What’s in store this time from these sextuplets?

One of our dedicated Japanese-language reporters, Ikuna Kamesawa, was taking a leisurely stroll through Akihabara when she came across secondhand anime goods shop Surugaya.

If this was any other normal day, Ikuna would have just walked past without blinking an eye. She wasn’t a huge anime fan in general, so the end-of-the-year markdowns and figurines on resale weren’t enough to draw her to the store.

However, Ikuna  noticed a pile of fukubukuro, or New Year lucky bags, filled with Osomatsu-san goods outside that lassoed her attention.

▼ For the uninitiated, Osomatsu-san is an anime series rebooted in 2015 about the antics of identical sextuplets, each with their own vivid, unique personality.

Upon closer inspection, Ikuna noticed that the 2,000 yen (US$19.26) lucky bags had not only the Osomatsu sextuplets printed on their covers, but each bag had a red circle drawn on one of the six siblings.

Questions began to develop in Ikuna’s head. Was there any meaning to the circle? Would the lucky bag contain only goods related to the circled sibling? After all, what makes lucky bags appealing is their sense of mystery and how you don’t know what their contents are until you open them up.

There was only one way to find out… and so Ikuna bought one to take home.

▼ Our reporter concentrated so hard on the lucky bags that she wondered if this was how stans felt when searching for specific merchandise of their favorite anime characters.

While Ikuna had never watched Osomatsu-san before, there was one sibling on the lucky bag cover that resonated with her: Ichimatsu. With a semi-disgruntled look of aloofness and a reserved posture, even though she didn’t know the character beforehand, there was a vibe to him that resonated with her.

After buying the lucky bag, Ikuna beelined back home to pry it open. And what she found inside was…

▼ …a whole plethora of Ichimatsu goodies!

▼ Among the goods was one clip featuring ESP Kitty, a frequent sidekick of Ichimatsu in the anime series.

Spreading out the goodies, Ikuna tallied up what she received:

  • Nine Ichimatsu aluminum badges
  • Seven Ichimatsu acrylic charms
  • Two Ichimatsu charm straps
  • One Ichimatsu pass case
  • One ESP Kitty clip

Not bad for only 2,000 yen! However, there was just one dilemma for Ikuna — what was she to do with all these Ichimatsu badges and pins? Luckily for her, the Internet contains multiple ideas, such as floor-to-ceiling shrines or the more laborious task of simply collecting all the goods of a franchise.

Photos: SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]