Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is reaching the end of its anime journey as the first of three final movies is set to premiere in September of this year. As part of this important milestone, and in celebration of the series’ sixth year anniversary, Aniplex of America partnered with Boba Bear to create a unique experience that transports fans into the world of Demon Slayer. Ahead of its opening, Asia Blooming visited the experience for a preview and spoke with Boba Bear founder Teddy Zou about the experience itself.
This pop-up is an officially licensed, fully immersive experience at Bearology Temple City. Having opened its doors on June 8, the event will last until July 31, perfect for fans who may be visiting the city for Anime Expo in a few weeks. The experience features themed beverages and food items, exclusive collaborative merchandise, and an impressive build to take fans aboard the Mugen Train. Some of the merchandise includes a backpack, which can be earned for free if you obtain all six stamps on the Train Ticket, a box-shaped mug in which Nezuko appears only when it’s filled with a hot beverage, and a tumbler featuring the design of Tanjiro’s sword, known as the Nichirin Tumbler. “The Nichirin Tumbler is one of our best beverage-ware designs yet in my opinion, from the aesthetics to the functionality,” Zou shared, referring to the thick straw suitable for even boba and the overall design. “It is truly special, and I’m so happy we were able to create this for Aniplex!”
“Boba Bear has always been about culture, creativity, and community,” he continued. “We’re thrilled to partner with Aniplex of America to give fans a new way to engage with their favorite series while enjoying our signature drinks and brand-new themed menu. I’ve always loved the Demon Slayer series. Working with Aniplex has been a dream of mine, and it’s truly been an honor to be trusted with the IP to bring it to life.”
For Zou and his team, this is one of many collaborations they’ve done in the past few years, though previous ones were mainly limited merchandise releases. “While the anime flasks [we previously released] did very well, we wanted to bring fans something more engaging [this time],” Zou shared. “We were very inspired by a lot of bigger immersive experiences such as the anime theme parks in Japan, and while we are not able to do experiences to that level yet, we wanted to utilize our existing store’s spaces to do something smaller, but special.” This popup marks Boba Bear’s second one, but hopefully, it’s the second of many to come. “Each experience is all very different. We always try our best to learn from each experience and improve ourselves for the next ones,” he started. “The Demon Slayer Experience compared to the Arcane experience required a lot more attention to detail, and more components to the concept and build out. I think the biggest challenge for each experience is always considering what the fans would love to see, and staying true to the identity and the lore of each series. The overall planning process took about six months, including all the approval processes with Aniplex.”
Part of the planning process was choosing which storyline to utilize, what to serve, and even what the overall goal of the pop-up was. Featured beverages for the experience were curated from scratch, taking inspiration from each of the four characters—Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu. Though each drink was specifically developed for the event, the regular drink menu is also still available, and adjustments can still be made.
Although the Mugen Train arc is not the most recent, it’s certainly one of the most memorable. “It’s one of the most iconic stories in anime that many fans emotionally connect with. It also made sense to do a train theme since our store’s layout was already very long and rectangular.” For Zou, his biggest wish was for fans to truly enjoy their time at the pop-up. “We definitely would like people to explore every inch of the space, but just not the kitchen,” he joked. “We have some Easter Eggs hidden in a few places, and even some games to try out.”
Looking ahead to the future, Zou hopes this will be another doorway into more opportunities to create fandom events that are similar. “There are so many titles out there that I would love to work on,” he began before revealing a secret. “We are already currently working on a few activations for the rest of 2025 and into 2026! I can’t say who they are yet, but I can say that they are not all in the video game or anime genre.”
