Have you ever heard of the Japanese term 推し活, Oshikatsu? It refers to showing support and love for your favorite performer, band, celebrity, or fictional character, or 推し, oshi (as found in the title of popular manga and anime Oshi no Ko), by going to their events and live shows, or just hanging out with their merch on display, maybe on or inside an itabag (痛バッグ) that can showcase badges, small plushies and other merch.
Personally, I love to see fans of my favorite characters get creative with this kind of thing, and see what ideas they can come up with for their itabags! But I have some reservations adopting this style for myself… among other things, because it can get really expensive! So how about having your Licca-chan doll do your oshikatsu for you in miniature form? With the 推し活デビューセット (Oshikatsu Debut Set) fashion pack, the accessories and stickers it comes with, and a bit of DIY, it can be done right away!
First, check out the fashion pack’s official page on the Takara Tomy website. You’ll see that the set contents are as follows:
- A white T-shirt that says 推しが尊い (oshi ga toutoi, “my oshi is precious”) in rainbow-colored letters;
- A rainbow-colored skirt with a white tulle layer on top;
- Black and white sneakers;
- An uchiwa fan;
- A penlight/cyalume/glowstick (however you want to call it!) that your Licca-chan doll can hold in her hand;
- A headband with “ears”, one round-shaped and the other heart-shaped;
- A bag (the color is lavender in the stock photo, but it’s actually rose pink) with a heart-shaped window (it comes with a small piece of cardboard inside that shows many rows’ worth of Jenny badges!);
- And finally, a set of stickers so you can customize the accessories (there’s also a Jenny sticker, if that’s who you like!).
It’s important to note that this set comes with a lot of accessories, and they are all customizable using the stickers, a bit of DIY and creativity… and the included instructions, of course!
Before I get into how to customize each accessory, a small note about the shoes: they look very similar to the black and white sneakers that come with the Astronaut Licca-chan doll, but they’re actually a different mold that is a little less detailed, but also a little less chunky.
If the set’s rainbow skirt has caught you off-guard, don’t worry: this Youtube video from the official Licca-chan channel explains that you’re supposed to wear your oshi’s color in front! In my case, mine is… somewhere between purple and pink, which happens to be right where the seam in the skirt is… it looks a bit awkward, but I don’t mind!
Now that you’ve got the outfit figured out, it’s time to learn how to customize each accessory! Let’s look at the instructions the set comes with.
First of all, right on top, you’ve got a warning in bold red that says:
“Once you’ve put on a sticker, you can’t take it off.“
So… you really want to be careful with this! What follows is my translation of each of the instruction sets.
How to customize the penlight
Wrap your favorite color sticker around the flat part so it goes all the way around. Once you’re done, seal it by covering it with cellophane tape you have at home.
(A small note from me: make sure that the white part of the penlight sticker is at the bottom, i.e. towards the grip; the colored part needs to be at the top).
How to customize the uchiwa fan
Write what you want in the large heart-shaped frame sticker using a permanent marker, then stick it on the face of the uchiwa fan.
How to customize the hairband
Stick your favorite color stickers to the front and/or rear of the hairband’s “ears”.
This concludes my translation of the instructions, but! You can also customize the bag! Since the cardboard inside with a picture of Jenny badges is removable, you can slip it out of the bag’s small opening and replace it with anything you like that represents your oshi and you think will look cute within the heart-shaped window. Just like a real itabag… only tiny and a lot less expensive!
A small practical note: likely because of the notorious and tricky gap between the RGB and CMYK color systems, the colored stickers look somewhat different in person than they do in the stock picture. Most notably:
- The purple sticker looks more dark magenta in person (but it will turn back into a cool-toned purple the moment you take a picture!);
- The pink sticker is not a pastel pink, but a rather bold rose pink in person;
- The gray sticker is a lot darker in person than in the stock picture.
Overall, this is a very fun fashion pack for people like me who are interested in the oshikatsu lifestyle and don’t want to miss out on the DIY and customization fun that it involves, but are a bit hesitant about it! Just choose your favorite perfomer or character’s color, grab a permanent marker to write or draw inside the heart-shaped frames, and go wild making your Licca-chan doll into a hardcore fan!
