The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls mascot Pinya Korata is getting a $1,200 ceramic statue

Bandai Namco Entertainment has announced detailed information about the collaboration to produce bizen ware statues of Pinya Korata, the mascot character of The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls. Bizen ware is a type of traditional pottery in Japan. Only 15 of these statues will be produced and they will be available for 165,000 yen (roughly $1,170) each.

The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls is an idol raising game that is jointly developed and operated by Bandai Namco Entertainment and Cygames. The game was originally released for feature phones in November of 2011, with iOS and Android support coming after. While it’s remained in operation for a long time, service for the game is scheduled to end on March 30, 2023 (JST) (related article). With that being said, the story of the game’s idols will continue on through games like The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage, live performances, and anime adaptations.

Pinya Korata, the character being turned into a bizen ware statue, is the mascot character of The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls. The character first appeared as a stuffed toy carried by Honoka Ayase, one of the game’s idols. From there, the character’s role slowly began to grow with appearances in the official webcomic, merchandise, and a collaboration that saw the character appear as a monster in Cygames’ Granblue Fantasy, firmly cementing the character as the mascot of the game.

Honoka Ayase from *The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage*. If you look closely, you can see Pinya Korata attached to her bag.

The bizen ware collaboration was revealed on the second day of the live event THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS LIKE4LIVE #cg_ootd which took place on September 4 (JST).

Pinya Korata will be modeled like Daikokuten, the god of wealth and one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. While no images of a completed statue have been released, images of the statue during the production phase appear to clearly depict the character’s distinct expression. We can also see the character holding Daikokuten’s mallet and sack, along with detailed strawbales to stand on. The size of the statue has yet to be revealed, but judging by the hand in the production photos, it looks pretty big.

The statues are being made in cooperation with a potter from Ichiyou Gama in Okayama prefecture’s Bizen City who is continuing the roughly 1,000-year history of the craft. But this isn’t the first bizen ware collaboration for The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls. Previously, there was a collaboration involving the character Hajime Fujiwara who is an idol and potter in the game. The collaboration was to release bizen ware teacups modeled after the character. While it’s unknown how many were made, they sold out in 3 minutes prompting a second batch to go into production.

The Hajime Fujiwara teacups were sold for 19,800 yen (roughly $140). In contrast, the Pinya Korata statues will be 165,000 yen which is a little over 8 times more expensive. With the statues being limited to only 15 and the price, users on social media seem to have a variety of opinions from it being interesting and expensive to wanting one for themselves.