Kogepan

Kogepan (こげぱん) is a burnt red bean bread bun character from the Japanese company San-X, who, like Sanrio creations Hello Kitty and Badtz Maru, can be found in books, anime, toys, stationery, and a number of other formats.[1] Kogepan was created by Miki Takahashi (ja:たかはしみき, Takahashi Miki) in the year 2000.[2]

Characteristics

The character is a burnt red bean bread bun who lives in a panya (Japanese bakery), trying to fit in and make friends with the other bread items. The name comes from kogeru, meaning to burn or char, and pan, a gairaigo word taken from Portuguese and meaning bread.

T: The New York Times Style Magazine described Kogepan as an "antihero" who "reads self-help books like “How to Become a Delicious Bread” to stave off despair" and is an example of a character who's "most winning feature comes from a wound".[3]

There are a number of other characters (breads) in the panya with Kogepan, including ichigopan (strawberry bread), kireipan (beautifully baked red bean bread), kuriimupan (a burnt cream bread), and Sumipan, a bread even more burnt than Kogepan.

Media and reception

The Kogepan anime series, animated by Studio Pierrot and produced by Pony Canyon, consisted of ten 4-minute shorts, the majority of which introduce simple aspects of the character.[4]

A number of Kogepan manga and picture books written & drawn by Miki Takahashi were published in Japan between 2000 and 2008, including the series Yasagure Manga (やさぐれマンガ, transl. Sullen Manga), Kogepan no Pikunikku (こげぱんのピクニック, transl. Kogepan's Picnic), and Burari Tabi Nikki (ぶらり旅日記, transl. Aimless Travel Diary).[5][6] In 2021 the first Kogepan book in about 15 years was published in Japan.[7]

The first Kogepan product was a memo pad released in 1999.[7] Realsound described the popularity of stationery and other Kogepan products as "explosive."[7] Over two million plush Kogepan toys have been sold, and book sales reached over 1.3 million combined copies.[7]

References

  1. ^ de Vries, Nadia (2016). "Under the Yolk of Consumption: Re-Envisioning the Cute as Consumable". In Dale, Joshua Paul; Goggin, Joyce; Leyda, Julia; McIntyre, Anthony P.; Negra, Diane (eds.). The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness. Routledge. ISBN 9781317331308.
  2. ^ サンエックス90周年 みんなの生まれたところの話 うちのコたちの大図鑑 たれぱんだ・リラックマ・すみっコぐらし - 主婦と生活社 [San-X 90th Anniversary - Stories of All Their Origins - A Big Encyclopedia of Our Kids - Tarepanda Rilakkuma Sumikko Gurashi] (in Japanese). 主婦と生活社. 8 August 2022. p. 88-89. ISBN 9784391158502.
  3. ^ "The Darker Side of Japan's Love of Cuteness". The New York Times. 22 April 2025.
  4. ^ Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2015). The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 9781611729092.
  5. ^ たかはしみき (10 August 2000). こげぱん: パンにもいろいろあるらしい...。. Sonī Magajinzu. ISBN 978-4-7897-1592-8.
  6. ^ "San-xネット | BOOK". Archived from the original on 22 September 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d "焦げて、やさぐれて、後向き……人気キャラクター「こげぱん」約15年ぶり新刊発売". Real Sound｜リアルサウンド ブック (in Japanese). 12 April 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
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