Stocks in Japan’s manga publishers, cartoon animators, toymakers and a variety of other pop culture-related shares exploded into life yesterday as the market pondered the possibility of a “comic-friendly” new prime minister.

The short-lived market euphoria surrounding companies that sell or manufacture Japan’s celebrated “otaku” (geeky) goods was, said senior fund managers, a “silly proxy bet” on who will be the next prime minister of Japan.

But bereft of a positive spin on last night’s shock resignation by Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese and foreign brokers rushed to supply clients with a comprehensive list of pop culture stocks that might benefit, should the famously manga-obsessed Taro Aso, Chief Cabinet Secretary, become leader.

One of the larger lists, provided by Macquarie, included 25 names: in many cases the “Aso shares” surged in the first 30 minutes of trading before sanity resumed and the shares slipped back.

Favourite names included Broccoli, which makes children’s collectables and shot up by 45 per cent before lunch, Mandarake, which is a chain of comic stores, and Marvellous Entertainment, which makes anime cartoons. Mandarake’s shares soared by 17 per cent at one stage, prompting one Nomura analyst to declare the stock “an obvious short for when the market starts thinking rationally again.”

Mr Aso, who is a highly controversial and fiercely nationalist figure, has been touted as a possible prime minister for several years. He is such a keen fan of manga comics that last year he introduced an international prize for comic artists and encouraged a scheme that made Doraemon — a large, blue cartoon cat — into Japan’s first fictional cultural ambassador.

But the sudden burst of enthusiasm for any manga-related investment was a small silver lining on Japan’s dismal new political void.

Japan’s most powerful business lobby today condemned Mr Fukuda’s sudden resignation as a “pathetic” move that endangered the country’s increasingly troubled economy. A senior member of the Keidanren business federation described the resignation as “irresponsible” and said that it made a mockery of a Cabinet reshuffle undertaken just a month ago and a fiscal stimulus package launched at the end of last week.

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