Bern Switzerland

Already linked it through the Member News, but who cares ^^"

I had to laugh soo hard the first time I went throught the pics, his comments make it even better :D

I would most probably have been a combination of laughed at/beaten up. Sorry to hear about the proposed figure competition, since I don't actually own any figures or such like (as of yet).

That is one brave man though, I wonder how open minded the community is where he lives...

that guy is freaking awesome!!! some of the pictures is pure otaku...

best part is when he's running with the other people xD

Hmm doing something like that in germany would proably get pretty much the same reactions as on the pictures. ;)
Hmm kissing a figure? Right now all i got is figma Haruhi and seriously, kissing girls aren't something i would take a picture of. :P
Also i would hate to torture other people with my fugly self lol.
Though... it would be a tough cookie is figma Lelouch would make it in time to my place haha... *cough* ... smexy guy he is he could even hold my cheeks! *sigh* ^^;;;;;;;; Now you have done something horrible to my imagination Danny.

Hahaha I would never do that, but I'm glad that someone will

melonpan has made me speechless...

he's one brave fellow

seems like venturing the town in an otaku way is quite popular these days ^^

Just awesome, gotta have alot of courage. Gonna see his blog

lol you gotta love the audacity! If he tried that in NYC, someone would surely either take that pillow or knock him down....and then take the pillow.

Oh wow. Suddenly melonpan became awesome.

:O He's so cool. haha Seems like a fun guy

Epic win crazy cool otaku guy lol.
And quite the bold one too.

Looks like fun! Beautiful city. There are mostly just hobos in my city, they wouldnt neccesarily laugh or anything if I did that, they would probably just ask for the pillow, or spare change.

I wouldn't do that for all the money in the world.

The funny thing is, in all of the pictures no one is looking at him. Its like they've seen it all before or something.

this would actually make a really cool giveaway contest

I would probably do that, looks like alot of fun. Gonna wait for my Natsume Rin to arrive, and then take a trip into town. ^^;

Probably gonna get beaten and laughed at. >_<

That's awsome. I would love to run around my home town doing that. As for kissing a figure, hell, I might. It'd be kind of hard to do it though. Maybe during my High School graduation?

I salute you, Melonpan, for you are a man among otakus! That's quite a scenic city tour too.

That guy knows no shame. Hope he enjoys ruining his own reputation.

"oh look, it's that weirdo guy who carried around a large pillow with a weird cartoon girl on it last week!"

LOL, nice one! I say do it again with a more revealing dakimakura. I'd like to see the expressions then! This one's too properly dressed.

lol brave brave meronpan XD

Wow... balls of steel man, I could never do that... I do however have a hatsune miku pillow XD

I would come shake your hand though if I met you in person.

Brilliant .... i love this sort of humour!

"In America",

you would be beaten! =/. Although i think it is a bit weird, all the more power to him! I'm not too big into dakimakuras.

that's what I call passion!

Awwww, when I get my Nia pillow, I'm gonna do the same thing, and dedicate it to you, Melonpan, you are the man!

Although it probably won't get the same reaction as him since I'm a little girl.

hands down to you...funny thing is the people in the pic doesnt seem to mind you...in my place they would surely be laughing at you calling you "idiot" or "crazy"

I couldn;t read the comments on his blog, due o me only knowing English and French, but those pictures are AMAZING. I would totally do something like this with a figure. Like, a 1:1 scale figure or a bodypillow of a male character or something.

THIS IS SERIOUSLY HILARIOUS I CANT STOP LAUGHING HAHAHAHAHA

Hehe! That is pretty awesome, but over here I'd bet you'd get beaten up or at the very least laughed at over here... But that's an interesting idea for a contest... Bravest otaku gets a prize... I'd probably lose, unless I did something that would get me arrested.

LOL Awesome. Two thumbs up for your bravery ^^

O_O ! Oh wow, I find it hard to find the words to post, LOL!

Very brave....I would wear my mask going around like that....

