Hello Kitty theme park to be overrun by zombies this summer, young children barred from entering
Eradication squads to be dispatched to deal with outbreak, guests will need to prove they're not infected by completing missions inside haunted theme park.
Few theme parks stick to their theme as strongly as Tokyo's Sanrio Puroland. Disneyland has a number of rides with inspirations from outside the Disney animated canon, and Universal Studios Japan's video game and anime-themed attractions are arguably the bigger draw than its Hollywood movie ones. Pretty much everything inside Puroland, though, is there to connect you to the world of Hello Kitty and her Sanrio friends.
Oh, except for the zombies and the containment squad sent in to exterminate them.
Yes, on special nightmarish nights this summer, Puroland will be overrun by legions of the walking dead as the park transforms into one of the largest haunted houses in Japan for the Obaken Zombieland in Puroland -Rebirth Code- event. The latest installment in Sanrio's surprising collaboration with Tokyo-based horror design company Obaken, the event makes no attempt to distance itself from the Puroland branding, as its backstory explicitly states that you're in the role of a visitor to Puroland when a zombie outbreak occurs and the park has to be locked down.
▼ Changes to the interior lighting make Puroland a surprisingly sinister-looking place.
The in-even story even acknowledges previous Puroland horror events, saying that the authorities thought that they'd contained the source of the previous zombie outbreak three years ago (last year's invading force of evil was the Devil Tribe) , only for a new, more powerful strain of the virus to suddenly surface. With everyone inside the park suspected of being contaminated, and the response team apparently having been instructed to shoot zombies (as shown in the preview video above), you'll need to traverse the zombie-overrun Puroland and complete a series of missions to prove that you're still an uninfected human, all while being pursued by creatures that want to consumer your flesh.
Successfully confirming your non-infected status is by no means guaranteed. There are a total of seven available missions, and at least four must be completed to earn a survivor's badge.
It's unclear what happens to those who can't verify they're not infected, but with the most obvious potential outcomes being execution or permanently joining the zombie horde, you'll probably want to do your best to complete the missions.
As you can see from the preview images, this is by no means an activity for little kiddies that adds just a touch of spooky whimsy to Sanrio's customary cuteness. As a matter of fact, Puroland and Obake say this is their most terrifying team-up yet, and children under junior high school age will not be admitted. On the event's website Puroland even goes so far as to say they 'will bear absolutely no responsibility for trouble that occurs between participants,' so if the bonds of devotion between you and your family, friends, or lover break under the strain of imminent death at the hands of the undead, don't expect the park's staff to help you patch the relationship up after one of you abandons the other to save themselves.
Obaken Zombieland in Puroland -Rebirth Code- will take place on the nights of June 28 and July 5, starting at 7 p.m. after the park closes for the day and lasting until 10 p.m. Participation is capped at 1,000 people per night, with discount advance tickets going on sale online here from May 17 for 6,980 yen (US$48), and same-day, at-the-door tickets, if any are still available, priced at 7,980 yen.
Meanwhile, if all of this sounds just too scary and you'd rather just find a nice, cozy cafe to relax in, Obaken can help you with that too (just DO NOT go up to the second floor).
Related: Sanrio Puroland
Source: PR Times, Sanrio Puroland
Images: PR Times
© 2025 SANRIO CO., LTD. TOKYO, JAPAN 著作 株式会社サンリオ
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