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Show By Rock! Characters Join This Year's Sanrio Character Poll

Sanrio will be conducting its 30th annual character poll beginning on Sunday. The story goes that Sanrio's vast stable of characters are on a voyage hunting for a mysterious treasure box, but only the cutest of them all can open the box. Who is the cutest? What's in the box? The world will have to wait until June 27 for the announcement to find out.

Among this year's new entries are three bands from the Sanrio music anime Show By Rock!!: Trichronika, Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan, and Criticrista. They join ShinganCrimsonZ and Plasmagica, who debuted last year. The bands collectively count as characters. Other characters making their first-time appearance are the British characters Mr. Men and Little Miss (counted together), Tiny Chum, Hummingmint, Shinkaizoku, YOSHIKITTY, Chobot and Moyurun. A grand total of 100 characters are on the ballot.

Sanrio has been conducting these character polls since 1986. Although a variety of characters won at first, the early 1990s were dominated by Pochacco, while Hello Kitty triumphed each year from 1998 to 2009. Since then, the honor has alternated between her and My Melody. My Melody won last year. To see the characters in the running this year, see this page.

[Via Sanrio]