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Girls & Panzer Ambassador/Pro Wrestler, Town Mascot Face Off in Promo Campaign

Official Girls und Panzer ambassador and pro wrestler Masahiro Chōno is confronting a new rival: the clam-nosed, sardine-haired mascot character Araippe. The wrestler with "black charisma" and character with "white charisma" are teaming up (facing off?) in a promotional campaign for "The Oceanfront Town" of Ōarai, Ibaraki. The town's official tourism information YouTube channel began streaming 15-second and full versions of a promotional video for the campaign on Tuesday.

Chōno and Araippe will go on a series of (mis)adventures around the town. The campaign will stream videos on sites like YouTube of them visiting famous places in Ōarai. Tochigi's MOVIX Utsunomiya, Saitama's MOVIX Saitama, and Chiba's Movix Kashiwanoha theaters will also screen the collabotation's commercial from December 17 to January 13.

The collaboration is printing about 340 B1-size campaign posters and about 50,000 A4-size flyers to hang and distribute at JR East train stations. The posters will hang in prefectures under JR East jurisdiction from December 15 to December 21, and the flyers will be available until they run out or the end of February.

People who share related pictures on Twitter and Instagram and use the hashtag "#Ōaraicampaign" (in Japanese) with have a chance for their submissions to appear on the collaboration website or in web commercials. Chōno's fashion brand Aritrist and Araippe are partnering to give special T-shirts to five people who post photos for the campaign. The other prizes are local cuisine and fish. The project will select winners through a random lottery.

Araippe, one of Japan's hundreds of local yurukyara mascot characters, has a hamaguri (common orient clam) nose, shirasu (sardine fry) hair, and a clam-rake tail. The character debuted in 2013 after a contest to create a new mascot character for Ōarai.

Chōno used his standing as Girls und Panzer ambassador to promote the coastal town at the Ōarai Spring Matsuri Kairaku Festa event in March. He also makes regular appearances to support the anime itself, such as at a press event for a Girls und Panzer-inspired Cup Noodles holder shaped like a tank ammo round.

Ōarai has become an anime pilgrimage site because of its status as the Girls und Panzer setting. The anime has participated in many collaborations with Ōarai, and the series received the Grand Prize for improving Ibaraki Prefecture's image in 2013. The anime participates in the annual Ōarai Anglerfish Festival, and its contributions, such as itasha cars, helped to draw 100,000 visitors to the event in 2013.

Source: Animate Times