The folks at SuperGroupies have come up with another tasteful and subtle anime fashion collaboration. This time, the harem comedy anime Love Hina provided the inspiration.
You can hear Megumi Hayashibara singing the Sakura Saku theme song in your head right now, can’t you?
In any case, the collection consists of a wristwatch, a wallet, and a backpack. Although Love Hina had a lot of girls to mess with Keitaro’s head, they say that this collaboration is specifically inspired by the hot-headed tsundere Naru Narusegawa.
Watch
Let’s start with the watch. The face says Naru where you would normally see Seiko or Casio. The little clock symbol at the 12 o’clock position represents Todai (University of Tokyo), the ultimate goal of both Keitaro and Naru. There are cherry petals all around the watchface, along with the number 304: Naru’s room at Hinata House. There’s some lace around the edge, symbolizing a wedding dress.
It’s hard to see, but there’s also a small heart at the top of the watchface.
Even the two round dials in the middle of the watchface (one showing the day of the week, the other one a totalizer) are symbolic; they represent the round glasses that Naru wears when she’s studying. These guys really do think of everything. On the back of the watch is Liddo-kun.
Backpack and Wallet
The backpack has the same Todai clocktower symbol as the one on the watch. On the back side is a copy of Naru’s room nameplate (304 Naru Narusegawa). At the bottom is an image symbolizing the onsen.
The inside of the backpack is lined with images of Liddo-kun, along with the items from a time capsule buried by Keitaro, Naru, and Mutsumi. They also designed the zipper pulls to resemble Naru’s hairstyle.
The wallet is the color of Naru’s hair, and the engraved 304 nameplate shows up again. It comes with a charm which resembles a pair of hair braids, combined with Naru’s glasses. The interior lining is similar to the backpack. A silhouette of Liddo-kun is embossed on the inside of the wallet.
As with a lot of SuperGroupies’ previous items, you wouldn’t know that this was Love Hina-themed unless you paid close attention.
They will accept reservations for these items from 10 February through 1 March. The backpacks and wallets will be delivered around early July, while the watches will arrive around early August. The watch will cost 17800 yen without tax. The backpack is 13800 yen. The wallet is 10800 yen.
You can find the website for the Love Hina collection here.