Aggretsuko is Not is a Boozer

Aggretsuko is one of Sanrio latest Furry characters.  She is a cute Red Panda, 25 years old, and a worker at a respected trading firm in Tokyo.   She has to deal with a lot of office politics, a condescending boss, and backstabbing and annoying coworkers.  When she reaches her limit, she lets off steam via death metal singing and karaoke. She is cute but definably not like Hello Kitty.   A Little misinformation if in the media that Aggretsuko is a boozer.   This misinformation came from a screen shot from episode five of Aggretsuko shorts shown on YouTube.   While no English sub existed, I could still get the gist.  In this episode Aggretsuko was at the bosses after work party know in Japanese culture as a Nomikai.  At the party, food and a communal bottle of beer are offered. Nomikai etiquette dictates no glass left empty and you do not fill your glass but you fill the glasses of others also, the lower rank worker serves the upper rank. In this case, the boss set off Aggretsuko by criticizing her for filling his glass with the beer label down. She fantasies insulting and defying the boss   by guzzling the beer in front of him.

I think it is interesting how Sanrio is marketing Aggretsuko in Japan and the US. Most Sanrio characters start out like Hello Kitty;  first   being marked to the little  Girls, then evolving the market to  include Women and now for Hello Kitty to Men.   In Aggretsuko case, she is marketed straight to adults.  I feel she has a lot of potential worldwide represent the feelings of many over worked individuals and dealing with work place politics.

I spoke to soon  in Episode  50 Aggretsuko get a little tipsy during  a Cherry Blossom outing.

Closing Sanrio Stores Did Sanrio Made a Mistake?

I replied to an older post about Sanrio in closing it stores has got me thinking.  What is not  widely reported  was Sanrio  was closing its company stores and pushing owner operators to  buy back stores and run them as independent Sanrio stores.   I know this true because I talked to the previous owner of the closed Washington Square store In Oregon. Sanrio wanted her to buy back the store , but at her age, she  decided to retire instead.

Now two years later, I think the way Sanrio approached pulling out of the retail market was the wrong decision. They should had  push spinning off the stores  than outright closing them and relying on big retailers.

Hello Kitty Supercute Festival Cancelation

The mystery deepens

“Alas, the tour went kaput. A spokeswoman says VEE, the company overseeing the festival, decided not to continue with the fall/holiday leg. VEE “was acquired just as the tour launched; the new ownership had a different vision for the organization,” she says.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/08/14/say-goodbye-to-the-hello-kitty-supercute-tour/

All  along was it VEE intention to walk away from the tour?  Sanrio at times  misses when picking  partners for collaborations .They are great for retail products like Tokidoki   and Loungefly, but  miss the mark  when it came to game like Aiea games for Hello Kitty Online and  VEE corporation for  Supercute  Festival. What puzzling is why, VEE does the  Sesame Street traveling  shown, that attract the same number as the Hello Kitty Supercute  Festival but  Hello Kitty  is not.  Is it because Vee doesn’t care to do interactive shows but prefer higher per show attendance volume stage shows?

Over all Sanrio made a poor choice partnering with VEE.  Still we can hope Sanrio  can fine a new partner or push it to Sanrio Entertainment.