Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Worst Image Character of Japan - Top 3 2009

Before I kick this epic post off properly into it's full glory, my own personal stance to the topic in question should probably be clarified.
As many of my readers probably know, "Image Characters" are very popular here in Japan. Plenty of companies and institutions have these characters to "soften" the message and to help illustrate whatever the message is in a cute way. Personally I don't have any problems with this approach although I know quite a few foreigners here in Japan, and a few Japanese as well I should add for good measure, who thinks these image characters are stupid and the concept in itself is for children and not for grown men.

However, sometimes these character really don't hit the mark... The larger companies go with surefire characters, homegrown such as Hello Kitty, Doraemon, Atom Boy or imported ones such as Snoopy, Moomin, Miffy or similar. The cuteness of those well established character brands is well established so there is little risk of missing the mark. Even if you can't afford to get the actual Hello Kitty license, you can at least try to get the Keroppi license...

With that lengthy and cumbersome disclaimer out of the way, let's get the real post on the road! As you might understand, this post deals with those characters that weren't... well... maybe that well thought out? Characters that fail to evoke that feeling of affection and just plain miss the mark, by far.

Worst Characters of Japan
Number 3 - The Keisei Panda

Well, this character just makes me uncomfortable... You would think that it's hard to use a panda and not get the "cute" right, but this Panda is anything but cute, I'm not sure but I think it's the mouth that gives it a slightly creepy look. The Panda is the official character of the Keisei Railways credit cards and to it's credit it has to be said that it's thankfully not very well known among the general public and I have a feeling it never well. Let's just not mention the weird backstory about how he came to earth from the rich and bountiful "Panda Planet", sent by his father to save the earth...

Number 2 - Kuutan, the Narita Airport Character


This one just feel so off the mark in so many ways... In a bid to improve the image of the Narita airport this character was created a few years ago. You would think that a better way to increase the image of the airport would be to make it more accessible and customer friendly instead of paying some stupid agency tons of money to come up with this lame design... To it's credit, the backstory is hardly there at all and Kuutan keeps a very low profile these days...


Number 1 - Sentokun, the Nara Prefecture Character


The worst of the worst, the image character of the ancient capital of Japan and home of the free roaming deers and beautiful buddist temples; Nara. I've been to Nara quite a few times and it's really an amazing place that I would recommend people to visit even if in Japan with limited time. It's less hectic than Kyoto but contains many impressive temples in a calm and nice environment. But then... this character? I believe that a mix of buddism and deers was the general concept for this one, but what they came up with was just plain... .... disturbing... His favorite foods are stated to be "tasty things from Nara", that is just a pretty obvious sign of "character creating block"... Sentokun is the well deserved winner of the "worst character of Japan 2009"!



(I'm sure that there are plenty of other bad seeds out there, so if you have any other really bad characters in your mind, please drop a line in the comments and I might follow this one up with a full top 10, I'm sure the material is out there...)

11 comments:

Pergrine Audley Smythe III said...

How about Tokyo Tower?

It shares some uncanny similarities to a certain adult product.

http://noppon.laff.jp/

Anonymous said...

how about this one?

http://www.funpeak.com/funnypics/scary-ronald-mcdonald.jpg

--How about Tokyo Tower?--

lol. a fried of me was some ttime in this one.

big bro said...

Excellent post, my brother - made me laugh out loud! But I think you are a tad unfair with that Narita character - he is not so bad, you are just unleashing the fury on him because the airport is on the gates of hell.

That Tokyo tower character looks like a good candidate for a top ten list...

shufuinjapan said...

I'm glad to see I am not the only one who thinks "Sentokun" is a bit of a freak in the cute character department.
I also feel frustrated with the need of Japanese TV channels to strap soft toys to the microphones of their sports commentators, even at international events.

Karen said...

What a great post. Who would have ever thought there could be such a thing as a creepy panda?

Orchid64 said...

The panda brings to mind "sexual harassment panda" from South Park for some reason. The human mouth on the panda and the strange lidded eyes are what are making it disturbing.

There are two that I don't like, and both are food mascots. One is Akagi Gari with his huge gaping maw:

http://japanesesnackreviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/akagi-mikan-ice-pops.html

The other is Karamucho's ugly granny mascot:

http://japanesesnackreviews.blogspot.com/2008/09/scon-japanese-barbecue-flavor.html

The latter has to be one of the worst designs I have ever encountered. She doesn't even look like a person.

Martin said...

Wow, I had no idea! There must be tons of creepy image characters. We bought the Tokyo Tower doll on our visit.
Keep posting more creepy caracters please. And i´m certainly waiting for the top ten list. I vote for ugly granny so far.

RMilner said...

It's worth mentioning that Sentokun has competition as Nara's mascot character.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2074689/Manto-kun-the-blob-takes-on-Sento-kun-the-Buddha-boy-in-Nara-mascot-battle.html

They are both pieces of gak.

Japan has way too many mascot characters.

WordsnCollision said...

Don't forget Awa Awa Gosshi, the Hand-washing Dog:

http://inventorspot.com/articles/japan_fights_swine_flu_gosshi_handwashing_dog_32396

Mr. Salaryman said...

Pergrine - Wow, had completely missed that character... If the character gig doesn't work out for him I guess he can go work as a b**t p**g again...

Bro - Well, maybe I should've changed places with the Keisei Panda and Kuutan, but I think the Keisei Panda is a little bizarre in a good way while Kuutan just is boring...

Orchid- That's some nice ones, that old lady is pretty scary, but for foodstuff I guess they don't necessarily go for cute

RMilner - Yeah, seems like the population in Nara are raising up against Sentokun, good for them! The new one is not amazing, but much much better than Sentokun at least.

Words - Yeah, very directed characters like this more fall in the category of "unnecessary characters of Japan" he does look a little cute at least, but the question is whether he's really required...

Foggia said...

An all time number should be Prince Pickle, the cute mascot for the SDF...
It's not that it is badly drawn, it's just that the concept of a wide eyed cute image character FOR THE MILITARY should not exist. At all.
Plus it describes Iraqis as Saudis in this one image, which is kind of counterproductive to the whole "we're military but we are nice and want to know and help you".
http://www.japanprobe.com/2007/02/18/prince-pickles-the-cuddly-mascot-of-japans-self-defense-forces/

I think the SDF did shelve it, though.

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