Dakimakura madness

At long last another post has come, this time detailing my dakimakura collection and how I happened to fall into this wonderful world. For those not in the know, dakimakura roughly translates to hugging pillow and is a life-sized pillow case with an anime character printed on each side. There are special pillows that can be purchased to fit each dakimakura, but me and my brother just use two large pillows to fill ours. Due to the unique nature of some dakimakuras I have recruited President Maa and President Hime from the show Aria to assist me in displaying them in an appropriate fashion.

Now if you thinking that this looks like an erotic item then I certainly can’t blame you. While I was visiting my brother in Japan we visited White Canvas, a store full of Touhou merchandise. I was ecstatic to find what I thought was a cloth poster of my favorite Touhou character Suika. Imagine my surprise when I got back to the hotel and opened it, I too thought I bought an erotic toy. But I assure you that dakimakuras are supposed to be like anime character teddy bears, or bed buddies as I like to call them.

This is the second dakimakura I obtained. The girl depicted is Tamaki , my favorite character from To Heart 2. Popular characters like her often have multiple dakimakuras made for them, and some where out there is a maid Tamaki dakimakura. Also, it should be quite apparent now what my two helpers’ jobs are by now. On top is President Hime and President Maa has the bottom covered.

 

Most dakimakuras display the same character on each side, but others like this one display a different character on each side. Both come from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers. On top we have my favorite character Nanoha and on bottom is my brother’s favorite character Fate. You could consider this one the gem of my collection as it is the only dual character dakimakura I currently have.

Next up we have Hinagiku, a very popular character from Hayate no Gotoku! Dakimakuras are highly valued and often hard to come by. The demand far out reaches the supply and if you don’t reserve in advance then you will be hard pressed to get one at all. Typically a dakimakura will cost between $100 and $120 but if you miss the first wave then you’ll end up paying as much as $300 in a store if your even lucky enough to find it. Such is the plead I make to my brother, the benefactor to my collection, when one I want comes out.

Usually my brother will buy me dakimakuras as gifts for special occasions or as payment for jobs I do for him. However, every so often a dakimakura comes out that even he wants and then he will get us both one. This is one such dakimakura. This is Yami from To Love Ru, and suffice to say, me and my brother are both fans.

As mentioned before the great dakimakura hunt is a very competitive business. Thus it is sometimes necessary to go with you gut before it is too late. For instance this is Airi from Queen’s Blade, a show that to this day I haven’t seen. So in actuality I don’t know anything about her, but if I were to try to get her now, I would find her to be sold out indefinitely.

 

Not all dakimakuras come from anime series. This is Morgan and she is from the ero game Tears to Tiara. Though to be fair, Tears to Tiara was made into an anime not too long ago.

This is my latest dakimakura depicting Horo from Spice and Wolf. Though I say my latest, another dakimakura has been preordered even as I write this, but it won’t be coming out until later this month.

A new breed of dakimakura has also entered my collection. This dakimakura is significantly smaller than a traditional dakimakura and is about half the price. It is completely sealed and contains some kind of foam that expands when exposed to air. These mini dakimakuras are the perfect travel size otaku item. They are even small enough to effectively be carried onto a plane, if you don’t mind making a scene that is. This is Yoko from the show Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, or just Gurren Lagann for short.

Those who have seen Gurren Lagann know that the set wouldn’t be complete without a Nia dakimakura. Also provided in a nifty travel size for the otaku on the go.

Though you can always find a dakimakura in my bed they could never replace my guardian Berry. This Californian sun bear has been protecting me from myself for 22 years now.