War Thunder is collaborating with the Japan Air Self-Defense force’s erotic furry mascot 

The free-to-play vehicular combat game War Thunder has announced a surprising collaboration with the Japan Air Self Defense Force (JASDF). As War Thunder features real-life military aircraft from all over the world, this doesn’t seem too odd at first glance. Except, well, it involves in-game and real-life body pillows of the JASDF’s mascot Omaneko, a strangely sexy blue tom cat. 

In case you missed it, we previously delved into Omaneko’s background to find out more about the JASDF mascot. To cut a long tale (tail?) short, Omaneko is one of the internally created mascot characters for the JASDF’s Omaezaki sub-base and is actually based on a local landmark. From there, the camo-vest wearing cat has attracted a cult fan following, spawning a wave of fan art and even a successful appearance at Kemoket, Japan’s largest furry/anthro-related comic fair. 

War Thunder’s collaboration with the JASDF involves body pillows. Anyone who logs on to the Japanese version of the game on either PC or PlayStation between October 11 and December 31 this year will receive their very own in-game body pillow decals featuring Omaneko in two poses. These 3D decals can be used to jazz up ground vehicles in the game- so don’t be surprised if during multiplayer you come across someone casually driving a tank with body pillows stuck to it (like you do…). 

Omaneko the Japan air force’s furry mascot

For those who want to snuggle up to Omaneko for real- there is a 2m tall body pillow. This extremely limited item will be given away to 22 followers of War Thunder Japan’s official X account who repost and like the campaign (entrants in Japan only). The winners will be selected by lottery. Official images of the real-life pillow even helpfully include a silhouette of a saluting figure to emphasize just how ginormous the pillow is. 

Although initial appearances may be deceiving, Omaneko is actually male. The official announcement on War Thunder’s site even emphasizes this by including a footnote on the advertising image to remind us that Omaneko is indeed a tom cat. This certainly makes Omaneko stand out in the sea of anime girl body pillows.