Angel Blue

**Angel Blue (Japanese: エンジェルブルー)** is a brand established in 1989 by Narumiya International. During its initial popularity, it was marketed predominantly towards girls. In recent releases, it is marketed towards adult fans who may have grown up with brand in the earlier decades. It also consists of several characters which serve as mascots to the brand, the primary and most-well known one being Nakamura-kun. The appeal of the brand is colorful designs, upbeat mottos, and cute characters with unique names. Merchandise produced for Angel Blue include toys, clothing, bags, houseware, snacks, stationery, and much more, as well as a short manga series called Yumemiru Angel Blue.

The world of Angel Blue is set in the fictional address of "*813 Smile Street, Happy Ave, Rainbow City, U.S.A, Zip Code #7638*", with the country abbreviation of "U.S.A." being "*United States of Angel*".

Some of the key factors in the designs for the Angel Blue brand is that it should incorporate trends while maintaining a sort of fun and energetic sense in the designs. A slogan that it frequently uses in the merchandise is "For Pop & Cute Girls!"

While many of the designs are entirely original, sometimes its other designs will include parody or motifs that are inspired by real life American brands such as *Campbell's*, *Burger King*, *Tide*, *Del Monte*, *Nabisco*, and more. A majority of the merchandise, when text or dialogue is included, is in written in English. Other times the merchandise will include text in Japanese. The latter is more common in stationery pieces, such as scheduling notebooks.

In December 2023, a new official website went live to promote the reboot of the Angel Blue brand.

## History

The brand was first established in 1989 and started to take off a few years later. Character Designer and Illustrator Miki Shintani, also known as Mikiss*,* was hired by Narumiya International to design some of the mascots for the brand, which led to becoming most known as the creator of Nakamura-kun, Hana-chan, and a few others.

Originally, Nakamura-kun was an unnamed mascot for the Angel Blue brand. At some point early on in the brand's lifetime, a customer at an Angel Blue store had inquired about what the mascot's name was, and the shopkeeper of the store randomly blurted out "Nakamura-kun!", in which the name had stuck ever since.

The Angel Blue brand experienced the peak of its popularity during the 90s and 2000s in Japan, largely due to popular idols at the time who dressed in Angel Blue apparel on television or magazine media. During the late 2000s, the success of the brand began to decline as the idols that brought it to fame had moved onto different ventures, as well as the prices of the clothing having become too high for a lot of its customers. For several years afterwards, Narumiya International stopped production of Angel Blue merchandise, until 2019 when it started to bring the brand back by marketing towards nostalgia. Since then, merchandise items continued to be released, with some of the recent items being gacha prizes, apparel, plushies, and even collaborations with other brands such as *Converse*.

## Characters

**Nakamura-kun (Japanese: ナカムラ君 *Mr. Nakamura*)** is the cheerful main mascot, and also the recognizable face of Angel Blue. He wears blue attire, has a capital "A" on his torso for "Angel Blue", and has a heart in each ear on his head. He has a family consisting of his younger sister, his mother, his father, and a pet sheep. He is best friends with his sheep, and is known to often be striking a pose. Originally, he came from "Nakamura Planet" and traveled via rocket to get to Earth. Nakamura-kun has lots of friends, is always full of energy, and goes on all kinds of fun adventures.

**Hana-chan (Japanese: ハナちゃん *Hana-chan*; 妹ハナちゃん *Little Sister Hana*)** is the younger sister of Nakamura-kun, as well as the daughter of Nakamura Mommy and Nakamura Daddy. She usually wears yellow attire, has a lowercase "a" on her torso for "Angel Blue", wears a flower accessory atop her head, and is very friendly. She is good friends with Tanaka-san who teaches her how to cook. Her dream is to become an idol, and she loves to sing.

**Nakamura Mommy (Japanese: ナカムラマミー *Nakamuramy*)** is the mom of Nakamura-kun and Hana-chan. She wears red attire with the letter "M" on her torso which stands for "Mommy", and has a oval shaped face, wearing lipstick. She is often seen with a vacuum companion, who appears to be tired from working hard while Nakamura Mommy cleans things with them in a slightly stressful state.

**Nakamura Daddy (Japanese: ナカムラダディー *Nakamura Daddy)*** is the dad of Nakamura-kun and Hana-chan. He wears black attire with the letter "D" on his torso which stands for "Daddy", and has a square shaped face with a mustache. He is often seen with a hockey stick companion, and sometimes appears nervous as if concentrating on playing a hockey game. Nakamura Daddy enjoys the company of Nakamura-kun's pet Sheep.

