this whole subgenre of anime music or idol projects of *thing* as cute anime characters is probably deeply rooted in japan's youkai and kami culture, the love to give every object and abstract concept a sould and a personality really reminds me of tsukimogami stories. as absurd and cashgrabby as they can get they're a pretty interesting phenomenon if you think about it. i think that's also why scp and anomaly-searching games like exit 8 and jsp popped off so much in japan specifically, it all goes back to modern youkai
anyways a while ago i tried to compile a list of projects that follow this formula just for fun. there are certainly way more comprehensive lists but it's so fun to dig up these by myself so any suggestions very welcome no matter the quality
so far we've anime-ikemenified:
historical figures (a whole bunch but specifically fate)
countries (hetalia)
battleships (kantai collection AND azur lane)
gaming consoles (hyperdimention neptunia)
racehorses (uma musume)
animals overall (kemono friends)
food (food fantasy)
firearms (girls frontline)
katanas (touken ranbu)
classical music pieces (tact/op)
writers (bungou stray dogs)
painters (palette parade)
shoguns and samurai (bakumatsu rock and sengoku a live)
tokyo metro stations (station idol latch)
shonen protagonists (do yall remember enigma of sepia)
disney villains (twisted wonderland)
disney heroes (sparklink stars)
sanrio characters (fragaria memories)
poison (toxic a holic)
gems (houseki no kuni (i guess))
tarot arcanes (tarot danshi)
lovecraft mythos (morimens)
hot springs (onsenshi)
