'Sanrio Boys' Drops First Adorable Trailer

Sanrio is one of the most popular brands in Japan, and the world at large, and one of its latest spin-offs is getting an anime series that is certain to earn a new wave of fans.

Sanrio Boys, a merchandise line created by Sanrio in 2016, is getting an anime series and has just premiered its first trailer. The series premieres on January 6, and the show's main cast will sing the series' opening theme "Seishun Interlude," and the ending theme, "Now on dream!," under the group name Sanrio Danshi.

Sanrio Boys tells the story of five students who come together in a group thanks to their love of Sanrio properties like Hello Kitty. The story follows Kōta Hasegawa, a high school boy who is embarassed for his love of Sanrio's yellow Pom Pom Purin dog. By some coincidence, he ends up attending the same school as Yū Mizuno, a boy who likes the bunny My Melody. Yū tells Kōta that there's nothing to be ashamed of for liking Sanrio's cute characters. Together, Kōta, Yū, Shunsuke Yoshino, Ryō Nishimiya, and Seiichiro Minamoto learn to accept their love of the characters through their budding friendship rather than feel embarrassed.

The voice cast includes the likes of Jun Oosuka as Shunsuke Yoshino, who loves Hello Kitty, Soma Saito (Rokka: Braves of Six Flowers' Adlet Myer) as Yu Mizuno, who loves My Melody, Takuya Eguchi (My Love Story!!'s Takeo Gōda) as Kōta Hasegawa, who loves Pom Pom Purin, Hiroyuki Kagura (Bungo Stray Dogs' Kenji Miyazawa) as Ryō Nishimiya, who loves Little Twin Stars, Yuma Uchida (Gundam Build Fighters Try's Yuma Kosaka) as Seiichiro Minamoto, who loves Cinnamoroll.

The first home video release for the series will hit on March 21, and contains the first two anime episodes with two bones un-aired original shorts, "Hajimete no Otsukai Danshi" and "Okuyukashii Danshi." The rest of the volumes will each release with two episodes each and come bundled with an extra anime short such as "S Rare Danshi," "LINE Danshi," "Miteshimatta Danshi," "LINE Danshi," and "Moeagaru Danshi."

Sanrio Boys is currently slated to run for 12 episodes with seven bonus un-aired anime originals, and has been adapted into two different manga by Mai Ando. The first series follows the regular lives of the boys, while the second has a heroine who romances the boys.