Back in 1977 a Japanese candy company called Lotte begun releasing wafer snacks with packed-in stickers (called Bikkuriman). They were immediately popular, but in 1985 with the release of a series of comedic stickers depicting a war between angels and devils (Akuma vs Tenshi) the wafers became a phenomenon.
The above is an artbook I bought in Japan (with a fancy holo cover to make it look like a sticker) and some example art of the first series released in 1985. These stickers are very collectible these days, and I’ve seen very rare ones in stores for thousands of dollars!
I’ve read that the official series of angels vs devils stickers ended some years ago, but Lotte wafers with stickers are still available and I’ve been buying them since we first went to Japan over 20 years ago. The above is a photo of one purchased on the recent trip, showing how the sticker is just packed right next to the wafer. These cost about $1 each, which is pretty good for a tasty wafer and a metallic sticker!
The above shows some recent stickers in the original series depicting ‘angels’ and ‘devils’. The art is stylized, comedic and colourful, and the metallic or holographic effects on the stickers immediately draws the eye. I know had I lived in Japan as a youth I would absolutely have been collecting these!
The most famous sticker was the super rare one in the 1985 series called ‘Super Zeus’, and the above is a version of him from a commemorative series of ‘ink style’ art from a few years ago.
In 2013 as the popularity of the original story began to fade, Lotte began releasing licensed stickers, and that continues to this day. The above is a Star Wars one from the sealed box I purchased back in June. You can read about it here. I would love to get the stickers from the second Star Wars series (the prequels), but alas have never seen a single one for sale.
The decades-long popularity of these stickers led to many competitors, and collectively they’re known as ‘chocolate seals’ in Japan. They’re always small, square, and usually have bright colours and a metallic or holographic effect. The biggest producer these days seems to be Bandai, and you can see examples of unopened packs and various licensed stickers above.
I used to just stick the stickers, and they’ve graced many postcards over the years (check old ones I’ve sent you and you’ll probably find one). But ‘choco seals’ are serious collectibles in Japan, and there’s a mini-industry around them including guide books, sleeves, albums to store them in and even protective lucite cases like this magnetic one I bought on the recent trip:
I’ll never ‘collect’ these, but I love the Star Wars ones and ever since getting them my eyes have opened a little wider towards these stickers. And then in the last couple of years this happened:
Bandai started releasing Ultraman ones! The above is a box of series two, and I hope to complete the set since I’ve already opened many packs even before buying the full box.
Sadly I missed out on series one (it released early in the pandemic) and although series three is apparently out I never saw any for sale these past few trips (which is doubly mysterious since shops were still selling series two).
The stickers are wonderful! Not only colorful and metallic, some are also etched and have reflective holographic effects (like stars) on them. I’ve got many doubles as well: if you want one on a postcard leave a comment.
The oldest ‘choco seal’ I own is coincidentally also from Ultraman, was acquired during one of our Japan trips almost 20 years ago, and depicts a kaiju from Ultraman Dyna. How it survived all these years without ever being stuck I’ll never know, but now it will live in my (not a) collection forever 🙂
