Sanrio is always up for new and interesting collaborations for its characters. (Case in point: the recent amazing Junji Ito collab.) Somehow, though, I don’t think they’d do an official collab with the Ukrainian military. A badge on a wall behind Ukraine’s president featuring the brand’s most Goth character raises a lot more questions than it answers.
The picture in this article comes from a December 9th post on the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s official website and YouTube channel. In the post, Zelenskyy talks about personnel changes the government is making to reboot the training system for its military.
The video is a largely dry affair. I’m sure it’s of interest to people who closely track Ukraine’s military readiness.
I am not one of them. I am, however, a Japan geek. So naturally, I was taken, instead, by the appearance of Kuromi on the wall of badges behind the President.
Kuromi, as most Sanrio fans know, is the evil little counterpart to the adorable and innocent My Melody. A rabbit in a black hat with a bad attitude, the character – born on Halloween, naturally – first appeared in the show Onegai My Melody in 2005. In the series, she’s known for keeping a notebook detailing all of Melody’s crimes against her – slights to which the innocent and naive Melody is completely oblivious.
The question is: what’s she doing on a wall of military badges behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
I shared the photo on our Bluesky account to see if more Ukraine-savvy users had any insights. One user says the badges belong to various military detachments in the Ukrainian army. For example, one badge to Kuromi’s upper right is for the Ukrainian 56th Motorized Brigade. Others are for a missile brigade and volunteers from Hungaria.
The text on the Kuromi badge doesn’t give any hints: according to one user, it says таємний підрозділ, or “secret detachment.” Keeping secrets…that’s so Kuromi.
Another user noted that another badge bears a Warhammer 40K insignia. “Ukrainian command must be okay with people using pop culture references for insignia,” they argued.
So, whose badge is it? The funniest explanation is that this badge might belong to a landmine deployment or removal unit. That would be hilarious, as Kuromi has been adopted as a mascot by Japan’s jirai-kei (地雷系), or “landmine girl,” subculture.
I don’t see any evidence supporting this. However, I choose to believe it as it’s extremely freaking funny.
The most likely answer, a couple of users said, is that the badge belongs to one of Ukraine’s drone units – which, according to one report, are currently accounting for 80% of Russian losses as Ukraine’s forces are thinning. Given the high-tech nature of these unit’s work, it’s not unlikely several of them are garden-variety Japan weebs. (I say this as a garden-variety Japan tech weeb.)
Whatever this unit’s doing, we wish them well in their fight. May the mischievous spirit of Kuromi inspire you, fearless soldiers.
Have thoughts on this article? Share them with us on our Bluesky account or the Unseen Japan Discord server.
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