The collaboration goods between the popular picture book series "Noraneko Gundan" and Chiba Lotte Marines, which caused a huge response on social media after its release was announced, will go on sale at Zozo Marine Stadium The Marines Store Museum Store and Stadium Store from Friday, May 16th (they will be on sale again at The Marines Online Store).

The online store pre-order sales were conducted before the actual store sales, and the number of pre-orders exceeded expectations, so production was quickly increased. We spoke to a member of the team about how the collaboration with the classic picture book "Noraneko Gundan," which is popular not only among children but also among adults, came about.

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The person who answered the interview was Chiba Lotte Marines MD/Concession Department's Musashi Yoshii. Looking back, Yoshii said that when the idea of collaborating with Noraneko Gundan first came up, "to be honest, I didn't really get it."
　
It all started around July 2024, when The Marines exhibited at an exhibition at Tokyo Big Sight.

"We met at an exhibition with the company that manufactures the collaborative goods. After that, they suggested that we could collaborate because Noriko Kudo, the author of Noraneko Gundan, seems to be a The Marines fan! Although we're always looking for collaborations with great content and design, to be honest, at first, it didn't really click for us."

However, after that, I started to see Noraneko Gundan gachapon machines and pop-up shops outside of bookstores that stocked picture books, and I began to feel the excitement surrounding the work firsthand.

"I thought this would be an amazing collaboration, and I was convinced it would be a hit, so I started to move forward."

Thus, the production of collaborative goods between "Noraneko Gundan" and The Marines got underway in earnest. When Yoshii first saw Kudo's original illustration, he felt that "Kudo is a real The Marines fan."

"We had them draw the pitch form, the pose at bat, and the pose chasing a fly ball, and because the number numbers were written on the illustrations, they were illustrations that allowed us to visualize the players we were using as references. We ended up erasing number, but our planning meetings where we looked at the illustrations and discussed what kind of merchandise we should make were very exciting (laughs).
I would like to continue working on this project in the future, so if there is another opportunity, I look forward to seeing some new illustrations!

Then, on April 3rd, the Noraneko Gundan and Chiba Lotte Marines announced the release of collaboration goods on their respective official social media accounts and websites. The news spread quickly on social media, and many people were captivated by the cute goods. Yoshii said the following about the reaction after the announcement:

"The response has been overwhelming, with more orders than we expected. It really shows the incredible power of Noraneko Gundan. We worked backwards from our production capacity and limited the number of products we had left to sell in stores, and started taking orders online first, but the number of products exceeded our expectations and some quickly reached the planned quantity and became "sold out." We immediately asked the manufacturer to increase production, and we were so busy adjusting the number of products available online," he revealed, crying out with joy.

In response to comments he had seen on social media saying "I wasn't able to buy it during the pre-order period," he said, "I'm sorry for misreading the situation. We are currently increasing production for sale in stores, so please be sure to get your hands on it as soon as it becomes available!"

Sales at The Marines Store Museum Store and Stadium Store, as well as resale at the Marines Online Store, will begin on Friday, May 16th. Be sure to check it out!
For details on Noraneko Gundan x Chiba Lotte Marines collaboration goods, click here

Text by Sari Ikeda