Wounded teddy bears?

April 13, 2013 8:57 AM

Sorry for an otaku question, but what's the deal with bandaged teddy bears?

In the recent series Girls und Panzer the protagonist Miho has a large collection of teddy bears in her dorm room all of which are covered with bandages. When her friends visit, none of them seem to think this is strange. And just today in the next-ep teaser of the first episode of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S Mikoto is shown in her pajamas cuddling with a teddy bear covered in bandages.

Is this a "thing" in Japan all of a sudden? What's the idea here? Is "bandaged teddy bears" suddenly some sort of fad?

posted by Chocolate Pickle to Society & Culture (5 answers total)

Best answer: It's possible it just has to do with the weird bandage and eye patch fashion fad that emerged a few years ago in Japan that became a fetish of fanboys (or "otaku", whatever), and what you're seeing is either a parody of it or odd pandering to its audience.

I can't say for certain, though.
posted by Redfield at 10:14 AM on April 13, 2013

Could be the intersection of the hyper-cute moe thing and the injured/battered/bleeding/gory, therefore endearing thing. Especially plentiful in fan art.
posted by Nomyte at 10:53 AM on April 13, 2013

Response by poster: Redfield, I think that "bandaged girl" fetish goes all the way back to Rei in Neon Genesis Evangelion, doesn't it?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:22 PM on April 13, 2013

Response by poster: Good heavens, TVTropes comes through again: "Bandage babe". I should have looked there first.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:23 PM on April 13, 2013

Mod note: Final update from the OP:

When the GuP movie came out, it answered this question. The bear in question is called "Bocco" and he's the hero of a fictional anime series which Miho is a fan of. The reason for all the bandages is that Bocco keeps getting beaten up by bad guys. But he always gets up afterwards; he never gives up.

There's a Bocco museum near Ooarai which is featured in the movie.

posted by cortex (staff) at 10:33 AM on July 2, 2016