Japan’s Animate Cafe sends out apology to fans after discovering error in Yu-Gi-Oh! merchandise

There might be a rare fault in the design, but we have a feeling some fans won’t be exchanging the faulty item as requested.

With 117 stores around Japan, Animate is known far and wide as the largest retailer of manga, games, and anime in the country. While people often head to the retail chain’s largest branches to browse their massive collection of books, merchandise, DVDs and gaming paraphernalia, some of these locations also boast a popular cafe, which holds collaborations with a variety of popular series and characters throughout the year.

【アニメイトカフェ池袋の明日からのコラボを紹介する】アニメイトカフェ池袋６年目突入の記念すべきタイトルは「遊戯王」です！ご来店お待ちしております！ 詳細はアニメイトカフェ公式ＨＰをご確認くださいませ。 #アニメイトカフェ５周年 https://t.co/1PvKHCPzWh

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アニメイトカフェ総合 (@animate_cafe) January 31, 2017

The Animate Cafes in Ikebukuro (Tokyo), Sendai, Tennōji and Okayama are currently joining the ongoing 20th anniversary celebrations for the hugely popular Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise with a themed menu and exclusive merchandise for fans to purchase. According to Animate, however, it’s been discovered that some of this merchandise has a tiny fault in one of the character designs, and the company has issued a notice and apology to customers, requesting they return the items so they can swap them for new, corrected products.

The notice, which appeared on the Animate Cafe website and the cafe’s official Twitter account, begins by thanking customers for their patronage. It then goes on to apologise for a defect that exists in the mini character illustrations on some of the merchandise connected with their current Yu-Gi-Oh! cafe collaboration.

▼ The error can be found on one of Yami Yugi’s hair spikes, which is coloured gold instead of black.

【お知らせ】いつもアニメイトカフェをご利用いただき誠にありがとうございます。現在開催中の『遊☆戯☆王』シリーズ×アニメイトカフェにおきまして、一部ミニキャライラストに不備がございました。お客様へは深くお詫び申し上げます。… http://twitter.com/i/web/status/8…

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アニメイトカフェ総合 (@animate_cafe) February 15, 2017

The affected merchandise includes coasters, tin trading badges, and acrylic trading key holders featuring Yami Yugi, one of the two main characters in the series. The Animate Cafe is now asking customers to return the faulty items to any of the four participating branches, where they can be exchanged for a new product showing the character with his corrected hair colour.

One person’s defective merchandise is another person’s treasure, though, so in the eyes of some fans this tiny fault adds to the value of the limited-edition merchandise. For others, though, a minuscule error like this simply takes away from the product’s authenticity.

Still, by apologising for the mistake and offering to remedy the situation, Animate has once again shown how much respect and dedication it has for fans and artists in the anime community. Now it’s up to customers to decide whether or not they will keep the product or return it as requested. What would you do in this situation? Let us know in the comments section below!

Source: Net Lab
Featured image: Animate

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