A Snack-Box Forest Gets the Anime Treatment
If you've spent any time in a Japanese convenience store, you've probably seen Pai no Mi — Lotte's flaky, chocolate-filled pastry bites decorated with cheerful forest animals. Those box-art critters now have names, voices, and their own show. Comic Natalie reported that the anime will run eight episodes, releasing one per month on YouTube, completely free to watch worldwide.
The series is part of Lotte's "Pai no Mi Oshi no Mori Project," a campaign that fuses the snack's forest setting with Japan's "oshi" culture — the intense, affectionate fandom that drives everything from idol merch to anime pilgrimages. Phase one rolled out a 64-chapter four-panel manga and merchandise. Phase two is the anime itself, backed by a voice cast that punches well above what you'd expect from a snack commercial.
The Cast: Shin-chan and PreCure Stars Lead
Yumiko Kobayashi (小林由美子), who has voiced Shinnosuke Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan since 2018, stars as Pile, one of the show's squirrel protagonists. Rie Hikisaka (引坂理絵), known for voicing Cure Yell in HUGtto! PreCure, plays fellow squirrel Roxy.
PreCure fans will notice another familiar name in the lineup: Rina Honnizumi (本泉莉奈), who voiced Cure Ange in the same series, plays Sagi-chan the rabbit. That's two HUGtto! PreCure leads reuniting in a snack anime — not a sentence anyone predicted writing in 2026.
The full 11-person cast covers the forest's resident animals: Akihiro Tajima as Kumama the bear, Shun Kimeda as Arai-san the raccoon, Shōta Hayama as Boss the skunk, Marie Ōi as Kitsunee-san the fox, 集貝はな (likely Shūgai Hana) as Nemī the cat, Kōsuke Echigoya as Chōrō the turtle, Satsumi Matsuda as Dongurīna the squirrel, and Hinata Tadokoro as Tantei the rabbit.
Behind the Scenes
The original concept was developed by Mankyū (director of the first Sumikko Gurashi film), screenwriter Yūko Kakihara, Aya Matsui, and Shin-Ei Animation (Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon). Direction and animation are handled by Kazunori Minagawa and Miki Minagawa, with TOHO animation STUDIO on animation production.
Alongside the anime, Lotte launched what it's calling the "Pai no Mi Numaka Keikaku" — roughly, the "Getting Hooked Plan." The campaign includes an original theme song titled "Pai Shika Katan! Oshi no Morikatu," a tie-up with karaoke chain Pasela, new merchandise, and pre-movie theater promotional spots. Composer Misaki Mase noted that the song's ASMR crunch sound effect was recorded by her personally eating "lots of Pai no Mi."
Lotte marketing lead Yūki Kubota framed the project as a natural evolution for the brand: "We believe Pai no Mi's charm isn't just its taste — it's the world that makes you feel like there's a story there. So we gave the characters who've lived on the packaging all these years names, voices, and a story, and decided to deliver it as animation."
Looking Ahead
The first episode of Pai no Mi: Oshi no Mori e Yōkoso! drops at midnight JST on June 4, 2026 — just three days away. Since it streams on YouTube rather than a region-locked platform, international fans should be able to watch from day one without a Crunchyroll or Netflix subscription. New episodes will follow monthly through early 2027, for a total of eight.
No English subtitles have been confirmed, but YouTube's auto-translate feature and the show's apparent emphasis on cute animal characters over dense dialogue could make it accessible regardless. Pai no Mi itself isn't widely distributed outside Asia, so for most Western viewers, this might be the closest they get to the snack without a trip to a Japanese grocery store.