It is the year of our Lord, 2019, and the RX-78-2 Gundam is about to engage in battle with Sanrio’s iconic mascot, Hello Kitty. We truly live in the strangest timeline.
The above image is part of Sanrio and Sunrise’s new collaboration, aptly titled ‘Gundam vs Hello Kitty.’ While the combination may look strange on paper, both franchises are actually celebrating important milestones this year, with Gundam celebrating its 40th birthday and Hello Kitty celebrating its 45th. So why not get them to face off for a new collaboration, right?
This new campaign is to be mainly conducted through LINE, Japan’s most popular instant messaging service. By adding the campaign’s official account as a friend, participants in this new culture war will then get to choose who they ‘support’ (Gundam or Hello Kitty), then participate in various activities to earn points for their ‘side.’ And if your side has more points than the other by the time the campaign ends in December, then you will receive a special present.
While I’m not confident about Hello Kitty’s chances of victory given how dedicated Gundam fans tend to be, at least the activities through which you can earn points are accessible enough to level the playing field just a little. The first campaign, set to start on April 2, will reward points to those who eat at the Marugame Seimen chain of udon restaurants. The second campaign, set to start on May 1, will then give points to those who shop at any of multiple Itoyokado malls dotted around the country.
All of that is fairly boring, though. So how about something more exciting? How about the news that SCRAP will be putting together an escape room based on the campaign? Yes, that company who also put together the very serious Hunter x Hunter escape game will now be creating a special escape room based on this clash of pop culture titans. How on earth they’ll manage to do this is another question entirely, but I’m looking forward to it nevertheless.
The campaign has just launched, so details are light at the moment. But the organizers have promised more news in the future, including story details that will explain how the RX-78-2 Gundam and Hello Kitty came to cross blades in the first place. Make sure to keep your eye on the official website for more updates.