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Bandai to Sell Transforming Kanji Creature Toys in May
posted on by Egan Loo
Chōhenkan!! Moji-Bake-ru transforms from Japanese characters into animals
Not-So-Daily Link of the Day: The Japanese conglomerate Bandai has announced on Wednesday that it will launch a chewing gum/toy line that transforms from Japanese kanji characters into creatures on May 17. The Chōhenkan!! Moji-Bake-ru line will feature six different designs in four different colors, along with a piece of gum in each package. The name, which roughly translates as "Super Transformation!! Character-Altering," is a worldplay on mojibake — the Japanese computer term for characters that have been garbled while being sent or stored.
The six different designs are:01 Inu-Bake-ru (Dog)
02 Tora-Bake-ru (Tiger)
03 Uo-Bake-ru (Fish)
04 Uma-Bake-ru (Horse)
05 Tori-Bake-ru (Bird)
06 Ryū-Bake-ru (Dragon)
While Bandai is targeting elementary schoolchildren with this chewing gum toy line, it also anticipates that both children and adults will enjoy these. The company plans to put 400,000 of these toys on the shelves of convenience stores, volume sellers, and supermarkets by the end of May.
Images © Bandai
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