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The Japan News/Yomiuri
The Japan News/Yomiuri
Entertainment
Mishio Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Specialist

MY HEROES / Hello Kitty meets Kamen Rider in a fun project

Kento Handa, left, and Kohei Murakami pose for a photo with Hello Kitty at a recent press conference. (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

Do Kamen Rider and Hello Kitty make a good combination? The answer is yes. Although they have completely different characters, I can tell you that they are surprisingly compatible.

Earlier this month, I went to a press conference for a project featuring Hello Kitty and the tokusatsu sci-fi action drama "Kamen Rider 555." The Kamen Rider franchise dates back to 1971, and "Kamen Rider 555," which aired in 2003, was the fourth Kamen Rider series to be produced in the current Heisei era, which started in 1989. The collaboration is meant to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the drama's broadcast.

Various products will go on sale as part of the project, such as key chains, towels and plastic folders bearing Hello Kitty in the guise of Kamen Rider 555 (pronounced "faiz") as well as Kamen Rider Kaixa and other popular characters in the drama.

Hello Kitty, a creation of Sanrio Co., is a Japanese-born superstar who has won the hearts of many fans around the world with her adorable looks. Kamen Rider is a superhero that Japan is proud of, along with Ultraman. It is no exaggeration to say they are two giants among characters that have been created in this country. But Hello Kitty is cute, while Kamen Rider is cool. They have quite different characteristics and fan bases.

Before the press conference, I was a little concerned that a collaboration between two such disparate icons would end up in failure -- only to find my fears were unfounded. The cute, catlike girl and the dashing superhero complemented each other really well, on an almost mysterious level.

As an opening act before the press conference, a little show was put on in which the two Kamen Riders came to rescue Hello Kitty as she was attacked by an enemy force. The anything-goes stage attraction did not look strange at all, and I thought this must be the ultimate example of the "Cool Japan" initiative to promote Japanese culture.

Let me explain. It seemed to be typically Japanese that the two parties with strongly distinctive colors complemented each other without any difficulties, thereby making each other's characters stand out even more -- without one negatively impacting the other. It struck me as similar to what happened with Japanese industries after the end of World War II. When domestic companies tried to improve their cars, electrical appliances and other products, they were flexible enough to incorporate the advantages of their more advanced counterparts' products from overseas into their own, thus developing products made in Japan into high-quality items on the world market.

The press conference was also participated in by two Kamen Rider actors: Kento Handa and Kohei Murakami, who play the characters before they transform into superheroes Kamen Rider 555 and Kaixa, respectively. They posed for photos with Hello Kitty.

A special talk show by the two actors is scheduled to be held on May 5 -- a tribute to the number "555" -- at Sanrio Puroland, an amusement park in Tama, Tokyo, which features Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters. I'll keep an eye on how this intriguing collaboration develops.

Suzuki is a Yomiuri Shimbun senior specialist and an expert on tokusatsu superhero films and dramas.

Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/

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