Magical cat Jiji springs to life when you feed him coins.

If you’re in Japan and looking to buy official Studio Ghibli merchandise outside of the Ghibli Museum, there’s no better place to go than Japan’s Donguri Kyowakoku (“Acorn Republic”) retail chain.

Here you’ll find gems like a remote-controlled Catbus, No Face folding fans and now, from 10 August, a Dancing Jiji piggy bank that plays music from the classic anime movie Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Kiki’s talking feline friend from the movie has been faithfully replicated for the new release, with big pussycat eyes, oversized ears, black fur and whiskers, and a little pink tongue poking out, which makes him look like he’s in mid-sentence.

▼ Jiji sits with two paws atop Kiki’s red radio, waiting for some attention.

Simply insert a coin into the slot by Jiji’s paws on top of the radio, and the magical cat will spring to life, as his head sways from left to right and his eyelids move lovingly in time to the music that plays from the piggy bank.

After every five coin deposits, the music changes, with a total of seven songs from Kiki’s Delivery Service played at random.

Take a look at the money bank in action in the cute clip below:

The seven songs played by the Dancing Jiji coin bank are:

  • “Hareta Hi Ni…” (“On a Clear Day…”)
  • “Umi No Mieru Machi” (“A Town With An Ocean View”)
  • “Pan-ya No Tetsudai” (“The Baker’s Assistant”)
  • “Shigoto Hajime” (“Starting the Job”)
  • “Migawari Jiji” (“Surrogate Jiji”)
  • “Jeff” (“Jeff”)
  • “Ooisogashi No Kiki” (“A Very Busy Kiki”)

The new coin bank measures 24 centimetres (9.4 inches) in height and 10 centimetres in width, and will be available in-store and online for 6,480 yen (US$60.96).

It’s a great investment for any Ghibli fan, and we can’t wait to add it to our growing anime-themed piggy bank collection, alongside the awesome coin-gobbling No Face money bank we purchased back in 2017.

Source, images: PR Times
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