'Chiikawa' hits bookstores with a pop-up book and an official storybook

The Chiikawa universe keeps growing, and now it's books' turn. The franchise has just released a pop-up book that takes the characters into a three-dimensional format, only a few months after launching its first official storybook.

On October 19, Tobidasu Anime Chiikawa went on sale, a pop-up book that recreates Chiikawa, Hachiware, and Usagi's reactions with a depth the anime can't offer. Every page hides figures that jump out at you, and the design is made so even the youngest kids can handle it without breaking it.

The pop-up book with the characters showing excitement.prtimes.jp

It's not just a collector's decoration. The publisher insists it's a book meant to be used: sturdy, safe, and designed for the whole family to open again and again. They describe it as a piece that works both for reading and for decorating, and one that fits as a gift for the little ones.

The storybook already in stores

Before the pop-up came Chiikawa Anime Storybook Season 1, a volume that collects episodes 1 to 33 of the anime. It starts with "Katame no Purin/Hotcake" and ends with "Ana ni Ochita," though the publisher itself warns that some episodes were left out of the selection.

Chiikawa anime characters in the storybook.prtimes.jp

The charm of this book is in the detail. The anime moves fast, and there are gestures, lines, and expressions that vanish in the blink of an eye. Here they're frozen in full-color panels, with the original dialogue and that tone somewhere between sweet and absurd that defines the series.

Storybook panels with dialogue in Japanese.prtimes.jp

It's the franchise's first official storybook, and it shows in the care put into the edition. It's not a summary of the anime: it's a different way of going through it, at whatever pace each reader wants.

Two formats for one obsession

What's interesting is that both books aim at different audiences. The storybook is for the fan who wants to revisit scenes calmly and notice what they missed. The pop-up, on the other hand, is almost a toy-like object, made so the reading experience becomes physical.

And yet both start from the same place: the idea that the world of Chiikawa doesn't end on the screen. That there's something in these characters —in their faces, in their exaggerated reactions, in their mix of tenderness and cruelty— that asks to be touched, flipped through, kept.

Chiikawa characters in funny and sweet situations.prtimes.jp

The storybook is already on sale and the pop-up arrived on October 19, so there's no waiting. If the franchise keeps going this way, it wouldn't be strange to see more volumes in the coming months.

Does either of the two books catch your eye? Or do you prefer to stick with just the anime? Tell us in the comments.