is a series of

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

characters created by the Japanese company

San-X is a Japanese stationery company known for creating and marketing cute characters such as Tarepanda, Rilakkuma, and Sumikko Gurashi. The characters are usually anthropomorphic representations of animals or inanimate objects. Each character ha ...

. The prefix ''mame'', meaning ''bean'' in Japanese, is used to refer to miniature versions of things; the suffix ''goma'' is an abbreviation of ''gomafuazarashi'', or ''sesame seed-mottled seal'', which is the Japanese name for the

spotted seal The spotted seal (''Phoca largha''), also known as the larga seal or largha seal, is a member of the family Phocidae, and is considered a "true seal". It inhabits ice floes and waters of the north Pacific Ocean and adjacent seas. It is primaril ...

. Mamegoma are available in a variety of different colors including, white, blue, pink, yellow, and black. The seals are often depicted as being small enough (12 cm, weighing around 200 g) to live in a common goldfish bowl, usually with a few ice cubes to keep the water nice and cool. They are also shown in advertisements and merchandise in bath tubs and relaxing on a wheel in a hamster cage among other activities. The mamegoma characters are available as

plush toys A stuffed toy is a toy with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, lovies and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys ...

from

UFO catcher A claw machine is a type of arcade game. Modern claw machines are upright cabinets with glass boxes that are lit from the inside and have a joystick-controlled claw at the top, which is coin-operated and positioned over a pile of prizes, dropped ...

machines. There are also many different products with the Mamegoma seals as a decoration, like stationery, calendars etc.

Media

The 2009 anime is based on Mamegoma, revolving around 'Mameta' the Shiro-goma and some other seals going by Soda-kun, Cherry-chan, Candy-chan, Samantha-chan, Daigorou-kun, and Lemon-chan. Four

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

games have been released in Japan featuring Mamegoma: ''Mamegoma: Honobono Nikki'' ( :ja:まめゴマほのぼの日記), ''Mamegoma 2: Uchi no Ko ga Ichiban!'', ''Qupu!! Mamegoma!'', and ''Mamegoma 3: Kawaii ga Ippai!''. Two 3DS games featuring Mamegoma have been added: "Mamegoma: Yoiko Maruko Genkinako!" and "Mamegoma: Happy Sweets Farm".Mame Goma: Honobo no Nikki for DS
GameFAQs (2007-07-26). Retrieved on 2012-03-10. Several Mamegoma-themed picture books have also been released in Japan.

References

External links

San-X's official site
* {{TMS Entertainment San-X characters Fictional pinnipeds Anthropomorphic seals Toy characters 2009 anime television series debuts TMS Entertainment