Pikachu and Bulbasaur Donuts

Pokémon and food are no strangers to each other, as the latter is often used to promote the former as with a snack pack I discovered a long time ago. What about Pokémon directly on food? Well, the result could be something like the food items I'm discussing in this post. They are real donuts with a Pokémon twist, and I just had to get these in order to try them out and make a review of them on this blog.

These are Pokémon donuts that are marketed by a local chain of convenience stores - which also has corporate links to the local TCG - but the donut brand itself (Mister Donut) is a big one in Japan. And while the donut brand itself is of such a renown, these donuts are really only available locally, as the display had the words "For sale in Indonesia only" at the top, in a little part off to the side. So, I'm effectively bringing a taste of a local food linked with Pokémon for those who are simply curious and especially cannot come down to try it for themselves.

The packaging of these donuts is pretty neat as well. For buying just a couple of donuts, one gets a yellow bag of similar imagery as the display, with Pikachu, Poké Balls, and doughnuts, plus the respective wordmarks of the related entities. If I bought a few more (particularly, if I chose to "clean out the case"), I may have been able to obtain a box instead, which might have been just as great if not better. But it still looks great nonetheless.

The two donuts with a Pokémon twist are "shell donuts" with Pikachu and Bulbasaur. They're called as such because they have a glossy "shell" as a topping. The one for Pikachu is yellow and the one for Bulbasaur is chocolate, though the two Pokémon appear in their original colors. They are likewise a "shell" applied on the base, though they are likely made first for concerns of precision and mass production.

As for the taste, that would certainly be a matter of individual preference. The Pikachu donut conceals a chocolate and banana filling, which is neat but may be a little surprising in taste for some people. The Bulbasaur donut instead has a chocolate and avocado filling, which might be even more surprising, yet strangely, I find it more preferable than the other one. It is clear that both of these donuts have fillings based on tropical fruits (suiting the color of the respective species) given the country where they appear, but that shouldn't be a total surprise and they should find favor with those who buy them.

Overall, the best descriptor that I can give to these donuts is that they are "appropriate". The fruit flavors are appropriate to the species they identify, the donuts are appropriate to market itself and Pokémon locally, and the concept is appropriately executed even for my liking. (Even this review is highly appropriate before a time of "big rest", so to speak.) The leverage to market foods based on Pokémon seems to be a pretty nice idea given the local TCG links, and they may be worth snapping up by local fans of the franchise.

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