**Hitsuji-kun (Japanese: ペットのヒツジ君 *Pet Sheep*)**, who is also just called **Sheep**, is the lamb-esque pet companion of Nakamura-kun. He likes to follow Nakamura-kun and friends around on their adventures, and are considered best friends. He is also good friends with Nakamura Daddy. It is said that within his fur, there are pockets of treasure hidden inside.

**Chocozukin (Japanese: チョコ頭巾 *Chocolate Hood*)**, who has also been called **Choco**, is the chocolate-esque little hooded friend of Nakamura-kun and co. He has a blue color scheme appearance, and an alternative chocolate-inspired appearance. He loves to join everyone on adventures, and is often seen skipping about. Choco supposedly tries to be a prankster, but is quite nervous about it. Because of this, he also gets along well with Honey Devil. Originally, he was accidentally on board the rocket that Nakamura-kun traveled on the way to Earth.

**Ohohopanda (Japanese:** **おほほバンダ** ***Ohoho Banda*)** is the panda-esque friend of Nakamura-kun and co. They are friendly, but shy. They also seem to be good friends with the Pink Tiara Mascot. Ohohopanda is also good friends with Tomaty. They are often seen wearing a multicolor striped scarf. In addition to their shyness, they like to quietly observe things, and enjoy going on walks. Ohohopanda loves apples, and can sometimes be seen carrying one.

**Honey Devil** **(Japanese: ハニーデビル *Honey Devil)*** is the small red imp friend of the others. They are mischievous but nice, and like to have fun. They are an avid prankster known to occasionally poke at others with a trident. Honey Devil enjoys the company of Chocozukin as they both share an interest in being pranksters. However, he also is suspected to be stealing donuts from Kappe-kun.

**Kappe-kun (Japanese: カッペ君 *Mr. Kappe*)** is a pink bunny-esque friend of the others. He is often seen snacking, and tends to enjoy donuts. He likes clothes, and has a star in one of his rabbit ears. His love of donuts goes so far that he always is carrying some in his pocket.

**Tanaka-san (Japanese:** **タナカさん *Tanaka-san*)** is another pink bunny-esque friend of all the others. She is stylish, wearing cool casual clothing, and has little heart shapes in her rabbit ears. She is a good cook, and is a poster girl for a donut shop.

**Tomaty (Japanese: トマティ *Tomati*)**, who has also been referred to as **Tomarin**, is the tomato-esque friend. They are often wearing trendy casual wear. Tomati loves ketchup and tomato dishes, and is good friends with Ohohopanda.

**Kirari-chan** **(Japanese:** **きらりちゃん *Kirari-chan*)** is another mascot within the Angel Blue universe, and the face of both the Angel Blue Kids and Angel Blue Baby brand. She bares a lot of resemblance to Nakamura-kun and Hana-chan, and while it is likely that she is species as them, it is unknown if they are related to one another. She wears light pink attire and a signature tiara, and has a playful but sweet personality. She seems to be good friends with Ohohopanda, as they are often spotted hanging out across many merchandise pieces.

**Plum-chan (Japanese:** **プラムちゃん *Plum-chan*)** is the cool fashionable friend of everyone. She has a sparkly rainbow afro with a flower accessory, and is often seen a cute dress or blouse, along with big high heeled boots.

**Pine-chan** is one of the other friends. She is pineapple-esque in appearance, and has curly leaf hair.

**Headphone-da-zou** is a light pink elephant friend who wears headphones with a star print on each side. They appear to enjoy listening to tunes.

**Space Patrol** refers to several bumble-bee characters that all use the same "Space Patrol" name. They each have a different appearance from one another.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *"エンジェルブルー（ANGEL BLUE）"* Gotemba Outlet. Kuchikomi7. Retrieved March 24, 2023
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *"Angel Blue Brand Guide"*One Map by From Japan. September 04, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
3. ↑ *"Yumemiru Angel Blue"*My Anime List. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2023
4. ↑ *"エンジェルブルー（Angel Blue）" Toki Premium Outlets*. Kuchikomi7. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
5. ↑ *"★ Angel Blue ★"* *Angel Blue.* Retrieved January 2, 2024.
6. ↑ *"★ANGEL BLUE★　カプセルラバーマスコット"* Gashapon. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
7. ↑ *"エンジェルブルー ナカムラくんおおきなぬいぐるみ" Bushiroad Creative*. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
8. ↑ *"コンバース×「エンジェルブルー」の厚底ウィメンズスニーカー、”ナカムラくん”ワッペン付き" Fashion Press*. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 *"Character Information"* Angel Blue. Retrieved January 2, 2024
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 *"Character Introduction" Rainbow Park Shop*. Kuchikomi7. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
11. ↑ *"ナカムラくん" Twitter*. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
12. ↑ *"Ringcolle! ANGEL BLUE"* @angelblue\_official. Instagram. Retrieved January 22, 2024