Habanero-tan () is the unofficial mascot of Bōkun Habanero, the

habanero The habanero (; ) is a hot variety of chili. Unripe habaneros are green, and they color as they mature. The most common color variants are orange and red, but the fruit may also be white, brown, yellow, green, or purple. Typically, a ripe hab ...

pepper-flavored

snacks A snack is a small portion of food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snack ...

produced by Tohato. Habanero-tan and her companions with names like "Jalapeño-san" are the personification of

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

s as cute young girls. They were created by several Japanese amateur artists, and of them, Shigatake, the creator of the character Habanero-tan, drew a series of ''

yonkoma , a comic strip format, generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom. They also sometimes run right-to-left horizontally or use a hybrid 2×2 style, depending on the layout requirements of ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

featuring the lives of these girls. Shigatake later became the graphics designer for the

Vanillaware is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka. An independent company, it was founded in 2002 under the name Puraguru by George Kamitani, a game developer who had previously worked at Capcom and Atlus, and directed '' Princess Crown'' (199 ...

games ''

Odin Sphere ''Odin Sphere'' is an action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 2. It was published by Atlus (Japan and North America) in 2007, and by Square Enix (Europe) in 2008. A remake, titled ''Odin Sphere Leifthrasir'' (styl ...

'' and '' GrimGrimoire''. Habanero-tan's popularity has led to various renditions (some of them risque) by other Japanese artists, and even appearances on the

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

'' Netrun-mon''. There is also a ''dōjin'' game called ''Habanero-tan House'' which incorporates many of the things seen in Shigatake's comics. The game's creator, Ashinaga Oji-san, later worked with Shigatake and Vanillaware to develop a similar game called '' Kumatanchi'' for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

Characters

; :An energetic young girl with a red dress and red hair, and a stem on her head. Created by Shigatake. ; :Habanero's friend and older sister figure. Created by Shima Humikane. ; :Habanero's friend and milk supply. Has large breasts and wears skimpy clothes. Created by Salad Oil.Salad Oil
/ref> ; ;

References

External links

Official Tohato Habanero pageShigatake's homepage
– includes collected translations of the comics into Korean, English and Polish.
Long-legged Uncle (Ashinaga Oji-san)
– creator of "Habanero-tan House" Food advertising characters Female characters in advertising Moe anthropomorphism {{mascot-stub