BODY: Pour soy sauce, summon a Slime. That's the simple-but-clever conceit behind Square Enix's newest Dragon Quest merchandise drop, which puts the franchise's most iconic mascots at the bottom of your dinner table.
Released May 2 through the Square Enix e-STORE, the four small plates are part of the "Smile Slime Wa Series" โ a line that reimagines Dragon Quest characters through traditional Japanese aesthetics. Each dish features a character silhouette etched into the ceramic, invisible until soy sauce pools inside and brings the design into view. The lineup includes the standard blue Slime, the red She-Slime (Suraimu Beth), the metallic King Slime, and the elusive Metal Slime โ a roster that any Japanese gamer over thirty will recognize instantly.
Each plate retails for 1,320 yen (roughly $9 USD), putting the full set at just over 5,000 yen. The dishes are sized for soy sauce, wasabi, or small condiments, making them practical additions to a Japanese home kitchen rather than display-only collectibles.
The "Wa" (ๅ, meaning Japanese-style) series has been quietly expanding for years, previously offering tea cups, chopstick rests, and lacquerware featuring the same Slime cast. Square Enix has leaned into Dragon Quest's status as a national cultural touchstone in Japan, treating the franchise less like a video game IP and more like a heritage brand on par with Hello Kitty or Doraemon.
The insider take
In Japan, Dragon Quest occupies a category of cultural reverence that's hard to overstate โ there's a long-standing urban legend that the government once requested new releases not launch on weekdays to prevent mass absenteeism. Merchandise like this taps into that nostalgia for adults who grew up with the Famicom original in 1986 and now have their own dining tables to set. The "reveal when wet" gimmick is also a quiet nod to traditional Japanese ceramic techniques like yuzen glazing, where designs emerge through use, giving the product a craftsmanship angle beyond its otaku appeal.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).