I may get away with it if Nia was in a huge plastic bag, makes people think i just bought her, and was on the way home....

I bow down to bravery.

this is epic..
its like the "Euro Trip" with a dakimakura

i see nothing wrong with a guy holding a dakimakura going around town. is it because of nia on the cover? if nia is not there, i doubt anybody around him would care.

btw, nia is not moe (please don't hit me). *runs away*

I hope you don't propose an open bravest otaku challenge. Some of us are pretty shameless and might end up in the news somehow. Personally, I've only done two things otaku related in public.

1) Take a soccer ball sized Togepi (Lucky Egg Pokemon) Plush to a physics test (Grade: A).

2) Took my Saber Cushion to the Track Meet last weekend (AND WE WON!).

I wasn't publicizing it, but it got some attention.

Wow. Really respect him for doing that!! I know most of us wouldn't be able to do the same (at least not now, until danny decides to pull the plug with his "proposed" compeitition lol).

so ronery ;_;

but god, this is awesome!

oh god no... i still have my dignity... At least cosplaying sounds fun, this is just...

wow , i rather find most of the comments esp from USA in half - either beaten up (you sure guys would want to see one eh ? LOL) or just simlpe be laugh at~ ... Looks like i'm more of hoping to see one like this in USA XD

Question: What will Simon do when he finds out Nia is on a date with Melonpan? ('~')

Lmao! This is entertaining! ^.^

Won't he get tired of hugging it around everywhere? :D

I loled! :D Man I gotta take off my hat to that guy! He's earned my respect! To that sort of thing in public he's pretty brave and very passionate about being an otaku. In our place most people would just stare, some might laugh since rare to see a man moving around with a daki. Kiss your figure in public? Hmm...I am a bit inspired with from this guy I might do it.

That's the bravest act I've ever seen in my life.

a round of applause for you man, i might get in on this contest talk though.

Wow, this is the bravest act I've ever seen! This could happen in Akihabara but it's tolerable there due to the nature of the town. But he did this is Sweitzerland!? Freaking awesome, kudos to him~

MELONPAN IS MY HERO!
Never will I ever have the courage to do anything remotely like that...hell, I get a little embarrassed just carrying my Anime Network side-bag at a convention...

Lol that was awesome, good job Melonpan! Being confident in yourself enough to do such a thing is great.

This guy deserves a medal !
Beautiful city too :)
A friend of mine did dress up as a ninja in Auckland with a kendo sword and walked and went around downtown Auckland getting odd looks lol
http://www.bebo.com/PhotoAlbumBig.jsp?MemberId=1612799598&PhotoNbr=1&PhotoAlbumId=6297717554

here hardly anyone knows what anime are. but that wont stop them from staring and laughing at me if i were to do any such thing in public. I'll probably be thought of as a mentally deranged guy walking around with a big pillow. getting beaten up would be a possibility here :(

Lulz.

In L.A., since there is so many people around here with so many mixed feelings, i'd get laughed at but i praise this guy like i praise goth lolita cosplayers in L.A. In fact i saw 2 today in Little Tokyo earlier today.

Two thumbs up for Melonpan!

wow...what a brave soul...god bless u ^__^

OMG that's sooo crazy cool!! if i'd do that here people would probably laugh at me hehe

Brave man indeed. I'd be too afraid of getting that dirty. @_@

Love the "WTF" over the guys head in the second picture, matches perfectly with his look.

I use to get stared at just carrying a random anime plushie into Borders on our Anime nights. Man does he have guts to carry around a full body pillow in public like that.

Heck.. I use to get weird looks cause I had chibi pins all over my bag and it said "Hellsing" on it. I even got told "I pity you" by one of the Amish/Menanite(sp) vendors at Green Dragon(Flea Market) because of the "Hellsing"on my bag. I tried to explain to him that it was an animated show and continued to show him my shirt I had on of it, and he just shook his head and rambled on about how he pitied me. I just gave up and walked out and continued going through my Magic card pack I had bought. >>;

Melonpan is the best, the funniest and the braviest! I didn't thought someone would rather do it, and what the heck he can ^^;

He'd win any contests on Dannychoo.com anyday with those brave "adventures"... he cracked me up!

