Samの英語チャンネル

Show off your appreciation for sea critters with these highly detailed toys!

Do you absolutely love crabs? We’re not talking to eat, even though they’re definitely delicious. What I mean is, do you love crabs, the animal, with their spindly legs, hard shells, strong pincers and beady eyes? If the answer is yes, we’ve got an announcement for you!

Japanese cute goods brand YOU+MORE by Felissimo is coming out with a plushie of a Japanese spider crab, one of the spindliest of crabs in the great blue sea, complete with a shell that it can molt!

That’s right, Felissimo is now selling a molting crab plushie. It comes with two parts; an outer shell and a crab that molts it, and the freshly molted crab is actually bigger than the original shell, just like in real-life.

Since it’s made with a different material from the shell, it also feels softer, to represent how a freshly molted crab would not have a hardened shell yet, and the color is slightly different, as happens when crabs molt.

The freshly molted crab plushie is actually so soft that you could reasonably use it as a pillow! It would also make a great interior design item.

What’s more, this plushie is basically two for the price of one, with the added benefit that the empty shell has clips sewn into its pincers so that you can connect them and turn it into a little pouch! It even has a zipper to keep your valuables safe.

Both the shell and the molted crab have been carefully designed to replicate the finest detail of a real Japanese spider crab, even down to the color patterns on its body and its pincers.

Even the eyes and the underside of the crab have been given special attention, to make it look as realistic as possible!

This plushie has been designed under the supervision of aquarists at the Enoshima Aquarium, which is why it’s so detailed. The concept might sound unusual, but it’s born out of a passion for the mysterious creatures of the deep blue sea, so if you know a marine biologist, they’ll probably love this plushie.

But that’s not all. Felissimo is also offering palm-sized plushies of the Japanese lumpsucker. Known as an idol among adorable and soothing fish, the Japanese lumpsucker, known as the Fuusen-uo in Japanese, is highly popular for its cute, bulbous body, plump lips, and bulging eyes, so it’s no wonder that it would be made into a plushie!

The Japanese lumpsucker plushie is the exact size of a fully-grown, three-year-old female lumpsucker, which is typically just 13 centimeters (5.1 inches) long, including its tail. Three years is also when it achieves its peak roundness, which means this is a plushie at its cutest.

Like the molting crab plushie, this cute design has been made under the direction of aquarists at Enoshima Aquarium, so you know it’s been carefully crafted with as much detail as possible. The fins, for example, are made with tulle to give them the same delicate and translucent look, and the suction fin on its belly has been recreated using felt.

Of course, one of the most popular things about the lumpsucker is its adorably plump lips, and those were not neglected on this plushie. It’s also been printed to make its scales look realistically bumpy, complete with mottled coloring.

It comes with a chain, so you can use it as an accessory for your bags or keys, but it’s also squishy soft, making it an excellent stress ball as well (if you can stomach squeezing its adorable face).

Both the molting spider crab plushie and the Japanese lumpsucker keychain are currently available for preorder from Felissimo’s online shop (here for the crab and here for the lumpsucker). Together with a male version of the lumpsucker, which is white with black spots instead of yellow, both will also be available for sale at the Enoshima Aquarium at a later, undetermined date.

The molting crab plushie sells for 6,380 yen (US$58.30) and the lumpsucker keychain for 980 yen, so if you’ve got a marine animal lover in your life, they would make the perfect gift! Plus, don’t forget to also check out YOU+MORE’s other sea creature goods, including these awesome jellyfish umbrellas.

Source, images: PR Times
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Source: SORA NEWS24