TinierMe Partners With FUNimation’s Hetalia

TinierMe is launching a new branded virtual goods campaign for the FUNimation anime series Hetalia: Axis Powers. The campaign will run for the next month and introduce a Hetalia-themed gacha, or vending machine, into the virtual world that dispenses limited-edition Hetalia virtual goods. The Hetalia items available will include character costumes, hairstyles, and accessories. Hetalia: Axis Powers is a satirical anime and manga that imagines World War II and other historical events as the adventures of a group of hapless young men.

The deal will also open a Hetalia: Axis Powers section in TinierMe’s official forums, which will invite fans to discuss the series. Players who purchase three or more Hetalia: Axis Powers items for their avatars will get a free poster. The items for this collection will be based on the characters Italy, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Hetalia features a cast of over 40 characters in all. Hetalia was launched in Japan in 2008 as a popular Web comic and is being released officially in the US by FUNimation.

The Hetalia: Axis Powers deal comes on the hell of a similar in-world virtual item promotion involving another FUNimation anime series, Black Butler. TinierMe’s Sarah McNally says that the virtual world expects to do more promotions in the future based on other FUNimation properties. FUNimation is currently the largest anime licensor in the US, founded in 1994 to bring the Toei Animation TV series Dragon Ball Z to the US.  The titles included in TinierMe so far, Hetalia and Black Butler, are particularly popular with young women and fit TinierMe’s mostly-female audience of users 13 to 21.

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