Japanese gashapon toy manufacturer Qualia, after collaborating with Japanese artist "Noriaki Tanimura" to create the delicious and unique "Tempura Yokai" and "Tempura Yokai 2", will launch a new gashapon series this September: "Fruit Yokai" (Kudamono Yokai)! Each capsule costs 500 JPY.
Noriaki Tanimura (@mononoke_artist) excels at combining yokai with food, creating works with a strong Japanese aesthetic and unique imagery. In addition to the Tempura Yokai and Fruit Yokai collaborations with Qualia, Tanimura has also designed Sushi Yokai, reinterpreted popular IPs like Disney characters and Ultraman monsters, transforming each classic character into an eerie form reminiscent of a Japanese yokai scroll!
This "Fruit Yokai" series includes Strawberry Kasa-obake, Mandarin Kamuro, Melon Bozu, Apple Niku-kai, and Banana Nurarihyon (names above are provisional translations). It not only fully showcases Noriaki Tanimura's distinctive design style but also cleverly integrates fruit shapes with yokai imagery. For instance, the strawberry and umbrella yokai shapes align perfectly; the Melon Bozu comes with its own melon wave base; the Mandarin Kamuro uses an entire mandarin orange as its enormous face; the creative idea of halving an apple, growing limbs, and turning it into a decaying flesh monster is quite amusing; and the elderly yokai Nurarihyon, whose head is directly transformed into a whole banana, is also very cute.
■ Strawberry Kasa-obake (Kasa Ichigo)
■ Mandarin Kamuro (Mikan Kamuro)
■ Melon Bozu (Melon Bozu)
■ Apple Niku-kai (Ringo Fuhohu)
■ Banana Nurarihyon (Banana Hyon)
Kudamono Yokai
Suggested Retail Price: ¥500 / capsule, Product Specifications: Approximately 4–6 cm, 5 types in total, Estimated Release Date: September 2024
Source: Noriaki Tanimura