Nonowa のワの
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About
Nonowa is a fan-made mascot character for the Namco Bandai franchise, THE iDOLM@STER. Her official name is "ののワさん" (Nonowa-san).
This mascot character is very popular among Japanese iDOLM@STER fans. Nonowa appears not only in many of the MAD videos and fanworks for iDOLM@STER, but also in the official anime/manga series.
Origin
The main heroine of the series, Haruka Amami, is known for having a very peculiar face when she is thinking or thoughtful in the iDOLM@STER games.
An anonymous user in /ogame/ (live for online games) in 2channel first created her Shit-JIS Art by Japanese characters "no" (の) and "wa" (ワ) in November 5th, 2007.[1] This was because her eyes looked like the Japanese character "no" ( の) while her mouth looked like the Japanese character "wa" ( ワ).
"I who haven't created any AA (Ascii Art) before made the AA for Haruka."
The term "Nonowa" was created by this Shit-JIS art, and at the time it was a nickname for Haruka.
However, as this simple "Nonowa "Shift-JIS art was modified by many users in various ways, gradually Nonowa gained a personality of her own. Over time, she morphed from an emote to represent Haruka and became established among iDOLM@STER fans as the super deformed character Nonowa-san.
Spread
The concept of the creature inspired many amateur creators. They introduced Nonowa into their works, and Nonowa was spread across the Japanese web. There are various kind of illustrations, hand-drawn animations and parody videos with the Miku Miku Dance model of Nonowa.
As a result of this, more than 800 videos related to this creature have been uploaded to Nico Nico Douga (NND)[2] and over 2000 illustrations have been posted to pixiv.[3]
In addition, Nonowa goods such as body parts for Nendoroid figures[4] and phone straps[5] were released in Doujin markets.
Other Characters
There are actually several mascots similar to Nonowa that are based off of the different iDOLM@STER characters, however Nonowa is by far the most represented.[6] Other popular characters are 美希クリ (Mikikuri) , やよクリ (Yayokuri) , and リップーナ (Rippoona) who are based off of Miki, Yayoi, and Ritsuko respectively.
Creator's Approval
This fan-made mascot has received attention from creators of the franchise.
Nonowa made cameo appearance in almost all chapters of the comic series "THE iDOLM@STER Dearly Stars: Neue Green" which ran from 2009 to 2011.
Nonowa made an appearance in the 7th episode in the 2011 anime series as a doll that belonged to one of Yayoi's siblings.
In July 2011, Nonowa was also used in NBGI's official promoting campaign on NND.
Announcement on the Official website[7]
Search Interest
External References
[1] unkr.org – 力士実装とかちょっとネタに走りすぎ (thread archive)
[2] Nico Nico Douga – Search results for ののワさん
[3] pixiv – Search results for ののワ
[5] くるくる堂 – ののワさん携帯すとらっぷ (Japanese)
[6] Project-iM@S Wiki – Nonowa and the creatures
[7] THE iDOLM@STER for Animation OFFICIAL PAGE – リアル765プロ企画 – 決定したお仕事 (Japanese)