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The story
A 5ch thread calling for “tell me your favorite Sanrio character” drew a flood of replies. Classic names like Kero Kero Keroppi, Hello Kitty, and Cinnamoroll came up one after another, but the conversation soon drifted toward how the newer character “Hanamaru Obake” is being handled. Some posts pointed out that the company is pushing the character hard after it won an official new-character audition, which didn’t sit well with everyone — leaving a thread where longtime character fans and fans of the newcomer clearly saw things differently.
What people said
Gyodon
https://youtube.com/shorts/8t0q0UDOB-k?si=iW0wNR1bgGztj4H7
Looks just like Kamirena-chan
It feels more down-to-earth and approachable than Disney
plus there's Gaokkii, and they've done Hello! Project collabs too
Oh, they're out there
a lot of them have that scary ex-delinquent look
thought it was an owl, but looked it up and turns out it's actually a horned owl
You mean Pata Pata Peppy?
just so you know
If you're a Hello! Project otaku, you end up picking this stuff up naturally
It's not just "lately" — that one won the new-character audition
so Sanrio needs it to sell, meaning it's had special treatment from day one
That one, I will never forgive
https://www.sanrio.co.jp/characters/shinkaizoku/
She's still the main one, after all
that's the kind of thing I like
Background and Key Points
Sanrio has rolled out new characters every few years since the 1990s, and in recent years it has run official “new character audition” polls open to the public, putting promotional weight behind whichever character comes out on top. “Hanamaru Obake,” mentioned in the thread, is a relatively new character that emerged from this system, and it’s hardly unusual for a company to prioritize merchandise and advertising exposure for a character it needs to turn a profit. The gap between longtime fans who see this as “special treatment from the very start” and fans who simply took a liking to the new character is a pattern that’s long been common in the character-merchandising business. The thread also saw pushback against skepticism that “middle-aged guys who like Sanrio” even exist, with posters citing collaborations with Hello! Project and other idol-related ventures as evidence — a reflection of how Sanrio has expanded beyond its family-oriented roots to reach a much broader customer base.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Tell me your favorite Sanrio characters.”
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