Zundamon is a mascot character from the Tohoku region, created by SSS LLC and based on zunda-mochi, a Japanese confectionery that is popular in Tohoku region. It was developed as a related character to Tohoku Zunko, with its setting refined through content creation. The character was designed by Niniko Edomura. In August 2021, alongside the release of the speech synthesis software , Zundamon's voice data based on 's voice was made available. This led to a surge in popularity and recognition, with numerous user-generated videos created on video-sharing sites. Around 2023, the Tohoku Zunko Project itself was renamed the Tohoku Zunko & Zundamon Project (abbreviated as the ZunZun Project).
Description Zundamon is a "zunda fairy" capable of transforming into Tohoku Zunko's "Zunda Arrow" bow, and (in settings after June 2021) can also transform into human form. Eating zunda mochi is said to increase her intelligence. She often finds herself in unfortunate situations. Her first-person pronoun is "Boku". While she is officially designated as a girl, user-generated works often assign her various genders due to her androgynous appearance. Her hobbies include wandering around aimlessly and making herself appear larger than life. Her birthday is December 5th. She speaks with the suffix "~ (na) no da" at the end of her sentences. The "mon" in its name is short for "monster." When it first appeared in early novels, it was set as a legendary existence, even among the Mochi Mon. Other details in official works vary across different titles, intentionally allowing greater freedom for derivative works.
History
2010s Zundamon was conceived by Yasuo Oda, Shoji Murahama, and Masamune Sakaki as a "yuru-kyara" aimed at users and municipalities resistant to moe characters, to differentiate it from the moe character Tohoku Zunko. The character design by Niniko Edomura and official novels by Toshio Sato helped establish the character settings and content for the Tohoku Zunko Project, including Zundamon. Since around 2015, similar to Tohoku Zunko, Tohoku Itako, and Tohoku Kiritan, the project has permitted companies registered with headquarters in the Tohoku region to use the characters commercially free of charge and without application. In 2017, the anime work Zunda Horizon from the Tohoku Zunko Project, along with the simultaneously released UTAU voice library for singing synthesis software, featured Yuna Ito's voice for the character. From this time onward, Ito expressed her desire to develop voice synthesis software for reading aloud using her own voice.
2020s By the 2020s, a strategy emerged to utilize Zundamon's voice when verifying cutting-edge technologies such as speech synthesis. First, on June 17, 2021, the ITA Corpus Multi-modal Database was released based on funds raised through prior crowdfunding. In addition, Zundamon received an official humanoid design, as well as a voice library for VOICEVOX; this led to a surge of popularity for the character online, with several songs using their voicebanks being released.
In August 2026, it was announced that the ZunZun Project would be doing a collaboration with Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, with a lineup of Zundamon-themed cosmetics including avatar items, chat stickers and a weapon skin modeled after Zundamon's "Zunda Arrow" form. The collaboration began on the 2nd of September, 2026.
Notes
References
External links
Tohoku Zunko & Zundamon Project