Masahiro Sakurai eats Kirby 

Veteran game developer Masahiro Sakurai’s recent post on X has gone viral- amassing over 8600 retweets. On the afternoon of April 24, the Super Smash Bros. and Kirby creator shared a stylishly presented photo of his snack. This turned out to be an almost too cute to eat sweet featuring Kirby’s likeness. 

Post translation: Time for a snack… 

The post prompted a range of comments spanning from “It looks delicious” and “It’s cute” to mock-horror reactions at the thought of Sakurai eating his beloved creation. Sakurai added fuel to the fire by posting this follow up snap of Kirby about to meet his demise. Many commenters asked him to stop because they were dying of laughter. 

Although Sakurai’s posts don’t state where he got this adorable treat from, a little detective work reveals that series of pink Kirby-themed sweets is currently on sale nationwide in branches of Japan’s Family Mart convenience store. Called Manmaruyaki, the pink-colored dough contains a milk flavored center. Each Kirby sweet comes with a round sticker, of which there are eight different designs to collect (source: Famitsu). They have been on sale since April 23 to mark Kirby’s birthday- which falls on April 27.

Anime and game themed food and drink-related collaborations are common in Japan, and are usually only available for a limited time. Sometimes there are some surprising advertisement tie-ins too, like the fox-eared Sephiroth commercial for an instant noodle brand that aired around the time of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s release.