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The story
On September 8, JR East unveiled three finalist designs for a new mascot to replace the long-beloved “Suica Penguin,” and opened voting to the public. In response, voice actor Junichi Suwabe posted an original character of his own design on social media, sparking a huge reaction. On 5ch threads, many pointed out that the official candidates felt oddly derivative, while just as many argued there was no need to replace the penguin in the first place — leaving opinions split between the old and new characters.
Wed, 9/9, 17:20
On September 8, JR East announced, “We’re starting the selection vote for Suica’s new mascot,” unveiling three characters to replace the familiar “Suica Penguin.” While the vote is underway, an original character from a hugely popular voice actor has become a massive hit.
“Junichi Suwabe posted an illustration as his own ‘candidate.’ Suwabe, now 54, shot to fame in 2002 as Keigo Atobe in Prince of Tennis, and has since been active across anime, dubbing, narration, and hosting work” (entertainment reporter).
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Apparently the penguin was chosen
to represent the image of
gliding smoothly along ("sui-sui," a pun on Suica)
Good concept, honestly
Compare that to those other three candidates… what even are those
The penguin never gave off that vibe though
I mean, going with Hitoshi Ueki wouldn't hurt the image, right? (Ueki's famous novelty song includes the lyric "sui-sui")
What's happened to people's design sense
That purple creature is gross in a way that's oddly addictive
Feels like it's got a Chinese-market design sensibility
Thought this was a troll post, turns out it's real
Reeks of Yo-kai Watch
Any well-made mascot character
ends up resembling something else by now
They've been mass-produced that much
Most animals have already been "hunted out" as mascot material
That face is clearly ripped straight from some other character
My eyes hurt (Chiba-kun, the mascot of Chiba Prefecture)
This looks just like one of the mascot candidates that was up for the Expo
My bad, meant to say
the Tokyo Olympics candidate
Bottom right? Does that even look similar?
That's a raccoon dog
Actually wait, that would just bring back the copyright issues
Yeah, if someone rips off a design from somewhere else and submits it, that causes drama
That's the one that absolutely should NOT win lol
Is this just people trolling for the joke?
Someone's running a "Tashiro cannon" on it somewhere (slang for mass fake votes/reviews)
https://pachimaga.com/free/2022/09/09/19684f260d75be0d046af4bb19a85531b7379297.jpg
Why change it at all?
Maybe the penguin's licensing fee was outrageous
Its presence had faded, so they wanted some buzz
Background and Key Points
What JR East actually published was a vote among three official finalist designs — Junichi Suwabe’s illustration was an unofficial “self-nomination” he posted on social media, and it isn’t actually one of the options in the real vote, which is easy to misunderstand. The article doesn’t reveal why the penguin is being replaced, and while the thread speculated about licensing fees or the involvement of the rights-holder company, none of that is confirmed information. Many commenters pointed out that the new candidates felt derivative — resembling Jibanyan from Yo-kai Watch or a past Tokyo Olympics mascot candidate — while a fair number also voiced support for Suwabe’s illustration, leaving opinions split over character design, official or not.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Popular voice actor Junichi Suwabe joins the race for Suica’s new mascot to replace the “penguin” with his own illustration — a storm of praise: “I want to vote for this!”“.
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