Like a lot of sports anime, Haikyuu!! features a hot-blooded, unrefined but friendly protagonist. Likewise, the volleyball series, which premiered in April, doesn’t get any points for originality by pairing its lead up with a cocky, aloof partner.
A few years ago, the show’s commitment to character design that pleases female fans would have been unique, but shows about athletics with eye candy for the ladies have been done before with The Prince of Tennis, Kuroko’s Basketball, and not-immediately-evocative-of-its-featured-sport Free!, which focuses on high school swimming.
Haikyuu!! does have something that currently no other anime does, however, and that’s talking posters.
The unique interior decorations come courtesy of toymaker Takara Tomy. Two different posters will be available, and while the version with highly-talented yet haughty Tobio Kageyama has yet to be shown, Takara Tomy has released a video showing of the poster for main character Shoyo Hinata.
As the video shows, there’s a strip of plastic along the top edge of the illustration, with a ring to slip over a tack or peg.
Touch the poster and the attached speaker comes to life, making the messy-haired volleyball player shout, “My name’s Shoyo Hinata!”
▼ Nice to meet ya, Shoyo.
Of course, no matter how infatuated you are with your favorite anime character, you don’t want to hear them repeating the same exact phrase over and over again. That’s why each poster comes with 10 different voice samples, some of which are produced by tapping different parts of the illustration.
Still other phrases come as a result of sliding your fingertip across certain paths.
Each version is priced at 2,376 yen (US$23.50), and the special posters go on sale August 10.
We’re calling the over-under until someone puts the same technology to use to create “tickle the half-naked schoolgirls” posters at exactly three weeks.
Source: Comic Natalie, YouTube
Images: YouTube
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