Sanrio Boys
Background. The Sanrio Boys were created by Sanrio in November 2015 to promote merchandise for their best-selling characters on social media, a strategy of which has been compared to Twitter accounts run by characters from "Uta no Prince-sama". The Sanrio Boys originally consisted of five characters, but has since then expanded to seven. The characters were so well-received that they received their own line of character merchandise starting in June 2016. Media. Manga. "Sanrio Boys" was adapted into two manga adaptations written and illustrated by Mai Ando, with both manga series running concurrently. , which features  the Sanrio Boys' daily lives, was published on the mobile app "Manga One" starting April 2016. , which features one of the Sanrio Boys being romantically involved with a girl, was serialized in the magazine "Sho-Comi" starting from its June 2016 issue. Both were compiled into volume format and released under the title "Sanrio Boys" under Shogakukan's Flower Comics imprint. Game. A visual novel style dating sim game was released onto Android and iOS under the name on September 13, 2016. The theme song is "Fun! Fantastic Girl", produced by Elements Garden and performed by the voice actors of  Sanrio Boys. Approximately 100,000 users downloaded the game during the first six days of release. Anime. An anime adaptation of "Sanrio Boys" was announced in the fifth issue of the 2017 edition of Shogakukan's "Sho-Comi" magazine. The series is directed by Masashi Kudō and written by Takashi Aoshima, and the anime production is handled by Pierrot. The anime aired Japan from January 6 to March 24, 2018. The series is licensed by Ponycan USA in North America, who are simulcasting the series on Crunchyroll. The anime has 12 episodes. Stage play. A stage play titled "Miracle☆Stage  Sanrio Boys" was announced at the end of episode 12 of the anime. The play is directed by Masami Itō, with the script written by Shinjirō Kameda, the choreography by Tetsuharu, and the music composed by Yu. The main cast consists of Naoya Kitagawa as Kōta, Hiroki Sasamori as Yū, Tsubasa Yoshizawa as Shunsuke, Yū Miyazaki as Ryō, Shinichi Wagō as Seiichiro, Kōhei Kishi as Subaru Amagaya, and Jin Hiramaki as Naoki. Reception. As of April 5, 2018 the manga had 200,000 copies in print. Rebecca Silverman of "Anime News Network" gave the anime series a mixed review, mentioning that  while the first half of the series was well-written, the second half of the series "took a nosedive" and felt like an "overt advertisement."