Funasshii, the official unofficial pear-fairy mascot of Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture is apparently one of 274 siblings. And netizens were happy to be introduced to number 56 of those siblings, the half-pear, half-caterpillar, Funagoro.
Funasshii’s younger brother was unveiled as part of a promotional event by Bandai, which is releasing a collection of 36 cards featuring pictures of Funasshii’s siblings. The highlight of the gathering was when Funagoro shot a stream of water into the audience from his caterpillar tail.
But has Japan’s mascot craze gone far enough?
From Yahoo! Japan:
First Unveiling Of Funasshii’s Little Brother “Funagoro”, Ends Sentences With “Nappi!”
On October 15, Funabashi City’s regional mascot Funasshii’s official little brother, “Funagoro” was unveiled for the first time at an commemoration event for a new Bandai product, “Funasshii Cards” [Funasshii no meishii], held in Tokyo. Funasshii, appearing for the first time with a sibling, was overjoyed, saying “I came into this world alone, so it’s great to have a relative with me!”
Funagoro is “No. 56” of Funasshii’s 274 siblings (Funasshii is the fourth son), and he is half pear and half caterpillar, since just before the pear was possessed by the pear fairy, it was being eaten by a caterpillar. With a cute caterpillar tail that wiggles on his bottom, and sentences that end in “nappi”, he soon captured the hearts of the media, and brought excitement to the event with a “silk-thread splash!” spray from his tail that certainly wasn’t pear juice.
Funasshii, who was in high spirits at his first appearance with his brother, “We’re the best of friends! He’s so cute!”, looked at his younger brother who said meekly, “I’m a bit nervous”, gave Funagoro kind advice as a “sempai”: “You shouldn’t move around during a photo session!”.
Although Funagoro shocked the media with his silk thread “runaway” accident, the event proceeded with a friendly atmosphere. At the end of the event, when Funagoro confessed “I really like basashi [raw sliced horse meat]!”, Funasshii promised him “When we finish here we’ll go eat some at Shinbashi!”.
The product they were promoting is 36 different “collection plate” cards featuring images of Funasshii’s official siblings. They go on sale on October 18.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
mov*****:
At a glance, they seem pretty much exactly the same…If the character goes too far, then I feel that it’s not going to take off.
やすりん:
Hmmm, when it comes to this kind of development I’m not so sure…
Kinda feel like he’s going to be less like Funasshii…
jou*****:
Right now I’m not that fed up of Funasshii, and still find it funny,
but when it comes to this, it can only go down from here on…
Even if you like Funasshii, this is a bit of a buzz-kill.
nek*****:
Nah, this is just run of the mill boring.
Wasn’t Funasshii good on his own?
I think it’s better if they don’t go too far with this, and try to moderate it.
巨人優勝:
Do your best!
hak*****:
I feel that this will be popular to a certain extent, because collecting series of characters is popular with kids, and I’m also a bit curious as to what kind of characters are going to be on these cards, but in reality, I don’t think any of them will be a match for Funasshii’s movements and way of talking.
ニコラス・Ｃ・アイゼンハワー:
Kinda seems like this has nothing to do with Funabashi City any more….
jas*****:
The fact that his little brother has appeared means that there’s a possibility that his little sister and even parents will appear too.
sk1*****:
There’s the thing that happened with Barbapapa (the story got less interesting as the family grew), so this might well put a damper on things.
I hope they do their best!
wan*****:
Hmm, personally I think that just having one character is better.
Makes me feel like the person inside that suit is saying “Made a brother ♪ Now I’m gonna make some cash ♪”.
Comments from 2ch.net:
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
This is bad.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
Fed up already.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
This is gonna crash any day now.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
Enough already…give us a break, makes me sick.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
Gimme a call if it gets to 48.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
What the hell do they mean “no. 56”?
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
Ah, it’s bad if they start doing this kind of thing.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
Pals, siblings, girlfriend, relatives who want to make money will all be in there.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
Caterpillar is bad.
名無しさん＠恐縮です＠＼(^o^)／:
So one of Funasshii’s parents remarried a caterpillar?
That’s one messed-up family.
