Relaxed Rilakkuma! (redundant?)
It’s the year of the water snake!
My family likes to celebrate by eating 2 fish, dumplings, noodles (my personal favorite), oranges, and pineapples – not all in the same dish though haha. We also wear brand new clothes and clean out the house to symbolize a fresh start to the new lunar cycle.
Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful new year :)
Last up from the Zodiac pack (for now): Sagittarius Rilakkuma!
Sagittarius (♐) is represented by the archer. In Greek mythology, Sagittarius is half-human, half horse – but Sagittarius Rilakkuma is just 100% bear hahaha.
My brother’s sign!
LOVE that bear detail that arrow!
A quiver full of arrows, too!
Wah I know I say this all the time but WOW at the details! The little arrows with bears are sooo adorable, and I absolutely love how they gave him a quiver with two individual arrows in the back. Also, the bow string is made of elastic which makes it seem like Rilakkuma could really shoot arrows with it! Incredible!
Next from the Zodiac Series batch, here’s Scorpio Rilakkuma!
Scorpio (♏), as the name might imply, is represented by the scorpion.
I’m not really sure why Rilakkuma’s scorpion is bright pink, but he sure is cute (and non-threatening) – friendliest-looking scorpion ever!
My, what big claws you have!
Cute scorpion tail in the back!
His little scorpion eyes are so soft and fuzzy!
Scorpio mythology is so cool: as the myth goes, Orion boasted to Artemis that he would kill every creature on Earth. Artemis offered protection to the creatures, and she and her mother sent a scorpion to deal with Orion. The scorpion won, and Zeus raised the scorpion to heaven as the constellation. At Artemis’ request, Zeus also did the same for Orion, to serve as a reminder for mortals to curb their excessive pride.
Just desserts?
In the middle of the big Zodiac Rilakkuma group is Cancer Rilakkuma!
Cancer is my sister’s sign, but I probably would’ve ordered this plushie regardless because he’s just too cute!
Cancer (♋) is represented by the crab, though hahaha looks like this Rilakkuma is more like a cooked crab – most crabs/lobsters only turn bright red after they’re cooked.
Cooked crab Rilakkuma!
Bahaha it looks like the hole for the face is a big crab mouth with Rilakkuma inside.
Each Rilakkuma plushie in this series has the astrological sign embroidered in gold.
In Greek mythology, Karkinos (a crab) is thought to have distracted Hercules as he battled the Hydra. Though there are variations on the myth, one version claims that the crab pinched Hercules and was crushed by Hercules’ foot, and Hera rewarded its sacrifice by immortalizing it as a constellation in the sky.
Now, Cancer has been immortalized as a Rilakkuma plushie – awesome!
Next up from the Zodiac Series: Gemini Rilakkuma!
Gemini (♊) is represented by the twins Castor and Pollux. In Classical mythology, Castor (the mortal brother) is killed, and Pollux (the immortal brother) chooses to let Castor share some of his immortality, and for this, they alternate between Olympus and Hades.
For this series, Gemini is represented by Rilakkuma holding two twin Korilakkumas!
Twin Korilakkumas! Rilakkuma’s arms are locked in, though.
The detailing is so beautiful – the Korilakkumas have their signature red button, and full outfits!
The back of the “R” star charm (present on every member of this Zodiac series) has a tribute to Rilakkuma’s 10th anniversary!
So many beautiful details! I love how golden and sparkly this series is – these Rilakkumas are so regal and angelic!
This plushie is kinda special because his embroidered gold star is on his right shoulder in the back instead of on his paw like the others. Also, he’s kind of like 3 plushies in one!
First up from the 10th Anniversary Zodiac Rilakkuma order is Taurus Rilakkuma!
Taurus (♉) is symbolized by the bull: in Greek mythology, Taurus is connected to Zeus, who disguised himself as a white bull to abduct the Phoenician princess Europa (how rude).
Today, Taurus Rilakkuma is dressed like a little Holstein bull with a bright red collar!
Taurus is my sign!
He has star-shaped spots!
I love his little cow ears!
San-X actually released Rilakkuma (and Korilakkuma) in a full cow suit back in 2008. Seems like Rilakkuma appears in a cow outfit every 5 years!
Buy directly from the official San-X Net Shop!
First off, the San-X Net Shop is a great way to access Rilakkuma products if you don’t live in Japan. They have hundreds of Rilakkuma items in stock, and they also run a pretty fun blog with additional product photos. They generally don’t stock the store/event exclusives, but they do have cool Net Shop exclusives from time to time (like Mushroom Rilakkuma/Squirrel Korilakkuma), and a ton of housewares. Importantly, items are released on the same day as Japanese Rilakkuma Store releases (stores outside of Japan will generally have a delay).
The San-X Net Shop, operated by emix, does not ship internationally, but they do work closely with Tenso, an international shipping service. You can even see a little Tenso ad at the bottom of the San-X Net Shop home page! There are a few other international forwarding services like it, but I trust Tenso because it is recommended by the San-X Net Shop.
As for cost, in addition to the cost of the plushies/purchases:
In this partnership, Tenso has come out with a short guide (in English) on to how to order from the San-X Net Shop using their service. It’s great and succinct, but I’ll expand on a few points after the jump:
Exciting news!
My 10th Anniversary Zodiac Series Rilakkumas came in today!
This was also my first time ordering from the San-X Net Shop. Even though Net Shop is almost entirely in Japanese, the whole process was surprisingly fast and easy – even for someone completely illiterate in Japanese like me.
My first San-X box, too!
Who’s inside?
From left to right: Gemini, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Taurus, & Cancer
Although images of this series have been out for months (one of my earliest blog posts, actually!), they were officially released just last week (1/19)!
This zodiac/astrology series is 12 plushies strong, and commemorates Rilakkuma’s 10 year anniversary! I only ordered 5 because I’m not made of money, but maybe I’ll collect the full set one day. Wow, San-X is sure doing it big this year for Rilakkuma’s 10th birthday!
Stay tuned for individual posts (and close-up photos) on each of them later this week!
ETA: If you’re curious about how to buy from Tenso, I wrote a guide!
No way!
San-X is teaming up with the character and animation studio Dwarf (TYO Inc.) to make a stop motion-style Rilakkuma movie!
Dwarf is famous for its stop motion animations of Domo, NHK’s official mascot. Wow, what quality work!
Check out this (extremely short, but sweet) teaser video here!
Coming soon!
Not sure exactly what this will entail, but it looks like they’re releasing it episode-style at the first of every month.
I am unbelievably excited about this, and the premiere just a week away!
Last but not least from the big UFO catcher batch: Mikan Rilakkuma! He was released into the UFO catcher wild by Fansclub and San-X in December 2011.
Mikan (Citrus unshiu) are citrus fruits of Japanese origin, and are also known as satsuma mandarins or satsuma oranges. We actually have a tree full of these out in our yard – yum!
Hello Mikan Rilakkuma!
Cute citrus hat!
Lovely scarf with fuzzy citrus details on both ends!
Because of Chinese tradition and symbolism (and some clever wordplay), my family loves to display and serve oranges to ring in the new year since our word for “fortune/success” sounds similar to the word for “orange”.
This Rilakkuma will also help us welcome the lunar new year next month as well – how auspicious for this Rilakkuma to join the family at the start of 2013!
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