youkai jibanyan top
Love noodles? Love Youkai Watch? We’re guessing that there are plenty of people out there who would answer yes to both of those questions. It then shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise if someone decided to combine the two in a tasty-looking original creation.

Well, that’s exactly what Twitter user @takusan_neru did with the unique bowl of noodles in this picture she shared. And just what makes the noodles so special? Well, as you can see, the bowl is filled with … smiling Jibanyan faces!

https://twitter.com/takusan_neru/status/549080071726583809

The “Jibanyan noodle,” with toppings in the shape of the spirit cat and star of the mega-hit Youkai Watch franchise, apparently left a strong impression on Japanese Internet users, because the tweet above has now been retweeted over 17,500 times in a period of just over two weeks.

But what exactly are these Jibanyan faces made of, and where did they all come from? They’re actually dried naruto fishcakes that @takusan_neru painstakingly collected from Nissin’s Youkai Watch Soy-Sauce Cup Ramen, which she then used to garnish her own bowl of noodles!

▼Here’s the Youkai Watch Cup Ramen the Jibanyan fishcakes were taken from: youkai noodle product

So, it looks like @takusan_neru found an excellent source of Youkai Watch-shaped ramen toppings. According to her tweets, she used the naruto from about six cup ramens in her special noodles — yup, that’s a lot of Jibanyans! We certainly admire @takusan_neru’s creativity, not to mention her tenacity in collecting small pieces of dried fishcake from six cups of instant ramen.

Now, as fun as this all seems, some Internet users have commented that there may be … well, just a tad too many Jibanyan faces in the bowl in this case, giving the noodles a slightly creepy look. Well, we think a few (all right, maybe more than a few) pieces of fishcakes are nothing to be scared of, especially if you’re going to be eating them, so bring on the Jibanyan naruto, we say, and a big thank you to @takusan_neru for sharing her creation!

Source: Twitter (@takusan_neru) via ITmedia (Japanese)
Top image: Twitter (@takusan_neru)
Inset image of Youkai Watch Soy Sauce Cup Noodles: Nissin website