Being proud is one thing but this just creeps the hell out of me.
But i like the old mans expression on the pic with the "WTF'

Hehe, a few months ago a Japanese TV crew came to South Africa to film Otaku lifestyle in the country, I brought my dakimakura to the filming to be interviewed alongside it, even kissed it on film, the director guy was laughing to death but they never put that on TV... orz.

I did find it a bit strange though, that when I first arrived I heard the film crew say "dakimakura no jidai wa itsu datta" or something similar, as if they were never found in Japan anymore... maybe I just misheard, (it was just eavesdropping) or are dakimakura becoming less popular?

you've got my vote for the bravest soul to ever do this! if i ever did that, i'll either get stares or even be laughed at...

seriously, i'm not as brave as you yet!

you deserve the prize!

I'll say this. He is crazy!!!
It's like me bring my big Haruhi pillow around all over town...

Lol that's awesome.
If I did this in my town I'd probably get laughed at, then beaten up XD.

In france people laugh at you but I don't think you finish arrested. This guy is crazy but we should not be bored with him. :D

Brave man, i'd get beaten up and laughed at for doing likewise, more than i already do for my red and black emo hair

ALL TROOPS SALUTE !! (>_<)>

Lol he seems a so funny guy, maybe little too much? But if he ejoy who cares ^^

In Italy probably if someone does like him everybody will look kinda scared and littlebit lost but nothing more ^^

If this isn't WIN, I don't know what else could be.

Man that is awesome! Gotta give the guy some major props for showing off his otaku pride.

All hail Britannia errr Otaku Kingdom! (>_<)>

Greetings

Melonpan of the Rebellion

Bless, he looks so happy in the photos

If someone was to do that here, they'd get weird looks, a couple of pointed fingers, loud whispers and a bunch of hysterical laughter.

Although I don't think I'd be ashamed to do that in public if I was dared or if the price is right ^_^

This stuff is epic! I vote for melonpan having won Danny's competition before it even started!

"Sie verkaufen sogar Mangas. Jedoch keine Rape Doujinshis. Bah."

I came, lol, it was so funny :) And the looks of the random people.. priceless! Quality stuff.. need moar!!

*Salutes* to the most daring otaku. damn i wish i had the balls to do something like that.

That's amzing, Melonpan should get a medal or something...

What a guy! :)

Granted, having a camera man there with you probably made the situation less embarrassing (Cause people would just think that you're doing some kind of project).

lol, but BRAVE....

The pink tram made me lose the game =(

Hats off to the guy, that's a brave thing to do.

I'd like to see him try it in Hackney, London, England though.

I am not particularly fond of carrying bulky objects to feel otaku-dom but well, as they say, flashy and courage gets one far both on terms with stares and respect from fellow otakus :)

So far, the only anime-related stint i've seen so far are girls doing the goth+loli or Japanese street fashion (makes you stick out sorely) with or without kaboodles of anime merchandize on. Then I remember that there's an interesting guy attending university who comes to school every single day in a naruto outfit. Literally. He was nicknamed "Naruto 24/7 cosplayer." But that's it that I know of...no Dakimakuras :P

Wow and I thought I was brave with taking figure photography outdoors, but this has certainly taken the cake.

so ronery lolz XDD

ROFL at last picture
3some in lifts?
XD

This guy is my hero

i'm looking forward to next time!
i bet melonpan will find somethig to top this off. ;)

by the way, the reactions of the people here are typical for swiss: they'll look at you and wonder what kind of crazy guy you are, but no one will care. swiss are very reserved (in general). like the japanese (i guess). :)

Melonpan is deserving of a lifetime of cookies. the only stuff I have is gunpla... can't possibly seat Exia on my shoulder and walk about town. >_<

LOL! You're right, I don't think I've ever heard of an otaku this brave XD

you are awesome!I'm so appreciate and admire you!you are a lovely guy^^ be pround of you

Congratulations to "Our Dakimura" for fighiting for otaku rights in Switzerland!!! *gives strong applause*
Here, I'd be probably laughed at, but at some places even beaten up >.<

Awesome pictures Melonpan, it just made my day. Too bad I'm not into dakimakura otherwise I would think about doing something like that.

