It seems like maybe they've had mascots before? Nothing on this level they're trying to push for sure though.

It's 100% real, she's been animated and everything. Multiple news orgs are reporting on this.

It really is a wild fucking timeline we're living in right now.

I gotta be real, the article like... Basically had nothing to say other than "girls hot." I had actually hoped there might be curious analysis or discussion, but then I saw it was J-List after clicking and stayed to see how bad it was. oof!

The second paragraph literally discusses creating a self care plan surrounding watching the movie. It links out to several studies by child psychologists and articles discussing watching scary/sad media with kids and how to do so. It shows examples of how kids are interacting with stories like this safely. It recommends showing kids things like this in safe environments so they don't suddenly come to you broken and scared when horrors are thrust upon them when they are alone or unsupervised.

As a kid, I was "trolled" with fake links that sent me to beheading videos online. Tons of folks I know watched 9/11 happen live in their classrooms. Hell, the post talks about how pictures and videos from Gaza keep showing up on feeds on Instagram and TikTok. The whole point is parents should do that work and teach kids these skills and that it's okay to ask for help if they run into an emotional brick wall BEFORE they hit the brick wall.

But this is why ya shouldn't skim! Read deeply! (P.S. I wrote the post, I'm also literally a parent. If that matters to you.)

Ahem... The film is rated...

• USA: Not rated by the MPAA. Considered "suitable for all audiences" on the Central Park Media VHS release. TV-PG on the Sentai Filmworks release.
• Germany: 6+ (Apropriate for ages 6 and up.)
• France: Tous publics (General Audiences)
• India: U (Unrestricted public exhibition, suitable for all ages.)
• Hong Kong: Level 1 (Suitable for All Ages.)
• Canada: G and PG for Quebec and Manitoba respectively.
• Japan: G
• Saudi Arabia: PG
• Singapore: PG
• Italy: T (Recommended for persons of all age groups.)
• Taiwan: 0+ (Suitable for all ages)
• Netherlands: 9 (Ages 9 and up)
• Nigeria: PG

You'd know that if you read the post! Funnily enough, it also links out to an neat article discussing a study showing parents aren't reading scary stories to their kids... And why that's bad. Here it is just in case ya need it! Heck, on other bits of social media, I heard about schools showing kids the movie in 5th to 6th grade, in the US even!

You'd rather have kids do it when they're supervised and have love and support then when it is suddenly thrust upon them with no warning, that's for sure.

Me too, but I rarely see regret for having seen it the one time they did.

Read the whole post, give it a serious shake. It cites child psychological studies, shows how kids today are healthily handling stories like these in Japan, and even acknowledges secondary trauma and avoiding triggers for already traumatized people. There's a lot of nuance when you get past the title.

Perhaps I had a better experience with the article with my adblocker on, there were more pictures in the article too when I saw it on desktop.

This is so sweet of you to share my work like this, thank you! I'm also pretty excited for Season 2 of Tonbo! as it was a surprisingly touching tale emotionally, even with all the technical golf talk.