In the summer of 2018, I took a trip with my uncle and aunt to visit a gashapon exhibition called GACHA PLANET.
Of course, judging by the name of my blog, I probably don’t need to tell you how thrilled I was! If you have no idea what gashapon are, you can read my post “What is a Gashapon?” to learn about them! The exhibit showcased six newly developed gashapon series by PANDA’s ana, a gashapon toy company: Zoo Zoo Zoo, SHAKUREL PLANET, Statue of Too Much Liberty, Moai a la mode, Fat Cute Soldiers, and FRUITS ZOMBIE. The exhibition, which was only available for a limited time, was open in two locations: one in Taipei (which is where I went) and another in Kaohsiung. You can learn more about the Gacha Planet exhibit here.
Gacha Planet is made up of five different habitats that the creatures from the six gashapon series live in. The exhibit gave displayed each of the gashapon series in its own themed space, featuring life-sized sculptures of the tiny toys.
The first section featured the Zoo Zoo Zoo gashapon line, which contained a variety of slumbering animals. The entire section was softly lit, and the many animals dozing in various positions were set against a background of trees and mushrooms, which created a very peaceful, magical atmosphere. It was a very relaxing experience!
The next part of the exhibit displayed the SHAKUREL PLANET gashapon line. This gashapon series features animals with overly large lower jaws (sort of like that of a pelican), and were skillfully designed as to appear lovable and friendly! The the room they were displayed in was pleasantly bright, and had been decorated with backgrounds according to each animal’s natural habitat (polar bears in a snowy scene, tigers in the jungle, etc.).
The following gashapon line was called Statue of Too Much Liberty, which I personally found to be a hilarious name and concept. The series is built on the idea that the Statue of Liberty is animate and can do whatever she pleases, so she is found in many unusual positions. This section of the Gacha Planet exhibit placed her in behind a bar and in a subway car, where barstools and subway chairs invited visitors to take pictures with the sassy statue.
The Moai a la mode and Fat Cute Soldiers were presented together in the same space, as they both shared a food theme. The Moai a la mode series combines moai (human faces carved in stone located on Easter Island) with sweet foods like pudding. The result is an adorable collection of desserts with faces. The Fat Cute Soldiers line is exactly what it sounds like- classic green army men, but with rotund, portly bodies. Like the other rooms, this section had an accompanying background that fit the theme- a sort of food- oriented candyland provided the perfect backdrop for the two featured gashapon series.
The last room (which also happens to be my favorite out of the entire exhibition!) spotlighted the gashapon series FRUITS ZOMBIE. This series presents zombies sporting various rotting fruits for heads. The concept behind this line was that these fruits had been left out to rot and were therefore wasted, so they had come back to life for a second chance of being eaten. I loved everything about this gashapon line, from the concept to the way the characters were designed! I thought that the zombies had been designed very cleverly, like how the zombies all wore the same clothing- (a white tank top and blue shorts- to focus attention on their heads. I also loved how creative the creators were with the faces, like how the grape- headed zombies had fourteen eyes, or how the cherry- headed zombie had two bodies because the cherries were connected by a stem. The dimly lit walls displayed shelves filled with foods and several fruit zombies, giving the spooky impression that the entire room was enclosed within a refrigerator. Various props like massive milk cartons and fruit zombies stood around on the floor, which further added to the atmosphere.
However, my absolute favorite part of this exhibit was the dance game that had been set up on the side. Four dance pads placed in front of a projector screen allowed four players to compete at once, and the game consisted of arrows running up against a background of dancing FRUITS ZOMBIES (it was essentially Dance Dance Revolution, but with decomposing produce zombies jamming out in the background). The music had such a great beat that I had insisted on playing over and over and over (shoutout to my uncle and aunt for letting me romp to my heart’s content!).
This was the last Gacha Planet exhibit, and a set of stairs led us down to room containing rows and rows of gashapon machines featuring tons of different prizes, from people with seashells for heads to humanoid plants!
I got a SHAKUREL PLANET moose from one of the gashapon machines and a Zoo Zoo Zoo sleeping rabbit (I couldn’t get a FRUITS ZOMBIE gashapon because they weren’t released yet). There was also merchandise available from the six spotlighted gashapon series, so I decided to get a FRUITS ZOMBIE glasses microfiber cleaning cloth, which displays an image of six of the Volume 1 fruits.
I absolutely loved my experience at Gacha Planet! I had a great time wandering through the exhibits and viewing the six different gashapon lines, and I’m so glad I got the chance to tour an exhibit featuring these whimsical capsule toys!
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