Line Friends (stylized as LINE FRIENDS) are featured characters, invented by South Korean designer Kang Byeong Mok, based on the stickers from diverse applications of the South Korean internet search giant

Naver Corporation The Naver Corporation is a South Korean internet conglomerate headquartered in Seongnam that operates the search engine Naver. Naver established itself as an early pioneer in the use of user-generated content through the creation of the online ...

and the Japanese messaging app

Line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...

. Released in 2015, the characters are used in various products, animations, games, cafes, hotels and theme parks. In addition to its online presence, physical stores featuring Line Friends have opened in cities around the world. The brand is currently managed by its subsidiary Line Friends Corporation since 2015. LINE_Friend_Store_in_Hysan_Place_201510

Characters

The original Line characters were created by Kang Byeongmok (A South Korean Designer), also known as "Mogi" in 2011.

Brown & Friends

* Cony, Brown, Moon and James (added in 2011) * Boss, Jessica and Sally (added in 2013) * Leonard and Edward (added in 2014) *Brown's younger sister Choco and her best friend Pangyo (added in 2016) * Sally's friends Elly, Louie and Ari (added in 2020)

Character information

* Brown: Silent but has a warm heart. His expressionless face is charming, as a friend of everyone who expresses his mind more than words. He seems he doesn't care much. But, he has a shoulder to share and has a big heart to hear you. He loves Cony who is full of energy, and always there for his little sister Choco. * Cony: She is bright, cheerful and full of passion. She gets super excited when she's with her beloved Brown. Cony's always curious and likes challenging new things, so she often make her friends surprised. * Sally: With her unexpected charm, cute little Sally brings joy to her friends with full of bright and wild ideas. Don't be fooled by her cuteness, she might reveal the other side of her you've never expected! * Choco: Sweet, lovely Choco who loves fashion and sweets. She is shy like her brother Brown, but once you get to know her, she gets along well even with Brown's friends. * Moon: A funny guy whose face looks just like the full moon. No one knows where he came from, but he brings cheerful laughter to his friends with his wit and great humor. * Leonard: Sentimental Leonard likes to sing along with the sound of rain. He also loves to hang out with Sally and Edward, the so-called tiny little trio. * James: Beautiful blonde haired James who loves himself the most. He may seem cool and chic, but to tell the truth, he's actually delicate and fragile. * Boss: Loud and wild Boss is an ordinary salaryman. He shows up out of nowhere and gives good laughs to people. * Edward: Edward is brilliant and always curious. He's also a racer who has a thirst for speed and an adventurer who dreams of the day becoming a butterfly! * Jessica: Smart and sassy Jessica. She always gives clear and punchy answers for friends who wants to chat about things. * Pangyo: Our sluggish friend Pangyo, who likes to think and make interesting stuff. He is always content and has a smile on his face.

BT21

BT21 is the first presentation from ''FRIENDS CREATORS,'' a project formed to create new characters for the Line Friends series. South Korean boy group BTS was the first artist of this project, and the main theme of the project is to show the connection between BTS and Line Friends in terms of popularity in the world. It comprises eight special characters created by South Korean boy group BTS. The character designs were based on original ideas and sketches by the group's members. Videos of BTS designing BT21 were uploaded to the official BT21 channel on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

. The name BT21 is a combination of the group's name BTS and the 21st Century. Member Suga commented that the name should represent both BTS and the 21st Century so they would live for the next 100 years. BT21 was officially launched by Line Friends in October 2017.

Character information

*Koya was created by RM. He is a baby blue

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womba ...

with a violet nose and removable ears that fall off when he is shocked or surprised. Described as a deep thinker, Koya lives in the

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including ''Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

forest and is always asleep. *RJ was created by Jin. He is a white alpaca who always wears a red scarf—when it is cold he wears a gray

parka A parka or anorak is a type of coat with a hood, often lined with fur or faux fur. This kind of garment is a staple of Inuit clothing, traditionally made from caribou or seal skin, for hunting and kayaking in the frigid Arctic. Some Inuit ...

. RJ originated from

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain range.UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, whi ...

, hates shaving his fur, and loves to eat. *Shooky was created by Suga. His character is an extremely savage, mischievous, little

chocolate chip cookie A chocolate chip cookie is a drop cookie that features chocolate chips or chocolate morsels as its distinguishing ingredient. Chocolate chip cookies originated in the United States around 1938, when Ruth Graves Wakefield chopped up a Nestl ...

who is afraid of

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modul ...

. He leads a cookie team called the Crunchy Squad. *Mang was created by

J-Hope Jung Ho-seok (; born February 18, 1994), better known by his stage name J-Hope (stylized as j-hope), is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, dancer, and record producer. He made his debut as a member of South Korean boy band BTS in 201 ...

. His species is unknown as his identity is kept hidden by the horse-faced mask with a heart-shaped nose that he always wears. Mang loves to dance. *Chimmy was created by

Jimin Park Ji-min (; born October 13, 1995), known mononymously as Jimin, is a South Korean singer and dancer. In 2013, he made his debut as a member of the South Korean boy band BTS, under the record label Big Hit Entertainment. Jimin has relea ...

