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Pokémon fans aren’t happy with the Mister Donut fukubukuro lucky bag for 2025

Oona McGee Dec 31, 2024
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Anime fans are left digging for goods in Japan.

‘Tis the season for lucky bags or “fukubukuro” as they’re known in Japanese, and one of the most popular every year is Mister Donut’s, as the chain teams up with Pokémon to release exclusive goods that represent great value for money.

This year, however, customers haven’t been particularly happy about the chain’s lucky bags, as the options have been narrowed down from three to two, with the cheaper 2,400-yen (US$15.21) lucky bag no longer available. That means customers have to shell out more for either the 3,500 yen or 6,000 yen fukubukuro, and to add insult to injury, the number of free doughnuts on the voucher in each bag has been drastically reduced, with the most expensive bag now giving you 35 free doughnuts instead of the usual 50.

Still, this reduced value-for-money fukubukuro held great appeal for our reporter Tasuku Egawa, a self-confessed doughnut-loving Pokémon fan, so he purchased the 6,000-yen lucky bag to find out if it really deserved all the criticism it was getting.

▼ Let’s find out what’s inside…

One welcome change to the format this year was the fact that the bags could be reserved online, so there was no need to spend hours waiting in line at a store before opening. The contents were neatly packed into a bag inside the fukubukuro too, but there was one thing to be careful of….

▼ …the doughnut voucher wasn’t packed with everything inside the bag-in-bag, but taped to the inside of the paper bag instead.

The voucher is an integral component of the bag, as it gives you your money back in the form of 35 doughnuts priced at 198 yen or less, so you won’t want to mistakenly throw it away.

▼ This tiny card is worth 6,930 yen — 930-yen more than the cost of the bag.

▼ Along with the voucher, you’ll receive a code that can be used in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

So what was Tasuku’s initial reaction to the bag? Well, for starters, the voucher was shocking when compared to last year’s most expensive 5,900-yen bag, which contained a voucher for 50 donuts priced at 187 yen or less. That amounted to 9,350-yen worth of doughnuts, which is much better value compared to this year’s measly return of 6,930 yen.

Customers this year were looking at 2,420 yen less value than last year, or 2,520 yen less if you factor in the rise in the cost of the bag, which is a huge hit that customers are right to be upset over, although with rising production costs, it doesn’t come as a complete surprise.

After reeling from the blow of the voucher, did the other items in the bag help to soften the blow for Tasuku? Let’s take a look at what he received.

▼ A clear file

▼A Schedule Book

▼ An Eco bag

▼ And a Bath Towel.

Hmmm…if he’s being honest, Tasuku has to say these items didn’t soften the blow, as he’s used to receiving a ridiculously large bag of goods from Mister Donut. However, it could just be that Mister Donut had been so good at delivering value for money in the past that when it came time to tighten the purse strings this year, the difference was blindingly obvious.

▼ Back in 2022, for instance, he received this 40-centimetre (15.7-inch) tall “life-sized” Pikachu cushion, along with a heap of other goods and a voucher for 50 donuts, all for 5,500 yen.

It’s hard to come back from the giddy highs of Mister Donut lucky bag hauls from previous years, so this year’s bag definitely feels like it comes up short by comparison. Still, it’s not like you’re losing money by purchasing one of these bags, as you do get 6,930 yen worth of doughnut vouchers, plus free Pokémon goods, for 6,000 yen, so our love isn’t entirely lost for the chain. However, we now have our fingers crossed that the value for money will return next year, with more doughnuts and better goods for doughnut-loving Pokémon fans.

Related: Mister Donut
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[ Read in Japanese ]