Weekend relaxation mode!

Today’s post features three great bear plush associated with Chairoikoguma (チャイロイコグマ) / Koguma-chan (こぐまちゃん)! “Chairoi” means brown, “koguma” means bear cub, and “chan” is an honorific with an endearing connotation. Both names for the same cute bear! Koguma-chan was introduced to the Rilakkuma crew in March 2013, and has been highlighted in two additional series since then!

First up is Ocarina Rilakkuma, the Caravan exclusive plush from Korilakkuma’s New Friend Series!

Contemplative ocarina time in the forest!

“Hey! What are you doing in my secret spot?”

The cutest bear bee sits on top of his head! I love the bear face, fuzzy pom-pom antennae, and tiny circular wings!

Rilakkuma plays a beautiful baby blue ocarina. I absolutely love the soft color, submarine shape, and subtle bear emblem!

Tag art features Rilakkuma relaxing on a tree branch with Kiiroitori taking a peek! And of course, a little bear bee flitting around! I tried to recreate this scene in the first photo hehehe.

Though this plush does not explicitly look like it’s Koguma-chan related, he is the Caravan release for Korilakkuma’s New Friend Series, the series that introduced Koguma-chan back in March 2016! Check out the video for this series:

This plush represents my favorite scene from this series, Rilakkuma peacefully playing the ocarina by a tree while Korilakkuma plays with Koguma-chan!

Huge thanks to @rilakkumacrossing for the tip on this bear—I love him so much!

Next up is Koguma-chan’s Acorn House Playset!

Welcome to Koguma-chan’s acorn home!

Check out all of the separate parts! The acorn house, Koguma-chan, chair, scarf, bee, and of course, the handmade mittens!

A smaller scale take on the bear bee! Compared to the one attached to Ocarina Rilakkuma, this one has all the features flattened to one side, and the wings are displayed dorsally instead of laterally.

The eponymous handmade mittens! You can actually physically put these on Koguma-chan’s paws, but seemed like a little bit of a hassle.

Cute baby pink scarf to keep him warm, just in case his chest hair doesn’t! And at this angle, you can take a peek at Koguma-chan’s signature honey print!

In addition to a window, Koguma-chan’s home features a cute acorn stem on the side of the roof, and there’s an elastic loop for the doorknob to keep the door closed! And one of my favorite details, a light blue fish on the door, just like the fish he caught with Rilakkuma! And like the ones they eventually eat for dinner, if you follow their story.

No tag for this playset, but the box shows all the component parts, as well as the source illustration! If you look closely, you can see that the bear bee has his own beehive attached to Koguma-chan’s home!

I absolutely love playsets, and this one is no exception!

One thing that is silly about a lot of these house-themed playsets is that while all the component parts can fit comfortably inside for storage, they really do look super crammed in there for a living space—like all Koguma-chan can do in his own house is sit because there isn’t room for much else haha.

Also, these different Koguma-chan plushes make it hard for me to figure out what Koguma-chan’s body shape really is! This version makes him look a lot skinnier than the illustrations. Furthermore, he looks a lot different from his standard M classic counterpart, who then still looks quite different from his fishing counterpart. What is the truth?

I think Koguma-chan is such a super addition to the Rilakkuma group! I love that he shares his passion for fishing with Rilakkuma!

Speaking of which, here’s Acorn Rilakkuma Plush!

Rilakkuma keeping warm in a beautiful acorn poncho!

A beautiful knit poncho with collar, embroidered floral band pattern, delicate fringe trim, and embroidered acorn, cherry, and flower details! My favorite is the wood finish button in the middle, reminds me a lot of an earth-theme Korilakkuma hehehe.

Of course, since it was cold when this series came out, Rilakkuma is wearing some stylish ugg boots! Hahahaha doesn’t he look so warm?

At the very top, an acorn top hat with leaf detail, a lot like the roof on Koguma-chan’s home!

Tag art from the series depicting the matching handmade mittens between Korilakkuma and Koguma-chan, but it actually looks like Rilakkuma isn’t wearing the outfit he has on in the plush at all haha! Looks like he’s wearing a scarf instead, what’s the deal! Nice peek of the tiny fabric tag here too, which is a gold “R” with an acorn cap on a pink background.

So fancy and detailed! This sylvan poncho aesthetic is very reminiscent of the Store Exclusive designs from the 2010 Forest Series, don’t you think?

Both Koguma-chan’s Acorn House and this Acorn Rilakkuma are from the Handmade Mittens Series (てぶくろをとどけに), released in October 2016. As the story goes, Korilakkuma gave handmade (paw-made?) mittens as a gift to Koguma-chan, her newest friend. Check out this animation about their story!

I’m not 100% sure what acorns have to do with all of this, but it is a really pleasant motif—it reminds me a lot of the Happy Natural Time Series that paired deer with freshly baked fruit pies.

Big thanks to my Aunt Lulu again for facilitating the immigration of the Koguma-chan Acorn House and Acorn Rilakkuma plush—what a fabulous set!

The three plush featured here join my existing M Koguma-chan and fishing Rilakkuma/Koguma-chan plush for the Koguma-chan themed section of my collection!

Now that we’ve revisited Koguma-chans throughout history, what do you think about this summer’s Koguma-chan series: Korilakkuma Meets Chairokoguma (コリラックマ meets チャイロイコグマ)?

Korilakkuma Loves Koguma-chan so much!

This series gives Korilakkuma a light pink floral poncho, and gives Koguma-chan a blue and white flower crown!

The aesthetic is so pretty and soft! These designs were released just this past May, and should still be on the shelves at Rilakkuma Stores everywhere!

One of my favorite things about these Kogumachan series is the awesome food designs that pop up, like this one at the Korilakkuma x Hands Cafe collaboration this season:

https://instagram.com/p/BUntqaRhoOs

Roar!!! Big ferocious Koguma-chan burger! So adorable! A meal very fit for a Koguma-chan hehehe.

What do you think about this newer Koguma-chan series? Has Koguma-chan integrated himself well into Rilakkuma’s world?