Neon
Local Mascot | |
---|---|
General Information | |
Name | Neon |
Designer | 🇯🇵 Ito Noizi |
Voiced by | 🇯🇵 Yuki Matsuoka |
Debut | ≤ 2009-02 |
Representation | |
Represents | 🇯🇵 Nippombashi Project |
Launched on | ≤ 2009-02 |
Appearance | |
Height | 158 cm |
Hair Color | Copper Blonde |
Eye Color | Dark Purple , with Yellow reflect |
Neon (Japanese: 音々, pronounced ねおん), often referred to as Neon-chan (音々ちゃん), was the mascot of the Nippombashi Project. She was designed by the Japanese artist Ito Noizi (いとうのいぢ) and voiced by Yuki Matsuoka (松岡由貴).
History
The Nippombashi Project was founded in early 2009[1] with the goal of revitalizing the Nippombashi area in Osaka, and consists of a network of all kinds of shops in the town[2]. Neon presumably debuted the same time as the project and was made as its official character.
She was featured in many places in Nippombashi, notably stores, and merchandise of her were made and distributed from 2009 to 2014 in general sales or only at specific events[3]. She was popular enough to rank 4th in the first edition of the Akihabara Moe Characters Contest and 6th in 2010.
Her latest appearance may have been in the 11th Nippombashi Street Festa that ran in 2015[4], which appears to be the last event listed on the official site. Though, for unclear reasons, she still participated in the 2017 edition of the Akihabara Contest (which normally only features characters who were active that year) where she ranked 24th.
The nippombashi.jp/project section was removed and dereferenced from the root page around October 2019[5], effectively retiring Neon for good.
Profile[6]
A 16 years old first year student at the Nippombashi Private High School.
Her hobbies are gaming, cosplay, and cooking. She likes to cook food that appears in anime or games and makes especially good sweets.
Neon also loves music and listens to all kinds of it including Western, Japanese and Anime songs, and also enjoys singing.
She became the Nippombashi Mascot after buying a discounted MP3 player at the Nippombashi Shipping Arcade without reading the fine prints. One thing that recently embarrassed her was a photo of her dozing off being printed and sold as merchandise.
Trivia
- Her name consists of the Kanji 音, which means sound, and the iteration mark 々 which denotes the repetition of the previous Kanji, but not always the pronunciation. ね (ne) and おん (on) are among the possible readings of 音.
Notes and References
- ↑ Neon's exact debut date is unknown, but a page from as early as February 18, 2009 is referencing her (archive).
- ↑ Nippombashi Project Description Page (archive)
- ↑ Nippombashi Project: List of Goods (archive)
- ↑ Nippombashi Project: Pombashi Map 22 Has Been Published (archive)
- ↑ Last known Archive from the root page still having the link
- ↑ Nippombashi Project: Character Profiles (archive)