Kogepan

Kogepan (こげぱん) is a Japanese character from the company San-X, who, like Sanrio creations Hello Kitty and Badtz Maru, can be found in books, anime, toys, stationery, and a number of other formats.[1] The character is a burnt red bean bread bun who lives in a panya (Japanese bakery), trying to fit in and make friends with the other bread items. The name comes from kogeru, meaning to burn or char, and pan, a gairaigo word taken from Portuguese and meaning bread. Kogepan was created by Miki Takahashi (ja:たかはしみき, Takahashi Miki) in the year 2000.[2]

There are a number of other characters (breads) in the panya with Kogepan, including ichigopan (strawberry bread), kireipan (beautifully baked red bean bread), kuriimupan (a burnt cream bread), and Sumipan, a bread even more burnt than Kogepan.

Media

Anime

The anime series, animated by Studio Pierrot and produced by Pony Canyon, consisted of ten 4-minute shorts, the majority of which introduce simple aspects of the character.[3]

Books

There have been three children's picture books published in the Kogepan series, written & drawn by Miki Takahashi:

  • Kogepan: Even Among Bread, They Meet One Another (こげぱん：パンにも出会いがあるらしい...)
  • Kogepan: Even Among Bread, There Are Many Kinds (こげぱん：パンにもいろいろあるらしい...)
  • Kogepan: What Is the Happiness of Bread? (こげぱん：パンのしあわせってなんだろう...)

In 2021 the first Kogepan book in about 15 years was published in Japan.[4]

References

  1. ^ de Vries, Nadia (2016). "Under the Yolk of Consumption: Re-Envisioning the Cute as Consumable". In Dale, Joshua Paul; Goggin, Joyce; Leyda, Julia; McIntyre, Anthony P.; Negra, Diane (eds.). The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness. Routledge. ISBN 9781317331308.
  2. ^ サンエックス90周年 みんなの生まれたところの話 うちのコたちの大図鑑 たれぱんだ・リラックマ・すみっコぐらし - 主婦と生活社 [San-X 90th Anniversary - Stories of All Their Origins - A Big Encyclopedia of Our Kids - Tarepanda Rilakkuma Sumikko Gurashi] (in Japanese). 主婦と生活社. 8 August 2022. p. 88-89. ISBN 9784391158502.
  3. ^ Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2015). The Anime Encyclopedia, 3rd Revised Edition: A Century of Japanese Animation. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 9781611729092.
  4. ^ "焦げて、やさぐれて、後向き……人気キャラクター「こげぱん」約15年ぶり新刊発売". Real Sound｜リアルサウンド ブック (in Japanese). 12 April 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
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