Just when I thought I had seen all there was to otakuism, a whole other layer/realm opens up. I do admire his courage and heroism for the cause. In some cases I have gone out with a blue Tengo Tenje bag over one shoulder and second bag covered in pins and a stuffed ryo-oki/ken-oki combo on the other with selected anime shirt of the day, but I do not know if I'm comfortable enough to go out with a hug pillow. I guess he could have chosen a more hentia pillow all things considered.

I think that i would get beaten and laughed at if i would do that. But seems fun ;D.

I saw this earlier. Indeed he is brave....or stupid. Why isn't there an option in the poll 'all of the above, minus cool'? Seriously, I could not pull this off in my town, no sir, even though the Dutch are labeled as very tolerant. Sorry Danny, come up with another contest, this one is cruel XD

Second picture from the top,
The guy's expression is priceless.

Some of the pictures reminds me of Mr. Bean. You know his bean teddy bear.

Words fail me...

Seeing an otaku carry a dakimakura around in Akiba is one thing, seeing a Euro-otaku carrying one in idyllic and scenic Switzerland is something else to behold. LMAO

I'm glad I didn't view this at work, or I would be at pains trying to contain my giggling.

(Then again, attempting to view Danny's blog at work is no different from applying to get voluntarily laid off. xD )

melonpan, we salute you for your audacious/shameless behaviour. lol

haha. the stare from the old guy is a classic. i hope he remembered to give it a good wash before using it after visiting the little boy's room with it^^

Oh my god. What. That is... well... indescribable.

Beautiful city. I'm not brave enough to do that. If I do it here, certainly will get laughs, but not much more. People are just indifferent here. I don't have any otaku stuff other than anime DVDs anyway.

Lol! Those photos (and melonpans comments on his blog) are priceless, made me laugh quite a bit! ^^

Is it silly? Surely! Audacious? Definitely. Funny? No doubt. Stupid? Possibly.

A grown man and anime fan owning a hugging pillow and parading it around on the street? Well, it can be seen as funny, gutsy or stupid depending on your outlook.

But ask yourself this? What would you rather see, who would you rather be and what world would you rather live in?
Would you rather be or live in a plce where you can be an anime fan and do funny, silly things like walking around with a daimakura for kicks and laughs?
Or would you rather be or live in a place like that elder person shown, frowning, condemning... so grey, lifeless, without a smile,... already dead inside?

I think our world can use all the joy and passion there is.

This is modest & socially acceptable because of being normally-clothed, but it's still nevertheless bold.

I love melonpan's shirt.

Is this what is called "nerdcore"? Got plenty of stones for that stunt. Bravo!

This guy is officially awesome. I could never do that.

HAIL melonpan!

He's a freaky one to do that such a things to do. FOR CRY OUT LAUGH.

oh heck, and that wasn't even the strangest thing you can see in Bern. next time give a fair warning and we all can meet up and have a beer together. anyways, how d'ye like my hometown?!

I probably wouldn't get laughed at in my region, but i would get strange looks.

LOLOLOLOLOL for the picz XDDDDDDDDDDD

don't know what would happen if someone tried it here in Bandung.... :P

Hey, those are some nice pictures of Bern, all of us here are proud of what you've done, I think you're one of the bravest Otakus I've seen as well. And, nice Nia pillow.

こんなん海外にもいるのか...orz

Top stuff. If i had the money, I would probably sponsor him for another walk around Zürich, carrying a Candy Girl!!

That made me laugh hard. In my town I would have been laughed at, but I'll praise you, that's something not many can do. Truly the man amongst men if I can say so.

