"Usagi Is Way Too Hyped!" The Chiikawa Trio Each Enjoy the Picnic in Their Own Way — Chiikawa Episode 169

Episode 169, continuing the picnic story arc from Episode 168, opens with a scene of Hachiware singing while playing an instrument. The song is an acoustic arrangement of "Hitorigotsu," the ending theme of the Chiikawa anime. Hachiware sways happily as he sings, Chiikawa listens intently while swaying along as well, and even the usually free-spirited Usagi sits completely still, absorbed in Hachiware's singing. Then, when he reaches the final line of "Hitorigotsu" — the lyric "Namagawaki" — Hachiware strains his voice and ends up singing it with a hilarious expression.

The scene drew a flood of praise, with comments such as "Hachiware's singing voice is wonderful!" and "It's such a great song, I got completely absorbed in it," alongside reactions like "Hachiware's expression at the end was great!" and "That was such a funny face."

Chiikawa is a popular manga that illustrator Nagano has been posting on X (formerly Twitter) since 2020. It won the Japan Character Grand Prix 2022, then went on to take the grand prize two years in a row at the Japan Character Grand Prix 2024 and the Japan Character Grand Prix 2025. The gap between its small, cute characters and the series' harsh worldview has won it broad popularity across all ages, and its follower count has now topped 4.79 million.