Anime icons from Hayao Miyazaki films sure to be welcome at any Lunar New Year’s party.
The lunar new year already got off to a start in late January, but depending on what part of the world you live in, as well as how your schedule meshes with your family’s and friends’, you might still have some celebrating to do, including being on the giving or receiving end of some hongbao, or red envelopes, filled with celebratory cash.
So while they’re a little late to the party, if you’ve got a belated Lunar New Year get-together coming up, Studio Ghibli’s Totoro and No-Face would be happy to go with you, in red-envelope form.
Offered through Studio Ghibli specialty shop Donguri Kyowakoku, the “Red Pocket” series looks to have just gone on sale on February 1. Though Japan has its own custom of giving envelopes of cash to younger relatives, called otoshidama, it’s practiced at the start of the calendar year in January, and the red-and-gold color pattern of the Ghibli Red Pocket envelopes indicate that they’re meant to be used as part of the hongbao tradition.
Obviously, the face/huggable tummy of Studio Ghibli, Totoro, is part of the lineup, with all three sizes of the forest spirit frolicking on the front of the envelope as part of its beautiful yet playful paper-cut art.
On the backside, there’s a whole line of mini Totoros, plus the hiragana character “To” (と).
Also representing My Neighbor Totoro is the Soot Sprite/Makkurokurosuke, once again with the hiragana “To” on the back.
Meanwhile, Spirited Away’s No-Face, who sometimes gets a little carried away, appears on two different red envelope designs. The first sees him standing on the bridge that serves as the entrance to the spirit world.
On the back are a group of Soot Sprites (as they’re one of the few Ghibli creature species to appear in multiple anime from the studio) plus the kanji character for “Abura” (油), the first part of the name of Aburaya, the name of the bathhouse where Spirited Away takes place.
Aburaya is also the setting for the second No-Face red envelope. This design has the taciturn troublemaker posing next to a stack of wash tubs filling up with Aburaya’s hot spring water.
As you may have noticed, the four designs are split between two envelope shapes. The rectangular Totoro and No-Face bridge envelopes, priced at 1,760 (US$13.65) for a pack of five, are 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) long and 9 centimeters wide, while the Soot Sprite and No-Face bathhouse envelopes (1,540 yen for five) are 9-centimeter rectangles.
▼ As an added plus, the envelopes don’t make any specific reference to the new year, so you can just as easily use them next year or for any other hongbao-worthy occasion.
The whole lineup can be ordered through the Donguri Kyowakoku online store here, and figures to put a smile on the face of anyone who sees them (as opposed to the knockoff Totoro figure we recently stumbled cross that has put nightmares in our sleep).
Source: Donguri Kyowakoku
Top image: Donguri Kyowakoku
Insert images: Donguri Kyowakoku (1, 2, 3, 4)
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