A Japanese anime fan has been arrested after allegedly placing and canceling more than $27 million worth of One Piece and Naruto merchandise orders.
Tokyo police arrested 32-year-old Mayu Yoshida on August 4 on suspicion of fraudulently obstructing the business of manga publisher Shueisha.
Yoshida, a restaurant worker from Osaka, allegedly placed more than 2,000 orders through Shueisha’s official Jump Characters Store between July 2024 and May 2025.
According to TBS News Dig, the orders included figures and other merchandise connected to One Piece, Naruto, and other popular series.
Investigators claim Yoshida used 238 different accounts to repeatedly order the products without completing payment.
Some purchases were automatically canceled after she failed to pay before the deadline. She also allegedly selected cash on delivery before refusing to accept the packages when they arrived.
Shueisha estimated that the canceled merchandise was worth approximately 4.3 billion yen, equivalent to around $27 million USD. The figure represents the total value of the canceled products, rather than a confirmed financial loss suffered by the publisher.
NetflixAnime fan says orders helped relieve stress
Yoshida reportedly admitted to the allegations and told investigators her actions were caused by “stress building up in my daily life.”
She described herself as an anime fan and said placing the orders gave her “a sense of satisfaction” and left her feeling “refreshed,” according to Animehunch.
“I generally like anime. Ordering the products gave me a sense of satisfying my desires,” she said.
The Mainichi reports that Shueisha consulted police about the repeated cancellations in June 2025, shortly after the alleged ordering spree ended.
The arrest comes days after Japanese authorities detained an alleged uploader accused of distributing pirated content through Nyaa, one of the world’s largest anime torrent indexes.
In another unusual anime-related case, a 50-year-old Japanese government employee was charged with assaulting a coworker who allegedly spoiled developments from Oshi no Ko.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
