Beyblade battles drive up sales at Hong Kong malls, but how long will the trend last?

The sharp clatter of spinning metal tops, cheers, sighs of frustration and shouts of “three, two, one … Go shoot!” echo across a shopping centre in Hong Kong’s New Territories on a weekday. In shops across Tuen Mun Town Plaza, children, teens and young adults hunch over small plastic battle arenas, unleashing the spinning tops into the “Beystadiums” in head-to-head competitions. The toy popularised by Japanese anime in the early 2000s made a comeback in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia early this...