The Book Eater's Wonderful World of Kigurumi

Kigurumi is love, kigurumi is life. An absolute truth that no one will ever dispute.

"Nothing bad to aim high right? We'll then work together to reach it... someday."

But if there is one existence that abides by this rule more than anyone else, at least in a modern world setting, that would be none other than Kuina Natsukawa. Affectionately known as Kuu-chan, she alone makes the entire life around the Hitotose bookstore into a kigurumi fiesta.

*nom*

But first, a bit of her background. Kuu-chan is apparently the primary keeper of the bookstore section of Hitotose. Yes, keeper, not clerk. She loves books, but not exactly the way you think. She loves munching on them, just as much as actually reading them. According to her, it is a method of expressing her fondness for the material, and maybe allows her to absorb it more directly as well.

"This second, Christmas-themed script needs to be written and played in one episode!"

Her literary background then makes her the de facto scriptwriter of the Hitotose Theater Troupe. Her words and actions might seem like she's going to write crazy stories at first. But she actually ends up with simple, but very entertaining plays, that occasionally gets crushed by Hinako's panic attacks. Definitely something that the entire troupe loves and appreciates.

"The script idea is finally coming to me. Our next play will be... horror-themed!"

But most importantly, at least for our discussion, she absolutely loves kigurumi. When not wearing her school uniform, or if the bar goes past that of casual wear, you will definitely see her wear a kigurumi. Unlike Kaede or Nohohon though, she has an entire wardrobe of it, featuring a wide variety of different ones throughout the show.

Normally, she would be seen wearing her rabbit kigurumi. This signature kigurumi is her go-to sleepwear when the day finally ends. In fact, her character is already attached to it too much, that absolutely nobody was surprised at all when it manages to show up during one of their school sleepovers away from the dorm.

Her second one, which she occasionally dons as home casual wear, is her doggo jacket kigurumi. This one is technically off the books for what we normally feature, as it is a jacket, not a onesie. However, it still gets a mention because it is still one of the kigurumi that has the highest appearance in the show second to her rabbit kigurumi.

One time, Kuu-chan apparently had the bright idea to wear a shirohebi kigurumi in order to "bite" Hinako's fever away. She seemed really serious about the plan, boasting about how much research it took her to come to that conclusion. But alas, Chiaki manages to beat some sense to her before dragging her away from Hinako.

Apparently not learning her lesson the first time, she goes for a second attempt at Hinako's fever a bit later. This time, she dons the dragon kigurumi and... the plan is exactly the same. Fortunately, the result was also the same as Chiaki barges in once more to stop her.

Even in the realm of her imagination, the form and shape of a kigurumi still remains, as she reveals herself to be the monster character in one of her suggested play scripts.

Lastly, for their next play, they needed a Christmas-themed script to match with the upcoming holiday season. Naturally, Kuu-chan fills a role with a reindeer kigurumi, as they started going the rounds of distributing flyers for their troupe's next play. The real, live, reindeer accompanying them though, did a better job of attracting would-be audience members than any of them would have. 

Of course, as this show is basically filled with kigurumi references here and there, other characters can also be seen occasionally wearing a kigurumi. Their advisor, Miss Ruriko, wore a shiba dog kigurumi at the suggestion of Mayuki, who designed and made the kigurumi herself. Incidentally, Mayuki also conceptualized Chiaki wearing a teddy bear kigurumi, though that one never got off the drawing board at the time of their first in-shop performance.

"Please don't drag Hinako into your weird habits."

Though it may largely seem like she only does her own stuff, Kuu-chan truly cares for her fellow friends, and will do whatever is necessary to help them. Especially for Hinako, whom she was already willing to support all the way even as they had just started to encourage Hinako to found her own theater troupe. Kuu-chan does have that little quirk of having a near-infinite appetite though, so do take note of that. 

So what do you think? Does the famed Book Eater Kuina Natsukawa truly represent the wonderful world of kigurumi? Or does she really just resemble another similarly designed character with a nerdier side to her equally eccentric personality?

Hinako Note (ひなこのーと) does what it does best, sprinkle the show with very colorful and well-defined visuals while combining elements of a laid-back slice-of-life series, and a surprisingly semi-serious theater career-themed story. The show was largely successful in providing a significant impact on the audience's impression of the main characters, even as they are introduced in the first few episodes.

It is a bit too bad though that the source material is a four-panel manga with only five volumes at the moment, and thus have a very limited amount of references that can be adapted towards a new season.

But, one can hope. One can definitely hope.