Tarepanda

Tarepanda (たれぱんだ) is a kawaii (cute) panda-like character released by the Japanese company San-X in 1998. The term tare (垂れ) means droopy in Japanese. The character was created by Hikaru Suemasa (ja:末政ひかる), who was inspired by being exhausted at work. Three picture books and a fanbook by Suemasa were published in Japan. A Tarepanda video game was released for the WonderSwan in 1999, and another one for the PlayStation in 2000. A Tarepanda OVA was released in 2000.

Tarepanda was a major success and by 1999, sales of Tarepanda merchandise had reached 30 billion yen. The success of Tarepanda changed San-X from a stationery company to a full-time character creation and licensing company. The blank expression and unobtrusive presence of Tarepanda was the origin of the style that would come to be seen as emblematic of San-X.

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