Tokyo a la Mode. Web Magazine for Japanese Fashion and Urban Culture

Love and Berry

By Bobby / Aug 14, 2006
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Meet Love and Berry. 

Love is a bright and energetic girl but sometimes a little bit clumsy.  She likes girlish outfits and looks good in colorful clothes.

Berry is always calm and mature.  She likes to dress classy in cool and off the hook fashion.

In Japan, Love and Berry are the main characters in a video game called Osharemajo Love and Berry.  The game is wildly popular with girls ages eight to twelve.  Sega launched the video game in October, 2004.

With each play, the video game machine dispenses a new playing card.  There are four different kinds of cards to collect: Dress Up, Hair & Makeup, Footwear and a Special Item for goodies such as changing hair color.

The more cards a girl has, the more choices she can make when dressing up either Love or Berry for a fun dance performance on one of the five stages.  The key here is to coordinate the best outfit for the proper stage.  You wouldn’t want to make poor Berry wear jeans to a fancy ballroom dance, now would you?

The choices are made by sliding the playing cards through a bar code reader.  Besides the stage, choices are also influenced by the personalities of Love and Berry.  Remember, Love is cute and Berry likes it cool. 

Once Love (or Berry) is ready to dance, the music starts and a magic tamborine appears on the screen.  The goal is to tap the button to match the beat of the tamborine.  The one who coordinates the best outfit and matches the beat the best wins the game!

Daisuke Yoshida from Sega is helping to bring Love and Berry to America where the game will be called “LOVE AND BERRY Dress Up and Dance!” “Sega has a popular game for young boys called Mushi King, so we wanted to make a game that girls can enjoy too,” explained Mr. Yoshida.  “The playing cards add an interactive element.  Girls can collect them and trade them with friends.  It makes the game more fun,” he added.  In addition, new cards with different fashion items and hairstyles for Love and Berry are introduced every couple of months.

In Japan, Love and Berry are so popular that Sega started selling a line of Love and Berry clothes for young girls straight from the video game.  Sega is hoping that the popularity of the two virtual fashionistas will translate well in America.  The Love and Berry video game will be launched in September at GameWorks and other entertainment centers across the country.  For more information, visit the official Love and Berry website.

A girl dressed up for the Nisei Week Festival gets a first hand try at Sega’s new video game for girls, “LOVE AND BERRY Dress Up and Dance!"

Aya (10) and Ena (8) model clothes from the Love and Berry fashion line.  The clothes are for sale in Japan only.