Redefining the Usage Scenario of a Kigurumi

By design alone, wearing a kigurumi could inherently have many different purposes, with some of these uses even overlapping at any one occassion.

But just how much can we stretch the definition of a kigurumi itself? Simply twisting some words might not be enough for perfect clarification, as what Aoba would prove to us very shortly.

"So umm, it's salaried?" "Wait, do I have to explain from that point?"

It was a nice simple day at the game company Eagle Jump. Each employee is working away with their own allocated schedules, and during breaks everyone gets to have a good time interacting with each other...

"Oh yeah, the higher ups have already approved the additional weekend work load, since they would also be giving you guys extra for it."

That is until that fateful day, when our dear background department director Rin Touyama made a few scheduling erros that caused additional work time to be allocated to entire department.

Kou Yagami, acting like its a common occurrence, assures the group in a rather odd way that the higher ups have green lit the extra work during weekends with extra pay. Hifumi and Yun naturally have no choice but to oblige by adding the upcoming weekend to their work schedule.

"Actually, this is just for once, since I'm really into completing Sophia's 3D model."
"Just a reminder, we're doing overtime work okay?"

Aoba, on the other hand... decided to do overtime work PLUS the additional weekend work.  She declared to do so with such gleeful attitude, explaining that she really wanted to finish her task. Putting potential extra pay aside, overtime work really does seem to be a first time for her, thus her seemingly naive demeanor towards it.

"Wa!"
*surprised Aoba noises*

It is at this part where we need to point out that Kou is already a regular expert in making the department office space her home. She is to be Aoba's companion for that night as well. But, Kou being Kou, there are a few things that she just can't resist from not doing.

"Eh, What? Where am I?"
"So, what about the bag you were so proud to have prepared for this?"

After clocking in somewhere around four hours of overtime work, she finally felt drowsy, and actually needed to be properly woken up to get her off the dozing chair.

Finally, we come to the very reason, why we are even talking about this episode in this blog. But first, a quick lightning question:

Is a kigurumi something that you sleep on, sleep in, or sleep with?

"Ta-da! This will be my sleepwear AND sleeping bed for tonight!"

Well, for Aoba, the answer is... all of the above! Confidently revealing what exactly she bought and prepared for her office sleepover, she opened up the bag to show something that is a mix between a bear (Rilakkuma?!) kigurumi, a mascot suit (kigurumi 2.0), and a sleeping bag.

"... I think I missed the part where I'm supposed to relax in this environment."

Things turn a bit for the worse though, as she realized just how awkward it is to sleep at a new place with weird objects lying around at different corners of her fellow officemates' cubicles. This is especially the case for Hajime's action figure and prop-laden cubicle, to which the darkness of the empty office space only serves to amplify their weird forms and shapes.

*surprised Kou noises*

And so, after equally startling Kou with her unusual getup, Aoba tried to explain her plight. Kou had slightly suggested sleeping together with her, but in the end simply insisted on Aoba taking the keys to the conference room to give her some space there.

"Pleased to meet you. I am bear kigurumi napsack-chan."

"Conference room? That does sound like a very nice place to spend the rest of the night."

So what happened afterwards? We'd have to assume that Aoba did manage to sleep soundly with the absence of all the weird objects that surrounded her just a couple of moments prior.

On the other hand, things became just a tiny bit inconvenient for Kou, who had to contend with the possibility of officemates checking in for work as our dear bear kigurumi princess still slumbers peacefully at the conference room of all place.

Well, well, if it isn't the legendary kigurumi anime studio Doga Kobo at work once again. How many anime series made by its animation team have we already introduced in this blog? Too many times to count. The unmistakable vibrant pastel colors of New Game! just give it away, letting you know more or less, that some kigurumi special is on its way on any of its feature series episodes.

So yup, this won't be the last time we are going to see them in this particular series. Stay tuned!