Domo Arigato
by BONZO, HSM team writer
Domo-Kun makes his way to PlayStation Home, branded on apparel and even a little companion. So who the heck is this little guy?
If you have any young ones in your life you may have seen this character before, or possibly while strolling through your local Target store. Domo basically became a pop culture sensation. If you’re an 80’s child or just a Styx fan, get that Mr. Roboto song out of your head; totally unrelated. If you are a Looney Tunes fan he may seem familiar; remember Gossamer? However this little brown colored cousin with a bad case of lockjaw is again unrelated to this American icon of the golden age of animation.
Domo-Kun was actually mascot of the Japanese television station Nippon Hoso Kyokai, also known as the Japan Broadcasting Corporation to us westerners. The mascot was used in a series of Gumby-like stop motion animated segments as a station ID during shows. Rather than plaster an NHK logo, they creatively used mini sketches with Domo and friends as a wraparound segment during programming. Similar to how Rod Serling would introduce each segment of the Night Gallery, or for you young ones Orson’s Farm Quickies in the Garfield and Friend’s Show.
From this initial exposure, this strange little furry creature, which hatched from an egg, basically exploded into a pop culture phenomenon. The internet again stepped in to bring a regional icon from across the ocean to the American radar. It has since appeared in it’s own Manga published by Tokyopop in the United States and Canada, and on several video games on the Nintendo mobile gaming platforms from Gameboy Advance to Nintendo DS, as well as web based and smart device applications.
Gossamer
Domo has essentially become a brand onto himself. The gaping mouth and dotted eyes are all you need to see to immediate recognize the name. Now Kung Fu Factory, a third-party game developer, brings it to the Home community. Rather a strange departure for a developer with fighting game credits like Mixed Martial Arts, Ultimate Fighting Champion, and Mortal Kombat franchises when they were still known as Just Games Interactive, but then again they’ve also developed Hello Kitty Seasons, so this is a developer with a wide spectrum.
So: why is this important to Home, and the Home user?
To the fans it is self evident. If you aren’t a fan you may just become one. This little dude is as cute as a monster with a gaping mouth full or jagged teeth and a bad case of nervousness-induced flatulence can be. Beyond that, bringing more of the real world pop-culture into Home breaks the digital boundary of the fourth wall in Home. It is awesome to see other developers doing this, besides LOOT. Occasionally we have seen promotional items introduced to home — most recently Total Recall in No Man’s Land — and Ted the companion promoting Ted the movie. Yet real-world branding remains sparse because of licensing issues. This just reminds us that it is a work in progress, and slowly more brands may jump on board.
Home is such a fixed world because it is only accessible through the PlayStation 3, but within its boundaries it can grow tremendously. Within it developers have a chance to build their own brand and be the brand of Home. At one point these were limited, allowing Lockwood to develop multiple brands under the Lockwood umbrella. This platform has grown exponentially and now we see so many brands that the Hub has the potential of looking like Times Square lit by the multitude of brand logos from all the content now available.
If you have a hard time naming at least ten Home brands, then you are not paying attention. Include real-world brands into the mix, it expands the Home experience and annexes it to some real world connection that proves Home to be a viable marketing platform. With the changes Home has seen in the last year alone, traffic has grown with it; that’s more people making their way through the Hub, through Pier Park, and exploring the navigation menu. That’s thousands, hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions of eyes seeing a brand.
When users see a trademark in Home, and then in real life, or vice versa there is a connection made keeping the name brand fresh in the consumer’s mind. That’s what marketing is supposed to do. That connection is stronger when you have a virtual item in your inventory. That doesn’t mean some random freebie that makes it into storage never to be seen again, but an item you actually want to have and use and may even pay for. The popularity already established by this character almost certainly ensures it some shelf life. The minimalist, and colorful design of it may probe to be as popular in a virtual setting as well.
To fans of this little furry monster it ads an incentive to purchase yet another companion. Will Home see the rest of his friends, which include a teenage weasel fashionista Tashanna, a bear cub creatively named A Little Bear, Domo’s imaginary pixie friends Hee and Haw, or the old wise Mr. Miyagi — er, I mean Mr. Usaji? That remains to be seen, but the supporting cast is secondary to the main star, which remains Domo. The little guy who went from Japan tv promo, to internet sensation and into full fledged pop icon, now may just prove to be as popular in Home.
August 22nd, 2012 by BONZO | 8 comments
BONZO is an editor and artist for HomeStation Magazine.
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I must be out of the loop because I have never heard of this before. I think I may have seen a pic of Domo somewhere sometime, but other than that I hadn’t a clue. Thanks for bringing me up to date on this, though I doubt it is something I will invest in, I am sure there are many who will.
I think Home is poised on a cliff right now about to jump off into a sea of brand names coming into it. Some companies are already seeing the potential here, and I am sure others will follow suit if someone just shows them the way.
Nice read Bonzo.
I’m like you Burbie, I have no idea who this is, except there was a time he/she/it was promoted heavily in my local Target stores in the electronics dept. I have a tie in there that may make me buy it, but that’s the only place I know Domo from.
Like most Japan imports of pop culture, they tend to have cult followings. Before Disney popularized studio Ghibli in America, the only people who knew of it were the anime fans, and they’d tell you everything and more than you cared to know. Even now, most of the main stream knowledge of Studio Ghibli is probably Spirited Away, Howl’s moving Castle, and Ponyo, to some extent Princess Mononoke, and My neighbor Totoro. But in Japan Studio Ghibli is huge, and the American fans of anime could probably name every film that’s come out of that studio and not just Miyazaki’s. But characters like Domo, TokiDoki, and the obscure cast of the Sanrio brand live in obscurity until they explode into popularity. Everyone knows who Hello Kitty and Pokemon is now, but at one point they also lived in an obscure subculture that was very esoteric.
<——-- IZ BUYING ALL TEH DOMOS
(No, seriously. All your Domo are belong to Norse.)
I’ve been intrigued by the growing amount of “very Japanese” content filtering into NA Home. Last week we got jinbei, and this week we got Domo. A while back we got several quintessential anime character costumes.
What’s next? As a Miyazaki fan, I find myself hoping that we may someday get a Totoro or Catbus companion. And is it too much to hope for a little Doraemon following us through Home? I know it’s unlikely… but we can dream.
If a Home developer (or Sony itself) sets up a licensing agreement with Studio Ghibli to produce content for Home, I want a Howl’s Moving Castle personal space. End of story.
Heh, what’s a Target store!? Domo, I’ve seen before, a few places infact so yeah, yay for him!
Thing is though, Home has the potential to bring awareness to a lot of little known things. Home’s a bit like MTV in the 80’s; it’s the only go-to place for certain content. So when you’re in Home ( although there is quite a lot of content) it is closed enough that Home’s show-runners can make a spectacle out of whatever they wish for as long as they like and in the process make hype something beyond its normal parameters, stuffed horse anyone?
hahahahah
Target store!
http://weeklyad.target.com/emeryville-ca-94608/homepage?AFID=googlestr&CPNG=weeklyad&LNM=target_weekly_ad&adgroup=static+us&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000#
Its where you buy your PS3 LOL (cheap).
Oh and that is pretentiously pronounced with the French “et” on end making the J sound.
Right up there with Neiman Marcus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neiman_Marcus_Group
(JK!)
more Americana… and Japaneseana…
Ye Kilt-wearin Fifster! Bring on the Hagis and the Busch Mills!
btw most U.S. Americans think Busch Mills is Irish… LOL!