Be Environmentally Aware with the Moe Characters of the "Cool Choice" Campaign

The anime and manga community are no stranger in being the face for various promotional purposes from different companies and franchises. This time however, the government takes a hand with the promotional ability of anime with the introduction of two “moe” school girl characters to bring awareness over environmental issues to the youth that have found to be either ignorant and/or uninterested in the topic.

The two characters Ima Kimino and Mirai Kimino whose names essentially mean “Your Present” and “Your Future” respectively, were brought to life by the Ministry of Environment (MoE). With the aim of educating ordinary Japanese in making energy-efficient lifestyle choices and in adherence to Japan’s pledge of lowering it greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2030, the MoE launched a “Cool Choice” campaign in which the two characters were introduced.

Ima Kimino is described as the as an irresponsible lazy slob with little to no care about envirionmental efficienct as evidenced by her energy wasting habits of leaving the lights on and her refrigerator open. What’s more, in order to enjoy her favourite treat, ice cream, she even turns up the heat during the winter season. She is an overall image of someone who greatly indulges in the pleasures that technology brings while turning away on what goes on in the environment.

On the other hand, Mirai Kimino, a parallel world version of Ima is the complete opposite to the irresponsible slob. She is described to enjoy a “clean, prosperous, advanced, and sustainable lifestyle.” In addition to this, a story is revealed behind the two of how at one point, their two worlds were one. However, at one point in time their worlds ended up being divided and wasteful energy use has been found to be the culprit. Now as the parallel girls have met, Mirai makes it her mission to have Ima change her wasteful ways while also save the environment.

The concept of the two characters being “moe” was a concept inspired by the Ministry’s acronym and the two were specifically chosen out of 135 different submissions to support the Ministry’s PR campaign. In order to promote the characters, the Ministry plans to spread them the Kimino characters through videos and apps of Cool Choice where environmental tips, information and how certain environmental situations may affect your area are given.

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