With the first episode of the Bikkuri-Men anime premiering in Japan, a series of new content has been added to the official website and on Social Media.
Starting with the first episode, Hiroyuki Takei is providing new illustrations for the eye-catches in the middle of the episode. The eye-catch is typically a short image or animation that bookmark the start and end of the single commercial break that occurs during the middle of the episode. In the first episode, Yamato and Phoenix were the illustrations shown. New illustrations will be shown each episode, for the 12 episode series.
The character gallery has also been updated with Hiroyuki Takei’s original drawings of Head Rokoko and what the final anime designs look like.
The illustrations from Hiroyuki Takei continue with the upcoming Japanese Blu-Ray and DVD boxsets. The series will be split in half with 6 episodes released in each of the boxsets being released on December 22, 2023 and February 23, 2024. Each set will come with a special booklet. This booklet will likely include some of Hiroyuki Takei’s original drawings.
If you pre-order the boxsets you will receive a limited-edition mini shishiki featuring a printed illustration by Hiroyuki Takei. The illustration will unique to each of the 2 boxsets and will be 120 x 135 mm in size.
If you pre-order from the retailer HMV for both boxsets you will additionally receive a set of 3 can badges featuring illustrations drawn by Hiroyuki Takei. Each can badge is 57 mm in diameter.
Other pre-order benefits are available from Animate, Amazon.co.jp, 7Net Shopping, and Rakuten Books, but they do not specify if the goods are featuring artwork from Hiroyuki Takei. The pre-order bonuses are listed on the official website.
Lastly to commemorate the start of the broadcast a special three-way Q&A with the Tomohiro Tsukimi (Director), Yuniko Ayana (Series Composition), and Hiroyuki Takei (Character & Mechanical Designer) was published on the official Bikkuri-Men website. Below is a rough, unofficial, English translation of Hiroyuki Takei’s responses to the questions.
Question: How did you get involved with this series?
Takei: At first, I was only told that it was a project for Shinei Animation’s 45th anniversary. So when I found out that it was a Bikkuriman project, I said “Yay!”
Question: The original design was a “School Story” but Takei-sensei had suggested that it would fit better in a “Convenience store.” What did you think of that idea?
Takei: Where can I buy Bikkuriman? When I thought about that, I would have said a candy store in the past, but now I think of a convenience store. “School stories” have an easy advantage for the viewers to connect with, but I thought that a convenience store that everyone uses on a daily basis could also be a setting that is easy to connect with. Though… maybe I mentioned something unnecessary there. (laugh)
Question: What was something that stood out to you during the production?
Takei: This time the characters are inspired by the original sticker pictures. They have a very well-defined visual iconography, so I wanted to stay true to that, but I also wanted to expand the characters in this series as I saw them. If someone was familiar with “Bikkuriman” and saw the designs, I think they could see the connection to the “Appearance Icons”.
Question: What is a highlight of this series?
Takei: As a fan who also watched [the previous anime series] “Bikkuriman”, I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do. I thought carefully about the behind-the-scenes aspects of each of the characers, so I will be happy if people enjoy them.
