The popular Japanese otter mascot Chiitan is not only conquering social media due to the character’s crazy antics, it is also getting their own anime series soon.
The official website of Kinder TV (TV Tokyo’s children programming block) revealed on Friday that a Chiitan anime will be aired in the said channel block on April 3.
The series will be produced by both Infinity Vision and East Fish Studio to be directed by Natsuki Takemura. She is also credited as the production’s character designer. Isamu Sasagawa is credited for scriptwriting.
The mascot personality Chiitan debuted on December 15, 2017 described as a “fairy baby” and an “eternally 0-year-old” genderless character. The name of the turtle on top of its head is named Kame-chan. Chiitan is actually based on a real-world pet otter of the same name that gained so popular in social media that it has become the honorary tourism ambassador of Susaki, Kochi. The creator of Chiitan is also the same person who created the mascot Shinjo-kun.
Recently though, as the mascot Chiitan’s antics on social media became crazier (and painful) to watch, the city revoked the real otter’s status as its tourism ambassador.
Source: New York Times, MoCa News, Anime News Network