Kogepan

Kogepan (こげぱん) is a depressed burnt anpan (red bean bread bun) character from the Japanese company San-X, who, like Sanrio creation Hello Kitty, can be found on stationery, accessories, and a number of other products.[1] Kogepan was created by Miki Takahashi (ja:たかはしみき) in the year 2000.[2] A number of Kogepan books by Takahashi have been published in Japan. Adapted to a self-titled short anime series in 2001, animated by Studio Pierrot and produced by Pony Canyon. A Kogepan PlayStation game was released in Japan in 2002. Over two million plush Kogepan toys have been sold, and book sales reached over 1.3 million combined copies.

Characteristics

Kogepan is a burnt anpan (red bean bread bun) who lives in a panya, a neighborhood bakery. The name comes from kogeru, meaning to burn or char, and pan, a gairaigo word taken from Portuguese meaning bread.

According to the backstory, a baker who was sleepy dropped Kogepan in the oven, and from the shock of being burned its face went blank and its eyes went white. Kogepan's red bean filling is described as originating in Tokachi Plain, and it would have been an "elite" anpan if it had not been burned. Happiness is always short-lived for Kogepan, and the character has a tendency to drown its sorrows in milk.[3]

There are a number of other bread characters in the panya with Kogepan, including Ichigopan (strawberry bread), Kireipan (beautifully baked red bean bread), Creampan (a burnt cream bread), and Sumipan, a bread even more burnt than Kogepan.[4][5]

In contrast to earlier animal based characters like Miffy and Hello Kitty

Creation

Kogepan was created by Miki Takahashi (ja:たかはしみき) in 2000, when she was in her first year at San-X.[8] Takahashi started from the concept of a character that seems scary at first, but is hard not to care for.[8][9] She began the design with a simple draft of an oval face, and because it was an oval shape she pictured it as a bread, and because it had a blank expression she imagined that it failed to sell, because it was burnt.[8] And from there she got Kogepan's resigned catch phrase anyway... (どうせ･･･).[8]

Takahashi designed Kogepan with blank white eyes, but after concerns from other San-X staff, she did a number of different eye designs including black dots, ovals, and a side glance, but in the end they decided to go with the original blank eyed style.[8]

Anime

The 2001 Kogepan anime series, broadcast on Animax, animated by Studio Pierrot and produced by Pony Canyon, consists of ten 4-minute shorts, the majority of which introduce simple aspects of the character.[10][11] It was directed by Hidekazu Ohara (ja:小原秀一) with the voice of Kogepan provided by Ako Mayama.[12]

Episodes:

• 1) Kogepan is introduced.
• 2) Kogepan meets the similarly burnt bread Creampan and they go on a trip.
• 3) Kogepan scares the beautiful Kireipan with tales of what will happen when they are bought, but also helps them out.

Other media and reception

A game for the PlayStation called Kogepan: Pan mo Gēmu o Yarurashī… (こげぱん パンもゲームをやるらしい…) was released in Japan in 2002 by AIA.[13] The game has a variety of puzzle games and mini games.[14][15] Mini games include Reversi, racing and volleyball.[16]

A number of Kogepan manga and picture books written and drawn by Miki Takahashi were published in Japan between 2000 and 2008, including the series Yasagure Manga (やさぐれマンガ), Kogepan no Pikunikku (こげぱんのピクニック), and Burari Tabi Nikki (ぶらり旅日記).[17][18]

External links

• San-X Official Kogepan Page
• Anime official profile