A Small Tribute to the Kigurumi that Was

With each year passing, it has always been customary for us to enthusiastically introduce newer sets of kigurumi. Regardless of whether they end up with a bang or not, the accumulating variety will always be a nice element that us kigurumi lovers will never ever get tired of.

However, even as fresh lineups come into existence, there too, is another lineup that bids its final farewell to us. These are the kigurumi sets of the yesteryear. Kigurumi that, for various technical reasons, can no longer be restocked, or can no longer be made officially available by us, and thus have no chance to ever appear at our store ever again.

In this blog post we shall take a look at some of them, reintroduce them to those who may have seen them before, and show its previous existence to visitors who never got the chance to see them as available.

Gachapin Kigurumi

Gachapin Kigurumi

With a very bright green color scheme and belly plastered in equally bright yellow and pink stripes, the Gachapin Kigurumi may as well be mistaken for either some gecko-like kigurumi, or even a caterpillar theme if the hand design is well hidden. The attention-grabbing eyes especially, is a hallmark of its base design, a confirmation of the eventual popularity of the original mascot (kigurumi?!) character that it was based upon.

Speaking of which, to those who are not familiar who can't be bothered to open up a new browser tab to check, Gachapin is a popular mascot character in Japan who mainly stars in the show Hirake! Ponkikki (ひらけ!ポンキッキ), which by itself is a part of the much larger Ponkikki series franchise. He (yes he) is officially designed as a bucktoothed dinosaur, and is usually accompanied by Mukku, a red furball mascot that is supposed to be a yeti.

Melynx Kigurumi

Melynx Kigurumi

That almost meme-like quality to the kigurumi's expression is one of the highlights that define Melynx should always be taken. For a trademark/licensed character, its overall look does seem a bit simple. However it is still somewhat on the fluffier side in terms of visual layout. We suppose its wide side also adds to this somewhat unnatural level of dorkiness. 

Oh, and you just absolutely cannot miss that trademark pink pawprint. It is something that would most likely still be easily associated with Melynx, even if you just plaster it randomly on some random dark chocolatey background.

 

Monster Hunter enthusiasts will undoubtedly be already very familiar with the reference for this quick-witted Lynian. In Japan, Melynx is known instead as Merarou (メラルー), and the particular template design of his kigurumi is largely based on the simplified and generalized chibi (super-deformed) version of the character, as shown above. They may be cute and petite, but don't you ever underestimate these mischievous critters!

Monomi Kigurumi

 

Monomi Kigurumi

Rabbit kigurumi? Perhaps, her original name did have obvious references to rabbits. But the design is definitely more than just a rabbit, with a split double color theme that instantly gives away its identity as a licensed character kigurumi. Due to her theme being a typical template for kigurumi, her overall design is still remarkably preserved, from the head features down to her diapers. Yup, those indeed are cloth diapers.

Fans of the Danganronpa series are of course going to remember the virtual madness that Monomi, the reference character, was involved in. To be fair, this split color appearance isn't exactly the original form of this otherwise benevolent "entity" (a design that even approaches that of the other definition of a kigurumi). But, her eventual shift in form eventually became the more signature look, hence the way we see her official kigurumi today. Though, thinking hard about it again, an original form version kigurumi would definitely be interesting to see if it ever does come out.

animal kigurumi

Will we ever see more discontinued kigurumi in the future? It's a sad fact, but this is going to be a regular thing. The trend of supplies and licenses are just the way they are. So remember to cherish the kigurumi that you've got, especially if that is a special exclusive or features a licensed character.