Sazaebon

**Sazaebon** (サザエボン) is the name given to specific bootleg merchandise (also known as *pachimon*) that was produced from 1995 to 1997, crossing over Fujio Akatsuka's *The Genius Bakabon* with Machiko Hasegawa's *Sazae-san*. They became known for their infamy in the "Sazaebon Problem" legal dispute, where the plaintiffs disputed their creation as a severe copyright infringement, leading to production to halt.

## Origins

The early "Sazaebon" originated as part of gag toys made by the street vendor TOY Majin, who opted to combine the characters of Bakabon's Papa and Sazae-san to create such an unusual figure in the form of keychains and other souvenirs. It appears this was inspired by Hitoshi Matsumoto, of the program *Downtown*, mashing the two up as an amusing illustration.

The concept was then replicated by the Fukuoka Taisei Co. which began to quickly mass-produce these goods, leading to more popularity but also more attention on how they infringed copyrights. At first, Akatsuka himself found the crossover hilarious and and was impressed by it, but would note by February 1997 that the sales were a problem and had to be stopped;

*"It's not that I'm harmed, but they have to stop here. If they can get away with this, what's the use of having copyright laws? But I'm really disappointed. The idea of combining the two is really interesting, I'm sorry I didn't think of it first. If you think about it, it's the same idea as Unagi-Inu."*

## The Legal Case

Fujio Productions, The Machiko Hasegawa Museum, and Tezuka Productions all filed lawsuit in 1997 for the unauthorized usage of their characters; Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atom (famously known overseas as "Astro Boy") had also been replicated for bootleg merchandise where he was crossed over with other likenesses.

Taisei Co. argued that the goods should be seen as being protected by being a parody of the characters, with no intention of copyright infringement, and that the designs should be seen as altered enough to not be Sazae-san or Bakabon's Papa, citing that the "Papa" mustache wasn't exactly the same. However, the court was not convinced and granted the plaintiffs' complain about the merchandise. Taisei was ordered to ban sales of any of the offending characters, making them go out of production. TOY Majin also suspended their own sales of Sazaebon due to the negative attention in this time. Taisei would eventually go bankrupt in 2000, marking an end to any more threat of their infringement, as their company took a large hit from no longer being able to produce Sazaebon.

Even after the dissolution of Taisei and TOY Majin's ceasing of their products, vintage Sazaebon often appear on auction sites for those nostalgic for 1990s. Other forms of Sazaebon merchandise have seen revival in the 2010s, occasionally appearing as T-shirts or other memorabilia continuing to merge Papa and Sazae, and cause copyright headaches for their rightsholders.

Sazaebon were popularly imported into South Korea during the legal dispute, generating more profit even after Taisei was ordered to stop the sales.

## Sazaebon and Pachimon friends

Whether by TOY Majin, Taisei, or other sellers, these are just some of many possible bootleg characters that were crafted and that may continue to be seen.

### The 'Bons'

* Sazaebon- The most popular form. She comes in six colorful variants (red, blue, green, yellow, pink, and orange).
* Doraebon- Doraemon and Bakabon's Papa crossed over together.
* Mickeybon- Mickey Mouse and Bakabon's Papa.
* Sarubon- Bakabon's Papa as a monkey (saru).
* Pokebon- Pokemon characters mixed with Papa.
* Kittybon- Kitty White (Hello Kitty) and Papa.
* Atobon- Atom and Papa.
* Reggaebon- Papa with dreadlocks.

### Other Pachimon

* Tetsuwan Namihei- Namihei Isono (Sazae-san) with Atom (Tetsuwan Atom). He was also famous for appearing as a signboard character in a shopping district by Juso Station in Osaka, with the district even named after him. However, this also stopped due to legal complaints.
* Namihei Amuro- Namihei Isono as the idol Namie Amuro.
* Kitty-san- Sazae and Kitty.
* Tetsupanman- Atom and Anpanman.