- Interview Location: Anime Expo 2026
- Interview Format: In-person, One-on-One
Anime Herald: Why do you believe Opanchu Usagi has such unfortunate luck?
Mike Melby: I wouldn’t say it is a curse, but I think misfortune finds its way to certain people. It’s not that she’s cursed, but there is a gravitational pull there. No matter how hard she tries, the best results don’t always find her.
Anime Herald: That’s been true in my experience. Given her poor luck, how do you feel about her existence within theCall of Dutyuniverse?
Mike Melby: I thought it was a brilliant collaboration. I think it’s fun, in that most of the Call of Duty universe probably doesn’t know who she is. Graphically, I thought the skins and the DLC were a lot of fun. I could totally see her reviving a teammate, making it to extract, and then hitting a mine where everyone else survives but her. When you download that character, I feel like that is the fortune you are going to have. Second place.
Anime Herald: I could see it going the other way, where she hits a mine and it kills everyonebuther.
Mike Melby: Both are in line with Opanchu’s fortune. The only thing that concerns me is she has a very large head, so she’s very scope-able. The gem-scope shots will cause her some misfortune. Then again, maybe when opponents see her, they won’t shoot her because she’s too cute.
Anime Herald: Do you feel thatOpanchu Usagiis a spiritual descendant ofPop Team Epic?
Mike Melby: No, because those two girls are shitlords. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her. They could be friends, but she’s definitely not on the same spectrum.
Anime Herald: What is your origin story? How did you enter the <a href="https://comicvibe.com/dave-busters-entertainment-inc-to-report-second-quarter-fiscal-2026-results-on-september-14-2026/” title=”Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. to Report Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results on September 14, 2026″>entertainment industry?
Mike Melby: I’ll try to keep this brief. My father was Navy, so I grew up living in Korea and Japan for eleven years of my childhood. I fell in love with anime and manga in the early ‘90s. I didn’t have Transformers, He-Man, G.I. Joe, or Jem and the Holograms. I had Captain Tsubasa, Doraemon, Anpanman, Dragon Ball, Slam Dunk. That’s what I grew up with.
My first job out of college was working for Viz Media. I was helping them with manga and home video sales. I was there for about six years. I then went on to another San Francisco based book publisher, Chronicle Books. I always hoped they would acquire more Japanese media, but it didn’t quite get there. It was very much home-grown entertainment. I was soon poached by Crunchyroll to help form their consumer products team. I spent six years there. I was also consulting with Sentai.
About three years ago, I joined Octas to help lead their licensing and merchandising with some former colleagues. James Shortino is the CEO. He was the president of Crunchyroll Japan. Victoria Holden is our head of brand marketing. She was the head of audience development of Crunchyroll for more than ten years. We’ve kind of formed the best/worst team in the anime business, Octas. It’s been really exciting.
My passion for anime and manga starts in my childhood. Today, it’s so amazing to see how mainstream it has become. In my early years at Viz, we’d go to a trade show. People would look at us and say, “It’s those anime and manga people,” and keep walking. Now, it’s so dominant everywhere. The collaborations with western media, the brands that want to play with Japanese entertainment, it’s so incredible. Viz, Crunchyroll, and Funimation all had a huge piece in that. I’m glad I’ve gotten the opportunity with all of these companies.
Anime Herald: What would you consider the key to KAWAISOUNI!’s success?
Mike Melby: I would say that in Japan, the kawaii character space is everywhere. It’s abundant. What gives her a point of differentiation is that not everything is perfect with her characters. She’s created this fun kawaii craze, where it is pitiful cute. With Sanrio, everything is perfect and pristine and magical. With Opanchu, you see her qualities, but it is not all sparkles and rainbows. Her day-to-day life is relatable. That’s what I love about Opanchu. How do you relate to Cinnamoroll? How do you relate to Rilakkuma? Maybe a little bit because sometimes you want to be lazy, but with Opanchu, everyone has had struggles in recent years.We all went through the pandemic. I think with Opanchu, you love her because you’ve been in that moment with her, and you can laugh about it. That’s what makes KAWAISOUNI!’s characters and storytelling great. You can laugh about it and not worry about whether everything’s perfect.
Anime Herald: I like that term, “pitiful cute.”
