Sanrio recently announced a new fantasy series called Fragaria Memories, turning some of their most beloved characters, including Hello Kitty, into cute anime boys.
As reported by ComicBook.com earlier this week, the three boys are knights in a fantasy world, with character designs based on Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll and Bad Badtz-Maru.
Sanrio’s Fragaria Memories franchise
The newest Sanrio franchise, Fragaria Memories, has not yet been confirmed for any animated shorts or audio dramas as of this writing; however, the characters have been given voice acting, hinting at this possibility. Hallritt, whose design is based on Hello Kitty, will be voiced by Gakuto Kajiwara (Black Clover), Cielomort, who is based on Cinnamoroll, will be voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki (Free!, Jujutsu Kaisen, Fruits Basket) and Badobarm, based on bad Badtz-Maru will be voiced by Shunsuke Takeuchi (Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, Tokyo Revengers). The story of these three knights takes place in a fantasy world where Sanrio characters are lords of the land and featured knights have sworn allegiance to their respective lords. Hallritt, Hello Kitty’s knight and citizen of the Red Continent, is tasked by his lord to save the world from enemies simply known as the Seeds.
Sanrio is known worldwide for its cute characters, the most recognizable being Hello Kitty. However, Sanrio started out simply as a silk manufacturer in the 1960s and was originally named the Yamanashi Silk Center. Over the years, the company expanded its products and began hiring artists to draw cute designs for their products. Hello Kitty, designed by artist Yuko Shimizu, first appeared in 1975 on a simple coin purse. Since then, Sanrio has become a household name and regularly collaborates with other famous brands.
This latest addition to the Sanrio franchise is a far cry from its signature cute animal characters, though that doesn’t seem to discourage fans of the company. So far, the project has received great support from the fan community. Sanrio also recently announced a Hello Kitty board game titled Hello Kitty: Day at the Park, produced by Maestro Media and Digital Development Management. The game is expected to release sometime in 2024.
While not much is known about the plans for the Fragaria Memories project, the reveal of the project’s hot anime guys has sparked a lot of excitement. Sanrio fans can find all the updates for Fragaria Memories on the official website.
Source: ComicBook, Sanrio’s official website