Shana, Haruhi Artist's New Loli - Neon

Since we've been writing all sorts of crazy stuff about Akihabara, even if just occasionally, it's only fair to do the same for its equivalent "otaku district" over in Osaka - Nipponbashi, also known as 'Ponbashi or Den Den Town. Granted, we wouldn't have bothered to, had it not been for Noizi Ito, who designed a new loli character named Neon, in order to boost the publicity, tourism and - most of all - shopping in Nipponbashi.



Noizi Ito, of course, is the original character designer behind Shana and Suzumiya Haruhi, and for the past decade she's been working with eroge maker UNISONSHiFT (and lately UNiSONSHIFT: Blossom). Speaking of which, next month should see the release of Flyable Heart, the latest eroge to feature Ito's 2D lolis. Then again, it's already been delayed twice, so... patience.

Anyway, getting back on topic, I spotted this bit about Neon over on Gigazine. They say she is the official character of a publicity campaign called "Nipponbashi Project". Neon's first original products will be sold at Nipponbashi Street Festa 2009, on March 20.

Oh, and - just in case you were wondering - Neon is 16, so not quite legal yet (all the better!). Her character sheet also says she's "a bookish good student at school, wearing glasses", but apparently her part-time job as mascot requires her to take off the galsses during photo shoots. My sympathy to all ye megane'holics.