Lotte is synonymous with the sweet tooth culture of Japan. It has even managed to gather a great reputation for itself beyond East Asia as well. The confectionary chain is iconic for its products that have been appreciated for a long time. This time it is about Bikkuriman. The wafer snacks chain has known no bounds. With huge collaborations involving manga and anime giants, Bikkuriman has definitely not lost its relevance and remained one of the most loved confectionary products in Japan. A news related to it is that its own anime is in the pipeline. A teaser has been released to confirm the anime’s upcoming release.
Bikkuriman succeeded in forging a number of successful collaborations with incredibly successful series like Jujutsu Kaisen, Neon Genesis Evangelion, One Piece and even Star Wars! A confectionary item so famous that it literally covered even Star Wars? That speaks volumes about how huge Bikkuriman is. It even went on to collaborate with Hatsune Miku, members of the Japanese idol group-AKB48. With so many collaborations, the snack variety and the packaging also diversified with time. Even though the snack had been a hit even before a lot of collaborations, it clearly shows the efforts that are being given into making the snack a success.
Meant to be released in the fall of 2023, Bikkuri-men is actually going to be the second anime based on the wafer line and its collectible stickers. Earlier an anime named quite similarly (Bikkurimen) was aired between 1987 and 1989. Due to the product being a hit, the anime series also attracted a lot of attention towards itself. But the new anime, set for 2023, is going to have an original story of its own. It will feature the iconic characters that have been associated with Bikkuriman and the little world of its own. Back in the late 1980s, the anime became famous enough to have a series of products of its own. Something that might come as a surprise to many is the fact that the show even had its own games. These games were built for a variety of consoles that vary from those of Nintendo to Sega to the PC Engine.
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The history of the anime series starts off with collectible stickers that were being provided with the snack at first. The stickers shot to fame among children. Having been derived in categories called ‘Dan’, the stickers varied in rarity. In a Dan, there was a Head. The Head refers to an incredibly rare sticker. Due to these being rare and being hit among a healthy group of children already, the stickers mustered even more fame among the children. Among the very first series of stickers that shot to fame, Bikkuriman’s stickers offered Lotte a greater opportunity to expand the work. This led to the run of the run of Super Bikkuriman manga and the first anime series that lasted for 2 years.
The anime is meant to be directed by Tomohiro Tsukimisato. Having worked on Yurumeitsu and Ueno San Wa Bukiyou, Tsukimisato will be working on the project to be released in the fall of 2023. As the announcement for Bikkuri-men was initially made on April 1, people considered it a joke. But with the teaser out and the confirmations coming one after another, it is clearly not an April Fool’s Day joke.
Along with the announcement came the names of the staff where Tomohiro Tsukimisato is the director and the original character design is being done by Hiroyuki Takei of Shaman King fame. With Shin-Ei Animation at the helm of Bikkuri-Men’s production, the show’s release is going to be anticipated. For those who know what the old school series was about and what the whole Bikkuriman craze was, this can be like reliving the childhood and youth games.
The series’ plot revolves around the Bikkuriman stickers (like the ones mentioned earlier). In the world created, the stickers are almost equal to currency. Yamato, also featured in the teaser, starts collecting the stickers. With the plot for anime resonating with what built the hype for Bikkuriman and with Hiroyuki Takei designing the characters, the anime is definitely something for the people to watch out for.
