Japanese inventor Koichi Uchimura is on a mission to develop new technologies that “support people’s otaku life”. Otaku is a term that refers to young people who are obsessed with computers or certain aspects of popular culture, often at the cost of their social life. And Uchimura wants to make sure they have every convenience possible. His latest invention is a creepy talking anime pillow that responds to human touch.
Having used anime huggy pillows – called dakimakura – himself, Uchimura realized that they always left him feeling unfulfilled. “When we’d sleep in the same bed, I’d start to think, ‘I wish she could talk,’” he said. “I wanted to make that a reality.” So he came up with ‘Ita-Supo’, a sophisticated talking pillow printed with the picture of an anime girl.
The key to interacting with the pillow is touch. “If you don’t rub her, she won’t make any sounds,” he explained. “You have to rub her.” And the sounds she makes are different depending on where you touch her. A caress on the chest, for instance, will make her mew with pleasure in a creepily girlish voice.
She will respond to gentle rubbing with moans and groans, and might even add a few phrases like, “What’s gonna happen if I start to love you even more than I already do?” But she will get angry if you get too rough or grabby. Mash your hands over her chest and she will say, “Hey, that hurts!” or “Hey, hands off!”. A continued lack of gentleness will consistently worsen her mood, until she stops talking to you altogether. So users have no choice but to respect their pillows.
“For otaku, this is the dakimakura of their dreams,” Uchimura said. The pillow comes preloaded with 500 different speech patterns, so users won’t get bored of a limited phrase set. He also plans to offer more downloadable speech options in the future.
Uchimura has raised 1,030,000 yen (about US$8,609) via Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake, against his target of 500,000 yen (over $4,000). The pillow will cost 20,000yen ($165) and be available in three variants – Rina, Shion Kamitsuki, and Shiho Natsuki.
Sources: RocketNews24, Kotaku
