My introduction to Bananya  came at San Diego Comic-Con last year. Strolling the vendor aisles I came across the most adorable plush I had ever seen: a kitty in a banana. I’m not a plush collector, so I moved on, but not without the image of that super cute banana cat forever emblazoned on my mind.

My SDCC run-in with Bananya, however, was not a fluke experience. Soon after, Bananya product began popping up everywhere on American shores: Funko vinyl figures, more plush in all shapes and sizes, keychains, and more. This is how it begins with hot Japanese trends: they creep into our culture seemingly overnight.

UCC Distributing has taken hold of Bananya mania with a new blind-bagged micro dangler assortment produced by Tomy of Japan. Seeing how the Banana cat craze started overseas, the company making these is quite appropriate. Tomy knows their banana cats. For those not in the know, Bananya is, you guessed it, based on a Japanese anime. You can watch the series on sites like Crunchyroll. There’s really not much to it. Bananya is about different breeds of cats… that live in bananas. They do say that happiness is found in simple things.

This is an easy series to collect. While there are numerous Bananya cat characters on the show (a calico named Mike Bananya, a black cat named Kuro Bananya, etc.), the Tomy assortment stars the big banana himself: the all white cat named… *drum roll* …Bananya.

There are five (5) different versions of Bananya to collect: crawling (or stretching?), waving, hands up in the air (cuz Bananya doesn’t care!), sleeping, and just looking around. 

There’s not a bad *ahem* banana in the bunch as each Bananya mini figure is simply irresistible. Each PVC plastic dangler, which measures approximately 1 1/2-inches long, includes a ball chain to dangle them. Attach them to your keys, use as cell phone charm, or hang ’em on display – the choice is yours.

For those seeking to collect all five versions of Bananya, your odds are quite good. Out of the 24 blind bags I opened in my case, I received four complete sets of Bananya with four unique randoms to spare. Which Bananya will you get? Happy banana cat hunting!

Scroll on for more photos!

Review and Photos by Jeff Saylor

Review Samples Courtesy of UCC Distributing

[See image gallery at www.figures.com]

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