BODY: Pour a little soy sauce, and a Slime stares back at you. Square Enix has turned one of gaming's most iconic mascots into a piece of dinnerware, launching four small ceramic dishes today (May 2) on its e-STORE that reveal Dragon Quest characters only when filled with soy sauce.
The four designs come from the "Smile Slime Wa Series" — the Japanese-aesthetic line of Dragon Quest merchandise that pairs Akira Toriyama's character designs with traditional craft motifs. Each dish features a hidden silhouette in the recessed center: pour soy sauce in, and the contrast against the dark liquid brings the character to the surface. The lineup covers the standard blue Slime, the metallic-favorite Metal Slime, the slightly more sinister Slime Knight, and the fan-favorite She-Slime.
Each dish is priced at ¥1,320 (roughly $8.50 USD), placing them firmly in the impulse-buy range for fans, and they are available exclusively through the Square Enix e-STORE in Japan. The dishes are sized as standard kozara — the small condiment plates used at virtually every Japanese dinner table for soy sauce, pickles, or small portions of side dishes.
It's a clever piece of merchandising that leans into a centuries-old Japanese ceramic technique: designs that only become visible through liquid or light. Square Enix has been steadily expanding the Wa Series since 2020, with previous entries including tea cups, furoshiki wrapping cloths, and incense holders.
The insider take
Square Enix's Wa Series consistently sells out fast, particularly with overseas tourists who've discovered the e-STORE through proxy shipping services. The "hidden image revealed by liquid" gimmick — known as uki-e in traditional ceramics — is the same trick used in some Arita-yaki and Kutani-yaki dishware, and pricing these at ¥1,320 each suggests Square Enix is targeting volume rather than collector-tier buyers. Expect resale listings on Mercari within hours of launch, and don't be surprised if the She-Slime variant moves fastest; it's historically the rarest in merch lineups despite being a Day-One Dragon Quest enemy.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).