Afro Ken: The Puzzle

San-X (サンエックス, San Ekkusu) is a Japanese company known for creating and marketing kawaii (cute) characters like Rilakkuma. Their closest competitor is the larger Sanrio company, which created Hello Kitty. San-X characters are usually anthropomorphic representations of animals or inanimate objects. They are typically laid-back or lazy, often a bit mysterious or have insecurities. Since 1979 San-X have produced over 1000 different characters. In the 1980s, in their early days of character creation, San-X produced only stationery, and created several new characters every month. In 1998 Tarepanda was created by Hikaru Suemasa (末政ひかる) and by 1999 sales had reached 30 billion yen.