Even a 2D anime character has feelings, you know.
Otaku love to decorate their hug pillow (dakimakura) with an anime character cover. Their companion is theirs to squeeze and talk to at night.
But Rina Makuraba, developed by Koichi Uchimura, takes things to another level.
She is a hug pillow that responds to your touch verbally. Just stroke her to elicit a “conversation”.
She has a real personality and will even get cross with you if you get too touchy-feely. As we know, a cute girl getting angry at you is a fetish in Japan.
The system is called Ita-Supo and comes with 500 voice patterns.
Uchimura’s Rina Makuraba project was posted on a Japanese crowdfunding website. Contribute just under ¥20,000 ($170) and you get your own talking hug pillow like Rina Makuraba, with a range of different idol characters (unfortunately some of these seem to be sold out but we’re sure the idol covers will become a real product one day).
It has already achieved three times its target of ¥500,000 (nearly $4,200) and still has 55 days to go. That’s what’s called a success.
