Mamegoma (まめゴマ) is a series ofseal characters created by the Japanese companySan-X. The prefixmame, meaningbean in Japanese, is used to refer to miniature versions of things; the suffixgoma is an abbreviation ofgomafuazarashi, orsesame seed-mottled seal, which is the Japanese name for thespotted seal.
Mamegoma are available in a variety of different colors including, white, blue, pink, yellow, and black. The seals are often depicted as being small enough (12 cm, weighing around 200 g) to live in a common goldfish bowl, usually with a few ice cubes to keep the water nice and cool. They are also shown in advertisements and merchandise in bath tubs and relaxing on a wheel in a hamster cage among other activities.
The mamegoma characters are available asplush toys fromUFO catcher machines. There are also many different products with the Mamegoma seals as a decoration, like stationery, calendars etc.
The 2009 animeKupū~!! Mamegoma! (クプ～！！まめゴマ！) is based on Mamegoma, revolving around 'Mameta' the Shiro-goma and some other seals going by Soda-kun, Cherry-chan, Candy-chan, Samantha-chan, Daigorou-kun, and Lemon-chan.
FourNintendo DS games have been released in Japan featuring Mamegoma:Mamegoma: Honobono Nikki (ja:まめゴマほのぼの日記),Mamegoma 2: Uchi no Ko ga Ichiban!,Qupu!! Mamegoma!, andMamegoma 3: Kawaii ga Ippai!. Two 3DS games featuring Mamegoma have been added: "Mamegoma: Yoiko Maruko Genkinako!" and "Mamegoma: Happy Sweets Farm".[1][2][3]
Several Mamegoma-themed picture books have also been released in Japan.
