Junji Ito x Hello Kitty is the collab fans never knew they needed

Modified Jul 08, 2024 14:25 GMT

Junji Ito x Hello Kitty is the collab fans never knew they needed (Image via Viz Media & Sanrio)

On July 7, 2024, horror manga artist Junji Ito announced a collaboration with the famous fictional character, Hello Kitty. The collaboration will be between the horror mangaka and the owner of the fictional character's design, Sanrio, for a pop-up store in Japan.

Junji Ito is one of the most influential horror mangaka, famous for his art style and capability of creating a chilling atmosphere through his manga series. Hello Kitty is a fictional while girl cat owned by Sanrio. The character has a huge fanbase throughout the world, especially among children.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed in this article solely belong to the author.

Junji Ito x Hello Kitty collaboration announced in Japan

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The collaboration announcement visual featured Tomie, a character from Junji Ito's first manga series, Tomie, alongside the Sanrio character. The character from the horror manga artist's series was wearing clothes that resembled the Sanrio character's style.

The collaboration between the horror manga author and the Sanrio character will be seen in a pop-up store in Shinsaibashi and Shibuya in Japan. The pop-up would feature artworks combining the horror manga artist's characters and characters from the production company Sanrio, including Hello Kitty.

Reactions from the fandom on this collaboration

A fan speculated the reason behind this collaboration, which was most probably due to the horror manga artist's love for pets. The manga artist has two pet cats which he has mentioned on various occasions.

Funnily enough, some fans were confused about the collaboration as they doubted whether this collaboration, with the cute Sanrio character, would make the horror manga artist's work more intense or tone it down.

The reason behind this could mostly be because 'cute' is very easy to depict as 'creepy,' just like how it is easy to make a smile creepy by intensifying it. At the end of the day, this collaboration was unexpected, but the fandom was all over it, and couldn't help but appreciate the contract between these two media projects.

Fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their views on this unexpected collaboration.

"He loves cats" a fan claimed

"This tones down the horror of Ito Junji extreme levels. Or maybe it increases it?" another one showed his confusion

"The horror of a hello-kitty girl" another fan claimed

"Didn't expect this but slaaayyyy!" another one admitted to the genius behind this collaboration

Final thoughts

The Yon and Mu manga series cover (Image via Kodansha)

Where this collaboration might look like something unrelated, it makes sense, as one fan has already pointed out, because of the love of the horror manga artist for cats. The biggest proof of this is his work titled Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu. The premise of this manga lies around the author adjusting to the company of this feline creature in his everyday life.

Although it is an autobiography of this real life, the author added his unique art style to give the manga a horror twist, with the horror being more around making scenes 'extreme' rather than creepy. The manga series is also one of the most successful works of the horror manga artist, mainly in the Western region of the world. But as this reason is not confirmed, take this information with a grain of salt.

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Edited by Sreerupa Das