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Koupen-chan Collaborates With Super Sentai's 1st-Ever Team

Rurutea, the creator of the baby emperor penguin character Koupen-chan, announced on August 8 that Koupen-chan is collaborating with the Super Sentai franchise's first-ever team, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. Rurutea stated the special collaboration had started with a pop-up store between August 8 to 24 at the Ikebukuro Parco, featuring a poster of the Koupen-chan characters dressed as the Gorenger team members and series villain Black Cross Führer:

The Super Sentai franchise is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with the original cast reuniting on stage for a talk event in April, a Zen Super Sentai Dai Tōhyō (All Super Sentai Grand Vote) poll held with NHK in May, a collaboration with Japanese underwear brand Hipshop for a series of official Super Sentai underwear in June, and the start of the Zen Super Sentai Ten (All Super Sentai Exhibition) tour at the Tokyo Dome City Prism Hall between August 8 and 27.

Himitsu Sentai Gorenger premiered on April 5, 1975. The series ran for 84 episodes as the longest running Super Sentai series thus far. Himitsu Sentai Gorenger was followed by 1977's J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai. The formal birth of the Super Sentai franchise was with 1979's Battle Fever J with Gorenger and J.A.K.Q. retroactively folded into the franchise. The 16th entry, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, was loosely adapted into the first Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series in the United States. The Super Sentai franchise is currently celebrating its golden anniversary with the Number 1 Sentai Gozyuger television series.

Sources: Rurutea's X/Twitter account, Koupen-chan x Himitsu Sentai Gorenger's collaboration website