Sumikko Gurashi (すみっコぐらし) is a set of fictional characters created by the Japanese company San-X. The name directly translates to "life in the corner". The main Sumikko characters are Shirokuma, a polar bear who dislikes the cold; Penguin?, who is unsure of being a penguin; Tonkatsu, a piece of leftover pork cutlet; Neko, a timid and anxious cat; and Tokage, a dinosaur who pretends to be a lizard. Minor Minikko characters include Furoshiki, a polka dot furoshiki cloth; Zassou, a weed with a positive attitude; and Tapioca, multi-colored leftover tapioca pearls. The characters were created by Yuri Yokomizo, a graphic designer working for San-X, and the first products were released in 2012. Their main inspiration was the feeling of comfort when one is near a corner, and they were based on Yokomizo's notebook doodles when she was a student.
A wealth of merchandise, such as stationery, plush toys, and clothing, is sold. Books, mobile apps, and video games based on the franchise have also been produced. Four animated films with Sumikko Gurashi were released between 2019 and 2025, with a fifth planned for 2027. Two short anime series aired on Nippon Television in 2023 and 2025. As of 2019, sales of Sumikko Gurashi products were worth about 20 billion yen a year. Eight million plush toys and 3 million books had been sold. In 2019, Sumikko Gurashi won the Grand Prize at the Japan Character Awards.
Background Targeting Japanese people with an affinity for "corners", such as the corner seat of a café or the corner of a room, the characters are anthropomorphised animals and food items. The characters are split into "Sumikko", the main characters, and "Minikko", the smaller side characters. The main characters have common traits: they have a slightly negative personality, they are castaways in everyday life, and they feel most relaxed when they are near a corner. In contrast, some of the Minikko characters have a more positive outlook, like Zassou, the weed with big dreams.
Yuri Yokomizo was a new designer when she developed the Sumikko Gurashi characters in her first year of joining San-X. Before getting hired at San-X, Yokomizo studied graphic design at Tama Art University where Hikaru Suemasa, creator of the San-X character Tarepanda, was one of her professors. Yokomizo based the Sumikko Gurashi characters on doodles she made in the corners of her notebooks as a student. They were first conceived as a series of cute animal characters, and early concept art included a sheep and a giraffe. The polar bear character Shirokuma was originally conceived as a flawed white rabbit stuffed toy with ears that are too short. It was also considered for a main character role, but ultimately the lone character was deemed too gloomy and lonely, and a group setting was used instead. The cat character Neko was added to the group after winning a survey San-X did with children in elementary school. The addition of the leftover pork cutlet character Tonkatsu shifted the focus. Yokomizo said in 2015 that characters like Tonkatsu and Tapioca were inspired by a feeling of pity for that which is left over. In 2019 Yokomizo said that some parts of the books are based on her own experiences, like a scene where the characters are afraid of answering the phone.
In 2019, The Japan Times described Sumikko Gurashi as being part of a trend which first began with the release of the San-X character Rilakkuma in 2003, where characters have more negative personality traits compared to earlier kawaii (cute) characters which were more cheerful or bland. Marceline Smith, the author of a book about kawaii, described Sumikko Gurashi as "characters that feel left out or anxious" which makes them "more relevant for a generation who face greater uncertainty in their lives".
History and products
San-X released the first Sumikko Gurashi products in September 2012, which included stationery and plush toys. A variety of merchandise followed, such as clothing, kitchenware, and bags. The Sumikko Gurashi Collection is a series of plush items, consisting of palm-sized plush dolls and plush dollhouses, furniture, outfits, etc. in size for the dolls. As of 2018, it includes over 300 different items. Sumikko merchandise has been released with different themes, like seasonal items, depicting Sumikko wearing hats and mufflers in the winter, or depicting them at a beach holding watermelons in the summer. Other themes show the Sumikko participating in various activities, like studying or sports, or in locations like a cafe or a dagashiya candy store. Some of the themes are reflected in short stories featured in books and magazines, on the San-X website, and in short promotional films with simple animation San-X published on their YouTube channel. As of 2019, San-X had a team of about 25 people working on Sumikko Gurashi product development. As of 2023, 60 different design themes had been released.
For the 5th anniversary in 2017, San-X released birthday-themed merchandise and held different events around Japan, like pop-up cafes and exhibitions. Also, a trains and stations were decorated with Sumikko Gurashi characters in collaboration with the Yamanote Line for the 5th anniversary in 2017, and the Keikyū Main Line for the 7th anniversary in 2019.
Sumikko Gurashi is also promoted in Taiwan and is known as Jiǎoluò Xiǎohuǒbàn (角落小夥伴,http://tmwpsearch.tipo.gov.tw:8080/SearchWord/wfm10110.jsp?sysid=1105006591 (Retrieved 2016 July 31) lit. "Little Corner Partners") or Jiǎoluò shēngwù (角落生物,http://sod.ncl.edu.tw/SODFront/cp.jspx?xmlid=2264690&gainticket=yes (Retrieved 2016 July 31) lit. "Corner Creatures") in Chinese. In 2017, Sumikko Gurashi merchandise started selling in North American stores such as Books-a-Million and Barnes and Noble.