. His character has been described as a "passionate" puppy whose tongue is always hanging out. Chimmy wears a yellow hoodie and loves to play the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

. He does not remember his past. *Tata was created by V. His character is a curious, shape-shifting alien prince from the Planet BT with a heart-shaped head and a blue body with yellow polka-dots who spreads love across the universe. *Cooky was created by

Jungkook Jeon Jung-kook (; born September 1, 1997), known mononymously as Jungkook (stylized as Jung Kook), is a South Korean singer. He is the youngest member and vocalist of the South Korean boy band BTS. Jungkook has released three solo tracks as ...

. His character is a cute, but tough pink bunny with one bold eyebrow and white heart-shaped tail who wants to be strong and loves his body "like a temple". He loves

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

. *Van is Tata's AI

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

. Half of his body is gray with an "X" eye, and the other half is white with an "O" eye. He is BT21's protector and was created by RM to represent BTS' fandom, A.R.M.Y.

ROY6

ROY6 is a character brand created by Chinese Millennial's idol

Roy Wang Roy Wang, also known as Wang Yuan () is a Chinese singer-songwriter, television host and actor. He was named by ''Time'' as one of the 30 Most Influential Teens of 2017. Wang has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2018. He set up his own charity fou ...

, in collaboration with global character brand, Line Friends. China's first and world's second FRIENDS CREATORS project,

participated in every step, starting from initial sketches and storytelling to product planning. Videos of

designing ROY6 are uploaded on the roy6 YouTube Channel. ROY6 was officially released by Line Friends in November 2018.

Character information

*Royan is a lion-looking sun descended upon earth from the sky, gives splendid sunlight to the people with his shiny mane. *Eddy simply loves being next to someone who needs courage and gives them a surprise hug *Long Long is a young and small dragon with an iridescent fin, Long Long brings luck to people and summons meteor showers with his magic wand. *Loudy is a chatty cloud, admires the earth more than the sky. *T-2000 is a clumsy but adorable robot, T-2000 shows people the future, which they hope to see on the screen. *Baobao Tree is a mysterious wish-bearing tree, Baobao provides a place of rest for everyone.

ChiChi

Nexon Racing Game "Kart Rider Rush Plus," BlackPink

Jisoo Kim Ji-soo (; born January 3, 1995), known mononymously as Jisoo, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as a member of the best-selling K-pop girl group Blackpink, formed by YG Entertainment, in August 2016. Outside of her musi ...

, and Line Friends designed together this character. Chichi is a rabbit character based on

's nickname "Tuttle Rabbit Kim," which is well known to fans.

Anime

Two anime series, LINE OFFLINE and LINE TOWN, were produced in 2013, picturing the Line Friends as employees for the fictional Line Corporation.

Line Offline

Line Offline is an animated series created by Shogakukan Productions, based on

salaryman In Japan, a is a salaried worker. In Japanese popular culture, this is embodied by a white-collar worker who shows overriding loyalty and commitment to the corporation where he works. Salarymen are expected to work long hours, to put in addi ...

characters working at "Line Corporation". All 114 episodes last about three minutes. The series was aired from January 8, 2013, to October 1, 2013. The episodes of Line Offline are not connected to each other. The idea behind the series is to represent the ordinary life of company employees (in this case Line's employees, hence the name "Line Offline"), in which every small problem could lead to awkward and hilarious situations that require some effort in order to restore the

status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. ...

. Most characters from Line Offline are part of Line's universe (the characters who are shown in the animated series are also Line Friends, and can be seen by users in Line Messaging App and used as emoticons).

Episodes

Line Town

Characters

* Cony (voiced by Aki Kanada in the Japanese dub and Sarah Hauser in the English dub) is a

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit spec ...

with a pleasant personality. She likes to go on a diet. * Brown is a Canadian

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nort ...

who likes

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhync ...

a lot. He is silent, and has a crush on Cony. He becomes scary when he gets angry, and notes appears when he feels good. * Moon (voiced by

Toshiyuki Morikawa is a Japanese voice actor, narrator and singer who is the head of Axlone, a voice acting company he founded in April 2011. His name is also sometimes mistranslated as Tomoyuki Morikawa. In 2003, he and Fumihiko Tachiki formed the band "2Hearts" ...

in the Japanese dub and Michael Pizzuto in the English dub) is a

manjū is a traditional Japanese confection. Of the many varieties of manjū, most have an outside made from flour, rice powder, kudzu, and buckwheat, and a filling of ''anko'' (red bean paste), usually made from boiled adzuki beans and sugar. ''Man ...

-shaped-headed man who loves the moon. His interest is playing video games. He sometimes tricks his friends when he is bored. His father is an

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme s ...

