The best Pocky Day art

It’s November 11, which as well as being Remembrance Day, is also Pocky Day — perhaps rather less important, but much more fun.

The exact origins of Pocky Day are not entirely clear as there are a number of conflicting accounts out there, but a commonly held belief appears to be that the day was established due to the fact that the number “11” looks like a couple of sticks of Pocky, and that it was primarily a marketing gimmick initially.

Favy Japan (archived as the site is shutting down in December 2021) claims that the day actually originated in Korea, as Pocky manufacturer Glico’s big Korean rival Lotte noticed a trend of schoolgirls exchanging their Pocky-like Pepero sticks on November 11 in the hopes of growing tall and thin. Glico, unsurprisingly, wanted a piece of that action and decided to start a huge campaign to promote November 11 as “Pocky Day”, or “Pokki no Hi” (ポッキーの日).

Pocky Day tends to be celebrated in a few different ways: firstly, by simply stuffing your face with a bunch of delicious Pocky, preferably a selection of different flavours. And secondly, by playing the “Pocky Game”, where one participant holds a stick of Pocky in their mouth and both they and their partner have to eat their way towards each other. You win and/or lose if you end up kissing your opponent, depending on the circumstances.

As many of you are doubtless aware, there’s nothing that Japanese artists like more than having a good excuse to post some themed art — and these sort of unofficial celebratory days are ideal for such purposes. So I thought today we’d pick out some great examples of what Pocky Day has to offer if you delve into the #ポッキーの日 hashtag over on Twitter.

As always when it comes to art, if you enjoy any of the pictures you see here, please make sure you visit the original source — the artist’s Twitter or Pixiv in this case — and show your appreciation with a Like or a Retweet. And please, please, please don’t embarrass yourself in the comments with thirsty GIFs or by leaving the artist tagged while you call your friend to tell them how horny you are; we know you’re all better than that.

Japanese illustrator USO, probably most famous for their creation “OL-chan”, is one of many masters of artwork themed around feet and tights. And, of course, they’re celebrating Pocky Day with a fine selection of artwork combining these two things. Here’s just one example — part of USO’s surprisingly substantial collection of “girls with sweaty feet” artwork, which I’m sure at least some of you are into. Be sure to check out USO’s Twitter, Pixiv and Fanbox for more.

This adorable art featuring Hololive’s Amelia Watson and Gawr Gura is the work of Kuri, an illustrator who posts art most days on their Twitter. If you enjoy their work, be sure to drop them a tip on Ko-Fi, and check out their Carrd for commission info — though note that they’re not taking commissions at the time of writing.

For the horsegirl fans, here we have Mejiro McQueen and Tokai Teio from Umamusume sharing a passionate celebration of Pocky Day, while Agnes Digital looks on with a certain… appreciation for the situation she’s seeing unfold. This art is the work of Amae Hinata, who can be found on Twitter and Pixiv.

We don’t see nearly as much Kancolle art these days since Azur Lane took over at the premier place to find provocatively dressed shipgirls, so this image of Shikinami is a nice blast from the past in some ways. It’s the work of i-coat, who can be found on Pixiv right here, and Twitter right here.

And while this may not be a piece of art posted this year, it simply wouldn’t do to let Pocky Day pass by without this iconic image of Chiru Kondo from Gal*Gun 2. Fwoo indeed. Gal*Gun 2 is available for PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch, with the latter also having a physical version available.

Got any more favourite pieces of Pocky-related art? Feel free to share some links to them down below!

Header art is apparently by “Gabriel” but the original source doesn’t seem to be online any more — if anyone happens to find it, please feel free to share!

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Pete Davison

Pete is Rice Digital's editor, and a proud champion of any and all games involving pretty girls hanging out, saving the world or both. His first waifu was Rit from Rod Land.

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