According to San-X, in 2015, Sumikko Gurashi stood for 30% of sales of their original merchandise or about 5 billion yen. As of 2019, sales of Sumikko products were worth about 20 billion yen a year. Eight million plush toys had been sold. Sumikko Gurashi was ranked #10 in 2016, and #5 in 2018 on character popularity charts from Bandai, based on surveys of parents of children under 12 in Japan. In 2019, Sumikko Gurashi won the Grand Prize at the Japan Character Awards.
The number of supporting characters has grown, and as of 2022 there were 60 different Sumikko Gurashi related characters in total. For the 10th anniversary in 2022, San-x started the "Let's connect through Sumikko project" where the Sumikko characters, among other things, act as tourism ambassadors for selected towns and areas in Japan.
Media Books The first Sumikko Gurashi books were published in 2014, and as of 2018 over 30 different books have been released, including story books, s, activity books, and mooks with enclosed items. As of 2019, three million books had been sold in total.
Several illustrated story books by Yuri Yokomizo have been published by Shufu to Seikatsu Sha (:ja:主婦と生活社) in Japan, beginning in 2014 with the book . The book contains profiles of the five main Sumikko characters and several minor Minikko characters. It shows vignettes from their lives in the corner at home and around town, like at a cafe, grocery store, flower shop and park. The book reached an adult audience and sold 250 000 copies. A second book was published in 2016 called . In addition to stories from the corner, this volume introduces Obake the ghost, Tokage's dinosaur mother, and new locations like an Onsen hot spring and a train. Both books contain yonkoma manga along with other styles of manga and illustrated storytelling. A short anime TV series based on the two books began in 2025, named after the first book, it was titled .
In 2018 a picture book by Yokomizo was published called . The book tells the backstories of the five main Sumikko characters, and how they ended up in the corner with the other Sumikko. It was published in a Japanese and English bilingual edition in 2024. It was also published as five separate volumes, each telling the story of one of the characters. The book sold 600 000 copies and was adapted to a short anime series with the same title in 2023. A second picture book was published in 2021 called . It is focused on Minikko side characters and their friendships with the main Sumikko characters.
Games There have been several Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch games, and several mobile games, including Sumikko Gurashi—Our Puzzling Ways and SumiSumi.
Nintendo 3DS Four Sumikko Gurashi games were released for the Nintendo 3DS, all developed by Nippon Columbia. As of 2016, 500 000 copies of the games had shipped in total.
Released in 2014 is a game where the player lives together with the Sumikko characters, and takes care of them to gather up Genki energy. With the Genki the player can access a Sugoroku style board game and play mini games. It also includes multiplayer and chat features. It received a Famitsu score of 29/40 and sold over 150 000 copies.
Released in 2015 is set in a shōtengai (shopping district) and the player creates shops for the Sumikko characters. It received a Famitsu score of 28/40 and sold over 150 000 copies.
Released in 2016 is a game where the player creates a farming village for the Sumikko characters. It received a Famitsu score of 30/40 and sold over 145 000 copies.
Released in 2017 is set on a wild mysterious island, and the player helps the Sumikko characters explore it. It received a Famitsu score of 29/40 and sold over 45 000 copies.
Nintendo Switch Unless otherwise noted, the games for the Nintendo Switch were all developed by Nippon Columbia.
Released in 2017 is a party game centered around a Sugoroku style board game, where players play mini games to earn Sumikko Coins, which can be used to buy items to decorate the game. It received a Famitsu score of 29/40 and sold over 45 000 copies.
Released in 2018 is a simulation game where the player creates a town for the Sumikko characters to enjoy. Includes mini games and fortune telling. It received a Famitsu score of 30/40.
Released in 2019 is a party game with mini games based on fairy tales like Momotarō, Little Red Riding Hood, and Arabian Nights, where the players gather puzzle pieces to complete jigsaw puzzles. It received a Famitsu score of 28/40 and sold over 25 000 copies.
Released in 2019 is set in an old school, where the player creates classrooms for the Sumikko characters to enjoy. It also includes mini games and fortune telling. It received a Famitsu score of 28/40.
Released in 2020 is a party game based on Sugoroku, a type of board game, where up to four players compete in mini games for Tapi Miles. It received a Famitsu score of 29/40.
Released in 2021 is a party game for four players with 20 mini games, where players collect pieces to complete jigsaw puzzles. It received a Famitsu score of 30/40.
Released in 2022 is a music game with mini games and both multi-player and single-player modes. It received a Famitsu score of 30/40.
Released in 2023 is a party game for up to four players with 20 mini games, where the players collects pieces to complete jigsaw puzzles. It received a Famitsu score of 29/40.
Planned to be released in 2025 was developed by Imagineer and Jupiter and includes nonogram and jigsaw puzzles.
Planned to be released in 2025 is .
Films
Sumikko Gurashi: Good to Be in The Corner (2019) For the seventh anniversary in 2019, an anime film was released, called . The film was produced by the studio Fanworks who previously made the Aggretsuko series. It was directed by Mankyū, with the script written by Takashi Sumita and Kaori Hino was the art director. The film introduces the new bird character Hiyoko? who is lost and unsure of who it is. means baby bird or chick.