Mike Melby: I think with KAWAISOUNI! her humor crosses cultures. If you are a fan of Rick and Morty or a fan of Family Guy, you can find qualities in KAWAISOUNI!’s characters too.
Anime Herald: I think that Opanchu Usagi isn’t necessarily a shitlord, but KAWAISOUNI! might be.
Mike Melby: Yeah. I love that term. For us in entertainment, we want something that makes you feel something, whether it’s laughter or cringe. That’s what I love about KAWAISOUNI!.
Anime Herald: Do you have any questions for us?
Mike Melby: Yes. Related to KAWAISOUNI!, do you think her humor translates for Western audiences? Do you think she could have the next Aggretsuko?
Anime Herald: I feel like there is a hit rate. Some of her jokes land. Some of them hit different in the west than they do in the east, so some of them might not directly come across. But yes, some of her stuff will be pretty funny.
Mike Melby: Do you think there’s room for more cuteness from Japan, or is it too much at once?
Anime Herald: You used the word “spectrum” before. I think there’s room for a spectrum of cuteness. I think a lot of the cuteness is currently focused on the feminine side. I do think there’s room for more cuteness on the masculine side. We’ve seen the growth of boys love, and yaoi, and such. When Old Man Yaoi hit, it was a revelation. Now we haveThe Uncle Likes Cute Thingscoming out. I think there is room for more of that throughout the gender spectrum.
How did you get hooked up with KAWAISOUNI!?
Mike Melby: Octas is an agency that manages several publishers and licensors from Japan. We do all of their licensing, merchandising, e-commerce, and event marketing for about thirty IPs. We partnered with ITOCHU, who manages the global rights for Opanchu Usagi. We became their agent for the Americas and Europe. We do all of their licensing and merchandising. Over the last year, we’ve introduced Opanchu to retailers like Hot Topic. Working with licensees like Bioworld, Wargames, or Great Eastern to develop an amazing line of products.
Anime Herald: Do you feel like there are more doors open to you than there would have been even a decade ago?
Mike Melby: Absolutely. Retailers like Hot Topic are always willing to try something. They are very focused on Japanese pop culture. Their buying team and their executives are in Japan often to see what is trending there. They’ll then bring a lot of these brands to the US, so having that conversation with them is easy. It was already on their radar.
What I am really loving over the past few years is the e-commerce brands that are emerging who have established communities online. They are focused on servicing their community through Discord or their direct market. We are seeing significant sales working with brands like My Violet or Any Means Necessary. They don’t necessarily need other doors. They are doing so much business servicing fans.
Same with Japan LA. Jamie (Rivadeneira) has a really loyal and passionate fanbase. So we partner with a lot of companies like this to get Opanchu out there, because they know that customer already. We are also finding other retail brick-and-mortar opportunities in fast fashion and high end boutiques. I think the US is ready for more. It’s a question of how do we get things to trend here as they are happening in Japan? Usually we are about a year or two behind.
Anime Herald: How long is your runway? How much time do you have to prove yourselves? If you get put into Hot Topic, how quickly do you have to sell for them to say they believe in you?
Mike Melby: I would say they would know in eight to twelve weeks. Usually, you start with apparel and quick turn items like enamel pins. Stickers are really popular. In Japan, the puffy stickers. The craze for that has been catching on here. That’s a quick turn and easy category to get to market.
Plush is the one that takes a while. It takes nine to twelve months of development. Usually, the soft lines will land here first. We’ll start seeing plushes in Q4 and Q1 next year, now that we have multiple partners like Max Limited, SK Japan, and Great Eastern doing plush for us. I think that’s the core category for kawaii character brands. The squishable, lovable pieces. I would say that is close to half of the sales.
Anime Herald: Wow! I would have assumed clothing would be the dominant market, but apparently not.
Mike Melby: For anime IPs, apparel tends to be 50% of the royalties. Apparel is king, normally. But when you think of Sanrio’s character brands, it’s the coin purses, the cell phone cases, the charms, the jewelry. I think apparel is not as big of a category when it comes to the character brands. But for anime, it’s king. For character brands, plushes are a bigger part of the sales.
Anime Herald: Very cool. Thank you very much.
Mike Melby: Thank you.
