It's April Fool's Day!
People in Japan are enjoying this day as an event, including people related to Sonic development.
Also, every year, more and more companies are joining the bandwagon of releasing fake game news and announcements - including SEGA, of course.
However, this year in Japan, April 1st was also the day on which the new era name was announced by the government due to the abdication of current Tennoh (Japanese emperor). The last time a Tennoh abdicated while he was alive was in the year 1817, so this event gathered attention of whole Japan. In order to avoid confusion and unnecessary information to fly around while the announcement happens, many companies decided not to do an April Fool's event on this day.
Instead, they joined the meme which spread immediately after the new era-name announcement, which you see below:
New era-name of Japan was announced to be 令和 Reiwa - and its announcement style immediately became a hot topic and meme
🔵SEGA related people on the new era name of Japan presented today: Reiwa 令和.
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🔵Naka-san on a video of an easter egg of Christmas NiGHTS which can be found only on April Fool's Day:
"Oh right, if you play Christmas NiGHTS on April 1st, Nights will change to Reala. I totally forgot about it and thought this was a fake video. It's already -
He created this merch to thank his fans who came to meet him at 'find Ohtanitter' event at TGS and various events for 7 years. This year is also his 20 years anniversary at SEGA, and so he decided to realize his idea novelty goods for his fans.
Designed with his icon: a star!
"Thanks for the English translation :) I'm planning to tweet the method of international shipping later."
- Tomoya Ohtani
...looks like I rushed a little trying to deliver this cool information as fast as I can and interfered with his plan a little. Oops, sorry Ohtani-san.
Anyway, I replied as follows:
"As I wrote out in product detail, I thought about doing this as the TGS of last year ended. I've been holding a fan-meeting-like event called 'Find Ohtanitter' for 7 years because I missed the timing to stop doing it, and since I got this far, I thought about giving away a novelty goods for those who came to meet me at the 10th anniversary of this event. But then I realized the time won't come soon... and since I already had the idea, I wanted to make something now.
Then as for anniversary, I noticed that this year (2019) is actually my 20th anniversary of working at SEGA! That means... "You could probably make some goods on this oppotunity, don't you think?" said the voice from the sky (putting aside of it not being music-related), and so that's why I made it and started selling it. If there was no big wave like this, it's hard to take a step further to produce an item with myself designed on it, haha.
So this 'Ohtanitter-kun' could be counted as an anniversary item. Please take care of him!"
- Tomoya Ohtani
So it's an anniversary year for Ohtani-san too! That's really cool.
As this character was revealed in the beginning of this year, I asked Ohtani-san if he drew the character by himself - he then answered me that Ohtanitter-kun was designed by a designer who is a junior of him.
I really like pop look!
"You might already have heard that SEGA Sammy Group has introduced the side-business system; in fact, this character goods production of mine is also an officially approved side-business project.
Please don't say that it's a waste of side-business system *laugh*."
- Tomoya Ohtani
And since the announcement, Ohtani-san received many replies from his fans telling him that they will buy the key chain, or they even already bought them with the speed of sound!
"Again today, some of the 'Ohtanitter-kun acryl key chain' left my home. Thank you for your orders! The first batch is becoming scarse..."
- Tomoya Ohtani
"Only two more left!! If you are secretly considering about buying it, now is your chance! If nobody buys them, should I buy them for myself? *lol*"
- Tomoya Ohtani
"The first batch is sold out! I wasn't expecting specific demands for them, so I was a little worried how this would turn out. I'd be happy if the item makes those of you who got it smirk. Thank you so much!"
- Tomoya Ohtani
That's really nice! He is so beloved and aspired. The key chain is also really well made!
Of course I got one too - so good, isn't it? :DDD
And don't worry if you missed the chance this time - Ohtani-san will make more and sell them again some time in the future!
"I'm thinking about what to do next. Of course I want to produce more and sell them again, and I'm also looking for other sales route than online shop, but it's not going to be soon. But I will make a sudden announcement when the time comes! For now, I will prepare the shipment of the last stock!"
- Tomoya Ohtani
So don't be sad, you'll have another chance in the future.
Oh by the way, this time he produced the 'Purple-Tee' version - there might be color variations in the future! Who knows? I won't be able to stop collecting them then!
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