#Gacha life game common sense media series#

For his own company, though, he decided to focus on a new, more adult-oriented market. He was part of the generation that grew up obsessed with Kinnikuman erasers-tiny rubber reproductions of characters from the popular pro-wrestling-themed fantasy anime-bought from gacha machines set up in front of candy shops. Right: Phone straps come in shapes ranging from seated salarymen to whimsical frogs.įuruya left his job with capsule toy manufacturer Yūjin (now Takara Tomy Arts) and went solo in 2006, at the age of 30. Left: President Furuya holding an Onigiringu figure. The idea was eventually released as Ika to wata bōru chēn tsuki figyua (Squid and Innards Figure on Ball Chain) and Onigiringu. According to Furuya, “Cats, frogs, and mushrooms” are some basic elements of a hit, but it can be hard to predict what will really spark a craze. Popularity in the capsule toy game can be fickle.

Even after the Fuchiko collection craze, I didn’t think we’d have so many people buying up loads of Onigiringu.” “Younger people are posting pictures on Instagram and showing them off to their friends, just like with Koppu no Fuchiko. The toys feature a rice-ball shaped case containing a ring whose “gem” is shaped like traditional rice ball fillings―umeboshi pickled plum, salmon flakes, salmon roe.

The first single-item release came out in 2019, but it has since become a series, with the fourth release dropping in the summer of 2021. Their latest hit is Onigiringu (a pun combining onigiri, or rice ball gu, or filling and ringu, the Japanese pronunciation of ring), which came from an employee’s idea. They release between four and eight new varieties each month. (© Hashimoto Mio, from the Kitan Club website) Rings Out of Rice Ball Filling It takes a lot of time for the big companies to get things through planning.”įigurines from woodcarver and sculptor Hashimoto Mio’s Aquarium & Zoo series. “One of our strengths as a small company is that we can move something from the idea stage to a finished product quickly. If it’s not interesting at first glance, it’s out, but if everyone is instantly into it, it passes,” he explains. We have around twenty employees now, and most attend the meetings, where everyone draws out their own ideas. “We work with artists like Katsuki or sculptor Hashimoto Mio, but some of our ideas come out of our monthly planning meetings.

“We developed Fuchiko with the manga artist Tanaka Katsuki,” says Kitan Club President Furuya Daiki. The first generation Koppu no Fuchiko (left) and Soccer Fuchiko from the Sports series.

#Gacha life game common sense media series#

Here are the somewhat grumpy Kamibukuro ni haitta neko (Cat in a Paper Bag) series (left) and the Neko jita take (Mushroom-Cat Tongues) magnets. Kitan Club also produces all kinds of cat figurines. With the Sports series, released in July 2021, sales have now surpassed 20 million figures. The figurines quickly became a viral hit on social media after their 2012 launch, particularly with young women, but the popularity has grown across generations. The playful designs and incredible variety are just right to whet collectors’ appetites. It features figurines of a woman named Fuchiko (a play on the Japanese word for a cup’s rim, fuchi) in all kinds of poses, made to balance on the rim of a cup or glass. Among them you will find the company’s biggest hit product: the Koppu no Fuchiko (Cup Fuchiko) series. Wooden shelves near Kitan Club’s entrance display the company’s capsule toy releases over its 15-year history, and the sheer variety of shapes and configurations arrests the eye. These devices, which dispense a plastic capsule containing a small prize in exchange for some coins and the twist of the knob, have a variety of names, all onomatopoeia for the sounds of their use: gacha, gacha-gacha, or gashapon. This makes sense, given the company’s focus as a producer of trinkets found in Japan’s “capsule toy” machines. Visitors are greeted at the main entrance by life-size figures of a shoebill and a gorilla, and toys great and small are to be found throughout the rooms. The head offices of Kitan Club strike one as more toy shop than corporate outpost.