Happy Chaozu-kun

Move over Marimokkori, there’s a new creepy mascot in town! The Japan Gyoza Association (because apparently that’s a thing) has just introduced a new character that’s making people vaguely queasy: Chaozu-kun. While he may not be rocking Marimokkori’s round green chubby, he does make us uneasily aware of his sexuality.

When you see Chaozu-kun’s soft-looking, pink-cheeked dumpling face, you think he looks like a young child.

▼ “Eat me! *wink*”

Gyoza HeadBut don’t squeal “kawaii!” just yet. That innocent smile is perched atop a Speedo-clad human body with bulging, oiled muscles stamped with the characters for ‘gyoza.’ If I were to encounter him at the beach, I would probably run in the opposite direction without even getting close enough to smell his garlicky aroma or notice the perfectly crimped edges of his dumpling head.

 ▼ His trembling intensity makes me worry he’s about to have a fit of roid rage.

Trembly Chaozu-kun

Chaozu-kun was created as part of the Japan Gyoza Association’s PR campaign. His name comes from the word gyozachaozu is a Japanese approximation of the Chinese name for gyoza, pronounced jiaozi in Chinese. It is certainly getting people talking, but perhaps not how they’d hoped. Comments made on articles about Chaozu-kun are mostly full of the Japanese equivalents of lol and rofl, but readers also had plenty more to say:

“Too much impact! lol”

“The ‘chaozu‘ I know is supposed to be cute”

“He looks strong. Like that, he could fight Frieza.”

“The characters for ‘gyoza‘ lol! The face and body don’t match lol”

They certainly do not match! I’m very curious about what character ideas were rejected before they settled on the current Chaozu-kun.

▼ He enjoys pouring oil over his disturbingly developed body in what looks like will culminate in auto-erotic cannibalism.

Sexy Chaozu-kun

What could possible have inspired the Japan Gyoza Association to create such a NSFW character? Did they just discover this old Kikkoman parody of Kinnikuman?

▼ You’ve got to love the “Show me shoyu” pun (shoyu meaning soy sauce).

I thought for a moment that I’d like to see Chaozu-kun and Kikkoman team up (perhaps to defeat Emperor Pilaf and his dumpling minions, Shu and Mai), but then I realized that at some point Kikkoman might pour himself all over Chaozu-kun. Just don’t tell Stephenie Meyer or it could become the next Twilight. Urgh.

Source: niconico
Images: Twitter, Ameblo