"Munching Chiikawa and Hachiware are so cute!" "Happiest Birthday!" A flood of birthday wishes from Japan and overseas for Chiikawa & Hachiware.

The official X accounts for the Chiikawa anime and "Chiikawa Mogumogu Honpo" have posted special messages celebrating the birthdays of Chiikawa (CV: Haruka Aoki) and Hachiware (CV: Makoto Tanaka), drawing a massive wave of congratulatory messages from fans worldwide.

The post from the official Chiikawa anime account on May 1st featured a celebratory photo showing Chiikawa and Hachiware plushies lined up against a wall decorated with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" letter balloons, with a strawberry shortcake placed in front of them. Additionally, on the same day, Chiikawa Mogumogu Honpo released special celebratory illustrations of Chiikawa and Hachiware dressed in traditional Japanese attire, happily munching on snacks.

In response to these posts, fans from both Japan and abroad flooded the comments with well-wishes such as "Happiest Birthday!" and "Happy Birthday!" Other reactions included comments like "The fact that these two share the same birthday is so precious..." and "Munching Chiikawa and Hachiware are so cute!"

Chiikawa is a manga series by Nagano that began serialization in 2020. The gap between the small, cute characters and the surprisingly harsh reality of their world has earned the series immense popularity among both children and adults. The first-ever film adaptation, Chiikawa The Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island, is scheduled for release on July 24th. With the total views of videos on the "Mezamashi TV" official YouTube channel surpassing 400 million, it is currently one of the most talked-about character franchises.

(C)ナガノ / ちいかわ製作委員会