New set of Saizeriya gacha turns from ‘let’s collect them all‘ into ‘this feels like torture‘.

It’s hard not to fall in love with Japan’s weird and wonderful world of gacha capsule toys, with mini replicas of all kinds of bizarre items coming out every other day.

The latest gacha trend is the ‘Minature Collection’ from Italian restaurant chain Saizeriya. The collection of tiny replicas of Saizeriya’s most famous dishes was wildly popular when the first run was released last year. Our resident gacha fan Ahiruneko was thrilled when he heard that there was a second run, and rushed out to try and collect the whole set.

The collection consists of six replicas — Grilled Escargots, Spaghetti with Cod Roe sauce, Doria with Meat Sauce and Egg, Italian Custard Pudding, a set of Kids’ Menus with Spot the Difference puzzles and the Saizeriya signboard. Ahiruneko was particularly keen to get his hands on the cod roe spaghetti, as it was a favourite of his, but the goal was to leave with all six replicas.

Each gacha cost 300 yen (US$2.30), so Ahiruneko gathered his coins, popped them in the slot and gave the crank a turn.

▼ A yellow gacha capsule popped out of the chute. What could it be?

▼ It was the Italian Custard Pudding!

The first gacha toy to come out was the Italian Custard Pudding. It’s a popular item at Saizeriya, but for a capsule toy it was a little unassuming. Still, it was the only dessert option available in the collection, and the caramel drizzled on top looked quite delicious.

But one mere gacha toy does not a collection make, so Ahiruneko spun the wheel once more and was met with a familiar sight —

▼ Another Italian Custard Pudding!!

Despite the fact that there were six available figures to get, Ahiruneko was now the proud owner of two Italian Custard Puddings. No matter, it wasn’t that unusual to get the same thing twice, but statistically speaking he was probably going to get something new on his next spin, so another 300 yen went in the coin slot.

Once more, a yellow gacha capsule popped out of the machine, and Ahiruneko was starting to get worried.

Maybe the capsule colours were the same but the contents were different, Ahiruneko told himself as he cracked it open.

But he was wrong, and yet another Italian Custard Pudding popped out.

Ahiruneko loves custard pudding as much as the next guy, but three plates of Italian Custard Pudding seemed just too much for one man. Surely he was due a cod roe spaghetti or a doria soon… so another 300 yen went in the slot.

▼ You already know what came out.

This was getting ridiculous. Were there actually any other gacha toys in the machine, or was it just full of Italian Custard Puddings?

At this point, he’d spent 1,200 yen on gacha toys based on a restaurant with notoriously cheap food, but Ahiruneko wasn’t ready to give up yet. He wasn’t going to leave with just four Italian Custard Puddings, so with another 300 yen in his hand and praying to the gacha gods, he carefully placed the coins in the slot, turned the crank, and…

▼ …ladies and gentlemen, this is Italian Custard Pudding number 5.

This… had to be a joke. Ahiruneko stood motionless, a fist full of Italian Custard Pudding, too stunned to do or say anything. What the hell were the odds of getting five of the same capsule toy in a row?

Ahiruneko began to throw every curse word in the book at the gacha machine, who had given him nothing but pudding. Enough was enough! It was time for something else! He’d spent 1,500 yen on five custard puddings and not a single cod roe spaghetti! Another 300 yen was shoved in the slot…

… and after what felt like a torturous eternity, something different finally came out!

▼ It wasn’t the cod roe spaghetti, but it certainly wasn’t the custard pudding either.

Finally! A new toy popped out — the Kids’ Menu with Spot the Difference Puzzles on them. The menus were very authentic replicas of the kids’ menus available at the restaurant, and Ahiruneko thumbed through them excitedly.

▼ Complete with prices…

▼ … and Saizeriya’s famous Spot the Difference puzzles, each with 10 differences to find.

▼ They really were very faithful replicas, but…

▼ … they were so small that it made the differences quite difficult to find.

The Spot the Difference puzzles are notoriously difficult to complete even at their normal size, and making them smaller made the differences even more tricky to spot. So Ahiruneko decided to compare the tiny replica menu with a real Saizeriya menu and headed to his nearest branch.

But perhaps his brain power had all been used up processing the logic-defying statistics that happened with his five pudding toys in a row, as he could only find two differences on the menu.

Feeling absolutely beaten, he decided to reward himself with the cod roe spaghetti he’d been aiming for all day.

And because one can really never have too many puddings, he decided to order the real Italian Custard Pudding as well.

But as he was about to tuck in to his meal, he noticed something that made his heart drop.

The gacha pudding had set him back 300 yen a pop, whereas the real Italian Custard Pudding was 250 yen. The real item was cheaper than the toy replica!!

Five of the replica puddings had cost Ahiruneko 1,500 yen, but if he’d ordered five real puddings from Saizeriya, they would have come to only 1,250 yen. Ahiruneko wasn’t quite sure how to process this information — did it mean that the gacha was an overpriced mess? Or was Saizeriya just selling really cheap pudding?

There simply wasn’t enough power left in Ahiruneko’s brain to figure out the correct answer, and in the end just ate his meal. Despite the debacle that had happened with the gacha machine, he’s still going to pop back some day soon to try and complete his collection.

In the meantime, if anyone needs a toy Italian Custard Pudding, we know a guy who has a few to spare.

Photos © SoraNews24
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