Hachiware, Chiikawa, and the Gashapon Figures Fans Display

Hachiware Chiikawa Narabundesu 2 Bandai Gachapon Figure

Chiikawa and the Character at Its Center

The web manga Chiikawa — whose full Japanese title translates roughly as “that small cute thing” — began as a series of short strips posted by the artist Nagano on X (formerly Twitter) around 2020. The series built a devoted following drawn to its gentle character dynamics and, at times, surprisingly layered storytelling. A television anime adaptation produced by Nihon Animation began airing on TV Tokyo affiliates in 2022 and has continued since, establishing Chiikawa as an active, ongoing franchise with a broad and expanding merchandise lineup.

At the heart of the franchise are three main characters: Chiikawa, Hachiware, and Usagi. Hachiware takes its name from a Japanese term for a bicolor cat coat pattern — the symmetrical black-and-white markings that run across the forehead and ears. That distinctive look carries over into the figure, along with three vertical pink lines on each cheek and an open-mouthed expression that are signature features of the character’s design. In the manga and anime, Hachiware is portrayed as diligent and earnest, a close and loyal friend to Chiikawa, and stands alongside the title character as one of the franchise’s most recognized figures.

Narabundesu and the Gashapon Tradition

This figure belongs to Bandai’s Narabundesu series — a name that translates loosely as “they line up” — which is designed from the ground up with display in mind. The figures are posed so that the full cast, when assembled, reads as a coherent group rather than as isolated pieces. This release is the second installment in that line, following an earlier Narabundesu series.

The figures are produced under Bandai’s Gachapon (also written Gashapon) trademark, Bandai’s registered brand for capsule toys. In Japan, Gachapon vending machines are fixtures in shopping malls, railway stations, and arcades — a coin goes in, a handle turns, and a sealed capsule comes out. Each machine carries one series, and the contents of any given capsule are assigned at random. Collecting the complete lineup across multiple attempts is a deeply embedded part of how these toys function culturally in Japan. The figures are molded in hard plastic and produced as officially licensed merchandise.

Why Chiikawa Gashapon Attracts Collectors Beyond Japan

Chiikawa began drawing significant international attention from around 2022, particularly across Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, with growing awareness in English-speaking audiences as well. Hachiware’s status as one of the franchise’s two central characters gives merchandise featuring this design a consistent base of interest among fans who follow the property closely.

For collectors outside Japan, Bandai Gachapon figures carry a particular kind of significance: they are distributed through physical vending machines and are not available through ordinary international retail channels. That structure is precisely what drives demand for these pieces abroad — they originate from a purchasing system that requires being in Japan, which means sourcing through specialist import channels is often the only realistic path to owning them. The Narabundesu concept, figures built expressly to stand together, also resonates with the display culture that runs through Japanese capsule toy collecting more broadly and that fans in other countries have increasingly come to appreciate.