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Rakuten Shopping Mascot Okaimono Panda Gets 1st TV Anime This Fall

Okaimono Panda! (literally, Shopping Panda), the official mascot character of the Rakuten marketplace and tie-in services, is inspiring their first television anime this fall. Rakuten Content Central is handling content production for the series, which is titled Okaimono Panda! in Japanese and Rakuten Panda! in English.

Rakuten describes the character: "Okaimono Panda! has a big heart and always gives 110% no matter what. They are also a bit of a shopaholic, which sometimes gets them into a spot of trouble…"

The character will mark their 11th anniversary (since debuting in a LINE sticker) on May 7. For the upcoming anime, Ikue Ōtani is reprising the lead voice role from previous Rakuten television commercials. Shinji Takamatsu (Gintama) is directing at Shin-Ei Animation (Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan), and Higashi Shimizu (Sazae-san, Doraemon) is in charge of the series scripts. Yasue Sosogi is designing the characters.

Ōtani gave this message about the anime news:

I've been voicing Okaimono Panda! for Rakuten's commercials for many years. And when I heard it's becoming an anime, I almost couldn't believe it!

I'm sure Okaimono Panda! will have a lot to say as always. Up until now, most of the time I've expressed the character through singing, so I'm really looking forward to voicing them in even more dialogue scenes and exploring new dimensions of the character. I'm excited to see Okaimono Panda!'s everyday adventures come to life in the series, and I hope you are as excited as I am to see the story unfold.

Takamatsu gave this message about the anime news:

I've been a fan of these characters for a long time, and even use their LINE stickers. You can imagine my surprise when I heard they were getting their own anime! Shopping (“Okaimono” in Japanese), of course, had to play a key part in the story. I thought it would be fun to create an anime where Okaimono Panda!, a shopaholic, and their best friend Little Panda, go on wild shopping sprees, causing chaos along the way. I hope you enjoy jumping into their world and experiencing their adventures too.

The "Rakuten Girls Award 2024 Spring/Summer" event will host an Okaimono Panda! stage program at Yoyogi National Stadium's First Gymnasium in Tokyo on Friday. The guests at the program, streamed on TikTok, will provide more information on the anime.

Sources: Comic Natalie, press release