Bikkuriman

Bikkuriman (ビックリマン) is a Japanese anime series.

The original Bikkuriman series, created by Toei Animation, aired from October 11, 1987 to April 2, 1989.^[1] Sequels include a second Bikkuriman series and Super Bikkuriman.

History

Super Bikkuriman was a waffle peanut and chocolate snack made by Lotte that sold for 30 yen at the time. It came with one randomly assorted Bikkuriman bonus sticker which was used to play a simple tag-like game that required the players to stick the sticker onto their foreheads. The stickers were divided into sets called "Dan". Within each "dan" there was one ultra rare "Head" which was often sparkly with prism or holographic type designs. Among the kids, some of these sold for 1000 yen (roughly $10 USA) or more, the highest being 5000 yen. The rest of the normal stickers were divided into three types: Devil, Angel and Protectors. The angels were metallic silver or gold but were not nearly as valuable as the Heads. The protectors had clear backgrounds. The devils were the most common and considered not valuable.

These stickers were a huge success, and both manga series and anime were made. Later on, there was also an ice cream bar which also had the stickers; they began from the first set for people who started collecting later. Two Bikkuriman video games were made for the PC Engine console in Japan. Even knock-offs of the stickers were made; the most famous was called Dokkiriman. One of their heads was a character called Kenjin Kentaurus. Many other similar products came out such as Ramenbar and other snacks that came with bonus stickers.

These collectible stickers became such a huge hit, and it was the first proper and massive collectible item for kids done in Japan that had rare and common value system. Soon after, the Gashapon SD Gundam line seemed to have begun to copy this and make their toy line more collectible. This was also a huge hit. Then came the appearance of telephone cards. These cards had limited credits that were used only for the public phones. These became a collectible hit amongst adults. Soon after came the rise of collectible cards. SD Gundam and Dragon Ball were the first to jump on this bandwagon and eventually give rise to mega-successful CCG (Collectible Card Games) such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, but it all began with Bikkuriman.

Heads List

• 1st Dan Head - Super Zues
• 2nd Dan Head - Shaman Kahn
• 3rd Dan Head - Super Devil
• 4th Dan Head - Satan Maria
• 5th Dan Head - St. Phoenix
• 6th Dan Head - Shiso Jura
• 7th Dan Head - Black Zues
• 8th Dan Head - Herachrist
• 9th Dan Head - Busogata Phoenix
• 10th Dan Head - Masho Nero

References

External links

• Bikkuriman (2nd) - Toei Animation
• Super Bikkuriman - Toei Animation
• Bikkuri-Man (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia