Why is Danbo so popular?

Question

Originally, Danbo was a cardboard box robot from the manga Yotsuba&!.

cover of volume 5 of Yotsuba&!, featuring Danbo and Yotsuba

But most people recognize Danbo from a photo-shot (that's how I knew of Danbo before I finally read the manga) and if you try to google image search it, the result will be something like this, not the Yotsuba&! manga.

photograph of Danbo

So how could Danbo become so popular? Is there someone who used it for advertising or something?

you can see on the small danbo "amazon.co.jp", and I think I've seen that association a lot, so maybe they pushed the character — Toshinou Kyouko, May 28 '14 at 20:55

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 02 '14 at 08:20

After Kaiyodo began selling Danbo models, a photographer named Arielle Nasal began taking photos of them every day for a year

See her account here

These photos were eventually compiled into a book "365 Days of Danboard"

enter image description here

This piece is the source of many danbo scenic photographs, and the inspiration for others

After this, there were many Danbo photographs being taken. Many Facebook, Tumble and Flicker pages set up with Danbo photos as their focus. Most notable of these is the Danbo Love Flickr group who have amassed a staggering 35,000 photos of Danbo

There are 4 different models of Danbo available at time of writing - Original, Amazon.JP branded, 7/11 Branded, Miniature

Why is Danbo so popular?

1 Answers1