Hey friends! This year, due to health reasons, I was only able to attend one day of Anime Frontier last month. But that one day was still pretty damn fruitful: not only did I get to check out their new layout for the Exhibit Hall (they now have a dedicated food hall & beer garden, with LOTS more seating, which was pretty awesome!), I stumbled upon an amazing prototype for upcoming merch for a 90s anime series I was NOT expecting--Samurai Pizza Cats!
This photo I snapped was originally posted to the podcast's instagram!
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw these cuties! With the series' recent 35th anniversary & video game announcement, I guess Tatsunoko really wants to put out some cool stuff for the fans (which is awesome, considering that the English version of the show was never super popular, but is still considered a cult classic.) Turns out, these adorable plush versions of the Pizza Cats are made by the relatively new, small plush toy maker called Rimi Star Production. I got to talk to one of the staff running the booth, and was told that they're aiming to get these official Tatsunoko Pro collab plushies available for order sometime "this winter". Now, it might be hard to tell from the photo above, but these plush Pizza Cats are HUGE! They are around 28 inches (71 cm) long, and made with soft, cuddly materials, making them perfect to hug. They also have retractable ears (on pull-back strings, so you don't lose them!), to mimic how they're "movable" in the show!
Some examples of the Pizza Cats' movable ears from the anime
They seem to be bringing these prototypes to conventions to show them off and spread the word, so if you wanna see where they'll show next, you can follow them on their official instagram here! The person I talked to said that once these are released, if they do well they might put out more characters, as Tatsunoko was very enthusiastic about this collab! So if you wanna see more, show your support once those pre-orders go up!
As always, many thanks to Anime Frontier for the press pass so I could get the chance to see these beauties in person! I can't wait to see what the final product will look like!
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