicality, young people care more about pleasing themselves in collaboration events to satisfy their spiritual needs.

02 Are Collaboration Events Already Evolving to the Next Level?​

According to incomplete statistics, in the past summer alone, there were over 300 IP pop-up events nationwide, showing continuous growth.

From a temporal perspective, summer is the peak period for collaborations, while other months also maintain active collaboration activity. Collaborations have shifted from occasional commercial events to gradually integrating into people's daily lives.

In terms of form, collaborations cover online + offline, digital + physical. From character skins to input methods, from limited pop-ups to theme concerts, ACG collaborations exhibit diversity in categories and gradient differences in scale.

Rich events expand the forms of ACG IP implementation. Multiple industries and chains are connected, and more and more non-traditional ACG enterprises are participating, playing important roles in transforming abstract cultural symbols into concrete, tangible cultural products or activities.

For example, Painting World of Bad People (Hua Jiang Hu Zhi Bu Liang Ren), an original domestic anime IP that has been around for twelve years, has accumulated a loyal fanbase. In recent years, its rights holder began exploring large-scale offline collaboration events, successfully holding a ten-year anniversary concert in Luoyang, a themed check-in event at Wuhan Polar Ocean Resort, and recently planning a themed street with Xingzhou Ancient City, making traditional cultural tourism a new form of IP expression.

The Huabei × Sword Coming collaboration is particularly innovative—its self-produced variety show Sword Coming: Intangible Heritage Sword Forging invited eight anime viewers to go to Longquan, Lishui, Zhejiang—the real-world prototype of the “Pearl Cave Heaven” in the anime—to experience real sword forging.

“Sword” is an important motif in the anime, Longquan sword forging is a thousand-year-old Chinese intangible cultural heritage, and variety shows are a media format beloved by contemporary youth. This collaboration not only brings content from the anime into reality but also responds to young people's inquiries about their own cultural roots and identity.

Regarding IP sources, the anime IPs initiating collaborations show a wide distribution across both time and geography. In terms of time, older anime like Hikaru no Go, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, The Legend of Nezha remain enduringly popular, while newer series like Delicious in Dungeon, Link Click have risen. Audiences differ yet overlap.

Geographically, besides classic Japanese anime IPs, domestic anime collaborations have seen significant growth. For example, the rights holder of the original anime The Legend of Hei (Luo Xiao Hei Zhan Ji), Hanmu Chunhua, according to public data, still achieved a net profit of over 4 million yuan in the first half of 2026 without any sequel airing, proving its stable profitability.

In August, the Under One Person anime ten-year anniversary “Yiren Festival” drove a substantial increase in mall revenue, with nearly 70,000 visitors on the first day—double the usual—and achieving millions in peripheral sales in the first weekend.

Shanghai Film Animation Yuan (Shangying Yuan), which holds IPs such as Havoc in Heaven, Calabash Brothers, and Lang Lang Shan Xiao Yao Guai, also shows strong momentum, with its first-half profit doubling year-on-year to the 30 million level.

With the development of the domestic animation industry, domestic animation has gradually built a stable young audience. Compared to imported products, domestic animation, born on local soil, better aligns with the spiritual needs of Chinese youth. The distress of being misunderstood or unseen, confusion about the future, and the thirst for answers are all projected onto the anime they watch daily.

Young viewers hope the protagonist will become their “mouthpiece,” seeking resonance from the protagonist, and with a similar mindset, fulfilling ideals that are hard to achieve in reality.

At the same time, the fun memes in domestic anime that only make sense in a Chinese cultural context, and the plots that are both close to reality and slightly above it, can help relieve some of the bitterness in young people's lives. Collaboration designs are no exception. Collaboration merchandise drawn from local culture better understands the psychological demands of Chinese youth—seeking good luck, seeking sudden wealth, hoping for CP sugar, and wishing for blind box pulls of their favorite character.

Guided by the pragmatic spirit of “Left eye twitch is fortune; right eye twitch is superstition,” ACG fans approach collaboration merch with the attitude of “Sincerity works wonders.” This youthful mentality and youthful collaboration design resonate perfectly, giving rise to many interesting collaboration events and products today.

The broad prospects of collaboration events have also attracted some businesses to blindly enter the market, mass-producing similar collaborations that only achieve superficial buzz, with actual per-event revenue declining rather than increasing, drawing criticism from fans and being detrimental to sustainable IP operation.

Meeting spiritual needs should not be equated with consumption. Only planners who truly understand young people's spiritual needs and deeply comprehend the core of the IP can produce excellent collaboration events that extend the charm of the original work into the real world. Taking Huabei × Sword Coming × Longhu Mountain's “gold sticker free entry pilgrimage” as an example, a successful collaboration should delve into the cultural core of the anime IP, find the connection point that resonates spiritually with young people, and ultimately realize a triple-win event for the IP side, the audience side, and the enterprise side.

Its greatest significance lies not in the direct revenue it generates, but in providing a reference sample for domestic anime collaborations, showing that there are many more possibilities for collaboration events.

Currently, the “collaboration craze” is still in full swing, and the development of domestic animation IP is still in an exploratory phase. We look forward to more diverse collaborations and hope that collaborations become high-quality and mature.