ecoice pure
about this page
When I first saw Ecoko, I
thought "Aw, she is so cute!" But, when I looked at the
sort of pages she was on, they were all "girl game"
type pages, and a lot of porn pages of her came up too! So, I
thought that she was a H character and thought, what a waste of
such a cute idea!
Then later, I found out her true origins, which are completely
not H related, and then later found out I was a fan of her
creator by the way of her manga Fun Fun Factory! So, I began to
be a fan of Ecoko's, once I knew her true self :D
This page is inteded to give you a truthful idea about ecoko's
origins, so she can have more fans that aren't just fans of
H/lolicon stuff, but to show everyone how she was originally
intended, and let people enjoy her just for her sweet cuteness!!
This page is a campain to rebuild her reputation, and also to
bring others to enjoy her cuteness!
about ecoco
"eco-ice"
" Ecoco" is the mascot for the Japanese air conditioner
"eco-ice" from the company Tohoku Electric Power Co.
The idea of the eco-ice airconditioner is to make ice at night
while the price for electricity is low, and then use it to cool
your house during the day. That is why it is called
"eco-ice", its "economical"
and "ecological"!
"ecoko"
"Ecoko" was developed as the mascot for these air
conditioners. Her advertisement campain ran from 4/1/99 to
6/30/99. She was designed by Watanabe Yoshimoto, who is a manga
artist, her most popular work being the cute "Fun Fun
Factory", and also the creator of the manga "Gin no
Yuusha". .Ecoko's picture was featured on 2 promotional
items for eco-ice: a poster and a pamphlet. Because of this,
there are only 2 official pictures of her, one where she is
standing with penguins, and one where she is holding balloons.
These have become rare collector's items for otaku types!
Although she was not given an "official" name on these
items, fans came up with the nick name "ecoko" by
taking the "eco" from the air conditioner's name.
"Ko" is a popular character to use in the name of
girl's in Japan, and was probably added to her name to mimic
Digicharat's way of shortening her name to "dejiko"
since both characters became popular around the same time.
She is often called by other names/spellings, here are some
common ones:
ecoco, eco-ice, ice-chan, ekoko, ecoko, aisu-chan, ekoaisu,
ect...
Her most offical name is probably "aisu-chan" or
"ice-chan", because when Tora no Ana put out an
"official goods" figure of her, that was her name on
it.
I use the name "Ecoko" because that is what she is
usually called, and I spell it that way to get across the
"ecological" and "economical" idea and the
Japanese "ko" ending.
popularity/fandom
The cuteness of Ecoco's character quickly attracted many
anime/manga/game fans to her. Her popularity spread throughout
the internet quickly. Many people drew her after seeing her on
fansites, even without knowing her origins. Her popularity also
spread quickly into doujinshi (fan comics) at Comiket and other
popular events. Even cosplaying her became popular.
Since Digicharat and Ecoko are both cute girls with an animal
based outfit and a mascot, she quickly became associated with
Digicharat. Most people either thought of them as friends, or as
bitter rivals for who is cuter.
the end (?) of ecoko
When the company making the eco-ice air conditioners found out
about ecoco's popularity, they became upset. Many pornographic
doujinshi were made about her, so they thought that the character
had lost the original innocence intended in her character. Also,
while the Ecoko character was popular, the actual air
conditioners did not sell particularily well, and they decided
that she was not helping them sell any air conditioners despite
her popularity, so she became retired as the mascot of Eco-ice.
However, this did not stop her fandom from spreading. In fact, an
"event" (convention) based on her was founded. It was
called "Eco-ket", the "-ket" being short for
market, as with Japan's most popular event, Comiket. This event
is based on mascot characters like Ecoko, Digicharat, and more.
Also, (I think), her character rights were bought by Hakuensha,
the company who puts out Watanabe-sensei's manga. (I could be
wrong on that..??)
Overall, Ecoko has come quite far from her modest beginings as an
air conditioner mascot, and I hope this page will help spread her
popularity to the English speaking world as well!! :D