In which, as always, I just can’t resist a little weirdo from the sea.
Look who showed up in the mail, after a relatively short trip (for, you know, international shipping in 2020). It’s one of my most anticipated Toreba wins — this Amuse Resurrected Coelacanth Plush!
Toreba uses some odd translation choices sometimes, but this one was right on the money. よみがえる yomigaeru really does mean to come back to life. Here I think it’s a reference to the fact that coelacanth were once considered to be “living fossils” without any living relatives, but now are…not, so much, I guess.
I wish I could say I won this with a free ticket or got super lucky, but….ugh, let’s just enjoy the video and not think about that so much. (･･;)
It was awfully satisfying to see them roll, I’ve got to admit. And they’re just incredible in person. So soft, to begin with, and their fins are designed perfectly to make it easy to prop the plush up. The fins are especially soft — almost like chenille. It’s kind of ridiculous quality for a game center prize, from the extra extra soft back fin to the plush’s overall size; it’s almost thirty inches long, a really ideal cuddle partner!
- よみがえれ！シーラカンス
- Yomigaeru! Shiirakansu
- Resurrect! Coelacanth
As a bit of a side note, words like coelacanth remind me why I like kana so much — with only the rarest of exceptions, there is only one way to pronounce a given kana syllable. English is so different, having incorporated words from so many languages (as one of several factors), that sounding out a word may be futile. I certainly didn’t know you say coelacanth a bit like “seelacanth” — my mind was making the first syllable rhyme with Joe — but the Japanese shiirakansu would have gotten me a lot closer.
I love this plush to pieces, so much that I don’t really regret the overspending I did; domestic sellers on EBay and Mercari sell him for just about what I paid anyway, and importing one runs pretty expensive due to their size, especially with no EMS. I’m just glad they made it here quickly and safely. Plus, they’re fitting in just fine with the rest of the plushies here on the Mooon…
hello somebunny 