Utterly amazing. I would only do that under the condition that it was my last day to live.
I fell out of my chair laughing.

well i alreadie walk around mi school carrying plushies
but i guess he's way more "O_O"
especiallie if he's a guy and ...all
nothing strange of a 12 yr old (im 16 but ppl think im 12 most of the time -_-;) carrying "freakish" dolls around
but :"D
i find that man inspiring-dammit <333
he is reallie brave and here in mi hometown ppl would think he's retarted or sumtheeng xD
i say- GENIUS!

Damn he was brave !

HAHA. Amazing. I'd never be able to do something like that unless I live in an otaku city or something. lol. Awesome, really awesome! *applause*

Anyone doing that around here and you'd get stared at like some freak or something.

Waiting for the day when it ISN'T weird to be walking about with a dakimakura. the only weird thing to be said would be, "Hey, why is that guy walking around with a pillow? It's way past morning..."

Me think never

You know, i bet this is going to be a far more common sight if Danny decided to go with the "Bravest Otaku" competition...

Suddenly, dakimakuras take over the world!

man thats hilarious, if only I could do something like that, well i can... but will i?

If I would do something like that in my country then people would laught from me or think that I have problems with my brain XD. Anyway nice photos ^^

I'll be teargassed, beaten by batons and then get myself bagged up to a secret detention center and charged under my country's Internal Security Act for doing that. He's truly an brave hero.

I wish I could do that, but cosplaying is the farest I can go here without being laughed at :(
I'm currentrly planning in going
through my city coslaying, but surely i will get laughed at.

.. srry my bad english ^^'

With this site beeing VERY slow for the last 24 hours, i guess Melonpan is now the worlds´ 2nd most popular Otaku (Danny is still #1!)... I knew him before he got popular... Melonpan i want a child of you and Nia (^_^)!!!

So funny! I love the look on the old man.

ALL HAIL MELONPAN!

If i dare do that here, i don't think that i'll gain only these weird looks.

Wow! This guy is so brave! I would never do that!!! XD

Balls of Steel this lad has.

I salute him for being brave.

You're only praised for being cool if you do it right.

Oh man, I think that guy is awesome.

I run a Yahoo! dakimakura group, and even I have to bow to this. Good show!

I could not read anything because I only know english and spanish but the pics are awesome. You are one of the bravest men I have ever seen! I salute you!

hes got balls.... big stupid otaku balls. bwahahaha. this post made my day.

BRAVE???... jaja, NHK prospect.

YOU HAVE TO HIDE YOUR POWERLEVELS

well if you cant get a date.....

I salute him.
I probably would have gone up to him at the tavern and complimented him.

that guys my hero!

Wow, that guy is really something. I mean really, he's really brave. But it can be really hard sometimes, because of people. Or, on a bus sometimes when it's full. The question is that he pays for one ticket or two? :D But he's really great.

This guy has big balls .

=D Awesome

I need to be notified when a contest takes place. Dakimakura(s) + stormtrooper armor = win

He is a brave, brave man.

Also lucky to have one of those hug pillows.

He is a brave one to bring his dakimakura around his hood

i have some dakimakuras but definitely i wouldnt do that even less on my neighborhood, i think i wouldnt be safe much time xD

My hero <3~

Though...if you did that where I live you would most likely be shot. :

Pillow's isn't really my thing.

But if I did do something like that I would most likely be something along the lines of:

Laughed at/Beaten up by civilians/Beaten up by cops/Arrested

Laughed at/Beaten up by volvo loving teens./Ran over by a volvo.
or
Sent on a rocket ride into the sun.

People around here are really fast to put down anything different.

He has to be the bravest otaku of us all.

I think the yugos in zurich would come around the corner, laugh and then proceed in beating the living day light out of you....its happened to foreigners before just for being there...its quite scary...

Oh man, and I always thought the Swiss people were the most adjusted and rational people in the world...

My faith in Europe has just shattered a little bit. T_T

maybe i will be sent to moral rehab facility for doing this kind of thing here...

There is no love like the love between a man and his pillow.
XD