On June 1, Lotte announced that its long-running Pai no Mi snack line will be adapted into an anime series, earning a unanimous wave of confused “What?” and “How?” responses from Japanese netizens. Far from a simple animated ad, the upcoming original series will be produced by a star-studded team of creators.
Titled Welcome to Pai no Mi Oshi no Mori (“Welcome to Pai no Mi Oshi Forest”), Lotte’s upcoming anime is handled jointly by Shin-Ei Animation – the studio behind long-running domestic classics like Doraemon and Crayon Shin-Chan – and Toho Animation. It’s set to air on the official Lotte YouTube channel starting June 4. The adaptation serves as part of Lotte’s “Welcome to the Pie no Mi Oshi Forest” initiative.
Created in 1979, Pai no Mi are bite-sized, hexagonal-shaped pastries with milk chocolate at their center (other flavors such as strawberry are also available). While the packaging predominantly features the snacks amidst a forested background (alluding to the snack’s name, which roughly translates to “pie fruit”), they are often accompanied by a pair of cartoony squirrels.
Drawing from this “source material,” two squirrels, Pile and Roxy, are the stars of the Pai no Mi anime, voiced by Yumiko Kobayashi (Shinnosuke Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan) and Rie Hikisaka (Hana Nono/Cure Yell in HUGtto! PreCure) respectively. Aside from the squirrels, Welcome to Pai no Mi Oshi no Mori will also feature Kumama the bear, Arai the raccoon, Nemi the cat, Kitsune the fox, Boss the skunk, Sagi the rabbit, Choro the turtle, Dongurina the squirrel, and Tantei the rabbit. As for the story, the details remain under wraps for now.
Interestingly, this announcement comes one year after the premiere of Tabekko Dobutsu the Movie, another adaptation based on a snack IP.
Welcome to Pai no Mi Oshi no Mori will be released sequentially on a one episode per month basis starting June 4, with eight planned episodes in total.
