Enchanted anime characters make even the coldest days a magical adventure.
The days are becoming noticeably shorter and colder in Japan at the moment, but it’s nothing to feel bad about when stores like Studio Ghibli’s Donguri Kyowakoku retail chain have cute goods to keep us cosy and warm throughout the winter months.
Donguri Kyowakoku’s latest line of Ghibli merch is particularly adorable, consisting of four gloves, or “tebukuro” as they’re known in Japanese, featuring some of our favourite film characters.
The first character to keep us company this winter is the kodama forest spirit from the 1997 movie Princess Mononoke.
It’s not just one kodama we’re being treated to in this pair of gloves but a trio of them, adding a bit of forest mystery to each hand with a fall design that sees them perched on wintry leaves.
If you’re wondering how these gloves work, they’re a fingerless variety, which allows just the tips of your thumb and fingers to pop through.
While the cosy soft fabric helps to keep the large bulk of your hands warm, your digits are conveniently material-free so you can still operate your smartphone.
The next pair of gloves in the series gives us Jiji, the magical black cat from the 1989 movie Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Jiji peers out at us from the city of Koriko, where Kiki settles in to train as a witch, with its Western-style architecture and distinctive clocktower.
An adorable red bow has been stitched onto the embroidered Jiji, creating a 3-D effect that draws us in, blurring the line between anime scene and reality.
The 1988 movie My Neighbour Totoro is the inspiration behind the final two designs in the collection, with one pair of gloves recalling the magical forest with a trio of Soot Sprites.
The blue hues are remarkably similar to those used in the night scene where the sisters in the film meet Totoro, who helps their seeds grow into tall trees in a matter of seconds. Amongst the stars in this design are three Soot Sprites, one of which is stitched on to pop out at us, again blurring the line between anime and reality.
The final design features Totoro himself, in a forest setting with a couple of Soot Sprites to keep the giant company.
▼ The browny beige hues are both wintry yet cosy and warming at the same time.
Who knows what special magic you’ll be able to conjure into your life with these enchanting creatures protecting your hands?
Each design in the collection has its own special charm that makes us want to collect them all. Priced at 4,400 yen (US$29.22) each, the gloves are currently available at Donguri Kyowakoku stores and online, but stocks are limited so you’ll want to get in quick before they sell out like the recent Yubaba and Zeniba pen stands.
Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4)
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