Japan never fails to surprise us with its creativity to please the otaku community. If you ever thought your favorite video game merchandise had reached its limit, get ready: the successful Azur Lane mobile franchise will sell rice balls for 1,000 yen (about seven dollars) during the AZUR LANE MUSI9 FES, the special event for its ninth anniversary taking place on September 5 and 6 in Tokyo. And no, the onigiri don’t have luxury fillings or seaweed wrapping, but they come with a rather peculiar cultivation secret.

The high price of this snack has a justification that sounds like a joke, but it’s a completely real experiment. The product is made with “Owari Gyaru Rice,” a harvest born from an extravagant agricultural collaboration initiated by publisher Yostar in December 2025. The team partnered with an award-winning farm in Gifu Prefecture to grow a premium and rare rice variant called Hatsushimo. The real madness is that, from being mere seeds to the day of harvest, the plants were exposed to ASMR audio from the waifu Owari sweetly wishing them to grow strong and healthy.

To ensure the plants received all possible digital love, farmers installed speakers throughout the field and even fitted individual headphones on several rice stalks, documenting the entire journey in a special video. Although raw rice bags had already been sold as limited merchandise for fans of the gacha, this will be the first time they are offered ready to eat at the event. According to a Yostar representative, they decided to sell the rice balls with just a touch of salt, no seaweed or other ingredients, so attendees can taste the purity of this premium grain blessed by technology.

Knowing this rice was literally pampered for months with the voice of one of the game’s most popular characters, would you be willing to pay 1,000 yen for a simple salted onigiri just to experience it fully and taste the affection of your waifu?