Japanese espionage thriller VIVANT is back for a second season, and everything about it is more over the top than before. The first run in 2023 featured plenty of spectacle, but two episodes in the drama has gone even more John Wick in nature.
That extends to the marketing around it. Whereas season one embraced a lack of facts before airing to surprise people, round two finds VIVANT all over the place. That includes in convenience stores across the nation, with snack maker Koikeya rolling out two special-edition potato chips featuring flavors inspired by the main protagonists of the series.
“Nogi's Salt And Seaweed” flavor leans into central character Yusuke Nogi's background from Shimane Prefecture, utilizing two types of seaweed along with a touch of savory clams. Meanwhile, “Nozaki's Kebab” combines a beef flavor with an assortment of spices vaguely recalling the Central Asia region most of the show happens in.
Despite radically different flavor offerings, both VIVANT chips share a lot in common. Both are tasty, delivering on the central sell on the bag (though the kebab one is closer to a BBQ chip than what you would get from a cart, but still good), yet they also aren't all that different than other options on the same shelf. Sometimes you get a chip absolutely coated with the dust and those turn up the action, but for the most part these are simply fine. Which seems off for a show as over-the-top as VIVANT.