. * James (voiced by

Yūto Kazama , known professionally as , is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Aksent. He is most well known for his role in ''Digimon Adventure'', in which he voiced the character Yamato Ishida, and the protagonist of the '' Mega Man Zero'' series, Zero. ...

in the Japanese dub and Daniel Garcia in the English dub) is a

narcissist Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

with long, blonde hair. He is obsessed with his appearance, and is afraid of high places. * Jessica (voice by Sachi Kokuryu in the Japanese dub and Catherine Fu in the English dub) is a

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

who is knowledgeable about

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion ...

and loves to cook a lot. She is Cony's best friend. * Sally (voiced by

Atsuko Enomoto is a Japanese voice actress and singer. Her debut voice acting role was Yukino Miyazawa from '' Kare Kano'' in 1998, which she auditioned for while still in high school. Her debut single was ''Be My Angel'' the opening theme of the 2001 anime ...

in the Japanese dub and Catherine Fu in the English dub) is a chick who usually helps her friends. She often stays in the

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some p ...

tree hollow A tree hollow or tree hole is a semi-enclosed cavity which has naturally formed in the trunk or branch of a tree. They are found mainly in old trees, whether living or not. Hollows form in many species of trees, and are a prominent feature of nat ...

in the park. She likes

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

. * Boss/Mister (voiced by

Nobuo Tobita is a Japanese voice actor and narrator from Ibaraki Prefecture. He is represented by Arts Vision. He is most known for the roles of Kamille Bidan (''Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam''), Albert Heinrich/004 ('' Cyborg 009'' (2001)), and Sueo Maruo ('' C ...

in the Japanese dub and Michael Pizzuto in the English dub) is an almost completely bald middle-aged man with glasses. He appears as many different identities in every episode. * Leonard (voiced by

Megumi Han is a Japanese actress and voice actress employed by Atomic Monkey. She is the daughter of the voice actress Keiko Han. Career In 2008, after a general public call for the movie '' Sakura no Sono'', she made her debut as Satoshi Wada while study ...

in the Japanese dub and

Jesse McCartney Jesse McCartney (born April 9, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama '' All My Children'' as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo ...

in the English dub) is a little

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

boy that looks up to Moon. He refers to Moon as an "elder brother". ("Longing For") * Edward is a green caterpillar with a cap who often stays by Sally's side. * Cob Taro (voiced by

) is a cobra with a

Mohawk hairstyle The mohawk (also referred to as a Mohican) is a hairstyle in which, in the most common variety, both sides of the head are shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair in the center. It is today worn as an emblem of non-conformity. The m ...

and an

eye patch An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn ...

that escaped from the

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zool ...

and now has a part-time job at the burger shop. * Dorothy (voiced by Chie Kōjiro) is a

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway * Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ring ...

who likes to take gossips. Cony fears her. * Mr. Kinoko (voiced by Mitsuru Ogata) is a

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are ...

who owns a

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

dish restaurant and can cook mushroom dishes very well. ''Kinoko'' is the Japanese word for mushrooms.

Episodes

Theme Songs

= Opening

= * "AIUEOngaku" by

Greeeen Greeeen (stylized as GReeeeN) is a Japanese vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, comprising the all-male four members: HIDE, navi, 92 (read as "kuni"), and SOH. They made their debut with Universal Music in 2007. Their logo image ...

= Ending

= * "Millefeuille Nights" by Shōko Nakagawa * "Marshmallow" by Kerakera

Line Rangers

Line Rangers is an animated mini series created to tie-in with the Line Rangers Mobile Game, which featured the Line character. It originally premiered as shorts on the Line Global YouTube Channel in 2015. It aired as a mini series on Cartoon Network Korea in July 2018. An English dubbed version went up on Amazon Prime in North America on July 20, 2018.

Products

* Friends (smart speaker) – with Brown and Sally as the speaker's appearance

Physical stores

Apart from its online store, physical stores have been opened in Hong Kong ( Hysan Place),

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provi ...

( Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li),

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

(Katherine Park), and New York City (

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

). The popularity of Line Friends in China surged in 2016. During that one year, six physical storefronts were opened. At one time, there were as many as twelve of them in different cities in China. As their segment of the market became increasingly crowded, however, Line Friends began to phase out its physical presence in China by closing down shops. As of May 2021, only the Chengdu and Nanjing stores remained open.

Collaborations

On November 21, 2019, it was announced on the official

Brawl Stars ''Brawl Stars'' is a multiplayer online battle arena and third-person hero shooter video game developed and published by the Finnish video game company Supercell. It was released worldwide on December 12, 2018, on iOS and Android. The game feat ...

YouTube channel that Brawl Stars would collaborate with Line Friends, adding new skins based on Line Friends characters. On December 12, 2019,

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

collaborate with Line Friends to create an original animated series based on the characters from Brown & Friends.

References

External links

Official website

Online store

BT21 official website
{{BTS Naver Corporation South Korean brands Emoticons Toy brands Advertising characters Fictional characters introduced in 2011 2013 anime television series debuts

Characters

Brown & Friends

Character information

BT21

Character information

ROY6

Character information

ChiChi

Anime

Line Offline

Episodes

Line Town

Characters

Episodes

Theme Songs

= Opening

= Ending

Line Rangers

Products

Physical stores

Collaborations

See also

References

External links