Sour Lemons.

For the 80th anniversary of Kirin, they offered up a half-dozen characters of Tezuka Osamu attached to their Kirin Lemon Sports Drink. Not only are the little guys really cute, the Drink tastes pretty good too!


First up, we have good old 鉄腕アトム, Tetsuwan Atomu or better known as Astro Boy. Definitely my favourite of his creations, I'm a little worried about the live-action treatment he'll be getting soon.

But it'll never compare in awesomeness with this: (forgive the scratchy print, I only posts 'em, I don't make 'em.)



Next up is ウランチャン, Uran-chan who showed up in issue 25 of his Manga as a "Strange Birthday Present". I don't know too much about her, but she is a real cutie.









This of course is Simba from the Lion King. Correct that, it's ジャングル大帝, Janguru Taitei, Jungle Emperor Kimba who was the obvious inspiration for Simba. Also called Leo, here he is in his more youthful cub days.

This song should bring a tear to your eyes:



It's ふしぎなメルモ　Marvelous Melmo who I guess can change her age by eating coloured candy. I know absolutely nothing about this character but click on that link to get a bit of info.

Here is her opening theme song:



ユニコ or Uniko (unicorn, duh) is also fairly unknown to me but is certainly cute. When you go to that link, be sure to click on "Preview" for some gorgeous artwork. No embedding allowed, but this should give you an idea of its cutesiness.







Last but not least is 三つ目がとおる (mitsu-me gato-oru) or Sharaku Hohsuke as the 3-eyed one. Cool SF fantasy of a high school boy with a 3rd eye.

Check this out for a cool opening song:



I wish Kirin had decided to do more characters, maybe for their 90th anniversary.