Tobu Zoo recently teamed up with the hit anime series Kemono Friends, and the collaboration proved to be a good one. From Kemono Friends standees on their animal counterpart’s enclosures to the one and only Grape-kun (who got visited by his waifu’s seiyuu), the collaboration has attracted a ton of visitors to the zoo. And during Golden Week, the collaboration proved more valuable, as the zoo attracted even more visitors.

According to the zoo’s sales numbers, they got 23.6% more visitors as compared to last year. 113,404 people visited Tobu Zoo this year, which is a whole lot more than last year’s 91,754 visitors. When the collaboration first started, visitors posted images of long lines forming at the ticket gate as well. Couple that with Grape-kun’s antics, and we’ve got ourselves a smash hit collaboration.

Seiyuu Saki Ono, who voices Raccoon in the anime, also recorded several lines for the collaboration. The Zoo also routinely plays her voice recording in their PA system every few minutes. They’re also distributing special collaboration can badges featuring the anime’s characters and their animal counterparts. However, these goodies have already sold out, but the zoo is restocking them later this month.

The zoo will be running their Kemoni Friends exhibition until 25th June. This means that Grape-kun only has a limited time to be with his Waifu! Poor guy…

Several other zoos are also running their own Kemono Friends collaborations. These include Sapporo Maruyama Zoo, Chiba Zoological Park, Kyoto Municipal Zoo, and Fukuoka Municipal Zoo.

source: Yahoo! News Japan