It seems that Sanrio’s ever popular Hello Kitty is collaborating with just about everyone and everything. From Hatsune Miku to Vans shoes to Sephora and even Capcom’s Street Fighter, Hello Kitty has ventured to a pinnacle where no Sanrio character has ever gone before. Hello Kitty has long become a fashion statement, a popular trend that does’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.
But what takes the cake for me is the announcement that Hello Kitty will be collaborating with mega-hit series ONE PIECE. With which character in particular? With ONE PIECE’s cutest resident reindeer/tanuki mascot, of course. Sanrio and Toei Animation have already made arrangements and are planning to release up to 350 type of products ranging from stationary, clothing attire, accessories, plushies, and much more. (Guys, prepare to lose your wallet buying your ONE PIECE/Hello Kitty-loving girlfriends all these products.)
My opinion? Cute, but… seriously?
I do find it interesting that they’re mixing the lines between obviously shoujo and obviously shounen with Street Fighter and now ONE PIECE. (Girls loving ONE PIECE? Fine. But guys loving Hello Kitty? Not as much… though I know a couple who do…)
But if you think about it, this joint collaboration may just be beneficial to both sides of the party. After all, both the Toei and Sanrio marketing departments do know what they’re doing. It may as well successfully open up a larger audience of female ONE PIECE fans, and Sanrio will be getting even more exposure in Japan with ONE PIECE’s current hype… not that Hello Kitty isn’t already huge by itself, but together… Maybe they’ll take over both the shoujo and shounen world riding each other’s waves?
Even so, *boggle.*
