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The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Super Sonico is probably
her large * **_ahem_** * assets.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VReTDm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/VReTDm.jpg)
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/slHNPm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/slHNPm.jpg)

Super sonico is all over the internet and has many fan-service wallpapers,
figures, etc.

What is Super Sonico actually famous for?

I know she's a mascot for a gaming company, but is it purely the appeal of her
chest that has gained her the massive fan following?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-31T23:24:04.210
23711
2016-09-05T04:16:49.087
1530
question
super-sonico
Why is Super Sonico famous?


I did a little more research after writing my initial comment, though it was
pretty hard to find good information on this topic in English. What I present
below is my own theory, compiled from my own interpretation of the evidence.

Super Sonico isn't the mascot of just any gaming company; she's the mascot of
[Nitroplus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroplus), the visual novel
cooperative which [gave Gen
Urobuchi](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/Nitroplus) his break
into the visual novel world in 2000 when he wrote the scenario for their first
game, Phantom of Inferno.1 Urobuchi later went on to work on the Fate/Zero
novels and anime, and to become one of the Magica Quartet group that created
Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Nitroplus was also involved in the creation of the
Science Adventure visual novels, Chaos;Head, Steins;Gate, and Robotics;Notes,
alongside another company called [5pb.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5pb.)
These are hugely popular works among otaku, and their rise seems to have
triggered the rise of Super Sonico by association.

Various sources, including [TV
Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/Nitroplus), give me the
impression that Nitroplus's breakthrough work was 2003's [Saya no
Uta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saya_no_Uta), another Urobuchi project. In
2004, Urobuchi was invited by Kinoko Nasu to coauthor the Fate/Zero light
novels, which were released in 2006 and 2007 according to [Madoka
Wiki](https://wiki.puella-magi.net/Gen_Urobuchi). In 2011, Urobuchi worked on
the Fate/Zero anime and also became part of Magica Quartet and developed the
story for Puella Magi Madoka Magica. By 2012, Urobuchi was likely a household
name among otaku due to his involvement in these massive hits. His involvement
with Nitroplus probably caused a massive boost in popularity for their work.
Also, the Chaos;Head/Steins;Gate/Robotics;Notes series [began in
2008](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Adventure) with the initial
release of Chaos;Head, and seems to have been fairly popular--it's certainly
had enough manga and anime adaptations that it can't have been a total
failure, though I'm not familiar with the series myself. All of this means
that Nitroplus was just starting to hit the scene in a big way around 2011.
This was the year Urobuchi took off, and also the year that the Steins;Gate
anime came out. (There had previously been a Chaos;Head anime.)

Now, 2011 also seems to be the year that Super Sonico really hit the scene in
a big way. Super Sonico was created by Nitroplus's Tsuji Santa in 2006 for
their annual music festival, Nitro Super Sonico, according to the [Super
Sonico Wiki](http://super-sonico.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Sonico_Wiki) and
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroplus). However, as far as I can
tell, the Super Sonico merchandising rocket really took off starting around
2011. According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Sonico),
2011 marked the release of the first Super Sonico album, _GALAXY ONE_. 2011 is
also the year the majority of Super Sonico singles were released (there was
one single released in 2010, and another song which was introduced at 2010
Summer Comiket but not released as a single until 2011. The rest of her
singles and albums are clustered in 2011 and 2012). The first Super Sonico
manga, Super Sonico SoniKoma, and the Super Sonico visual novel, SoniComi,
also came out in 2011.

The manga and visual novel seem to have been the start of a massive marketing
blitz by Nitroplus to get Super Sonico on as many screens as possible. 2014
saw Super Sonico: The Animation, which likely introduced the character to
Western audiences when it ran on Crunchyroll. There was also a second Super
Sonico game, this time for 3DS, in 2014. Super Sonico made cameo appearances
in [tons of other
games](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Sonico#Appearances_in_other_games)
and is slated to appear in even more.

So the chain of events suggests that Super Sonico became famous at the same
time that Nitroplus did, and that since then, Nitroplus has intentionally put
effort into maintaining her popularity by releasing tie-in merchandise and
getting her cameos in other media. It makes sense from Nitroplus's perspective
to spend money on this: otaku are known to become enamored of mascot-type
characters (the Digi Carat gang, Hatsune Miku, Kantai Collection, Touhou, Miss
Monochrome) and spend money on games, albums, toys, phone cards, pencil
boards, dakimakura covers, and manga spinoffs featuring the characters, so
Super Sonico is a direct revenue source for the company. But as the company's
mascot, Super Sonico also increases Nitroplus's profile in a way that even a
superstar like Urobuchi can't do. She's like Nitroplus's equivalent to the
McDonald's golden arches, or the Disney Mickey Mouse head. Every Super Sonico
dakimakura cover, every Super Sonico doujinshi, every piece of Super Sonico
fanart, is an advertisement for Nitroplus. Every person who stumbles on a
Super Sonico doujinshi without knowing the character, and decides to look into
her origin, is another potential buyer for Nitroplus's products--not just the
Super Sonico products, but also their other products like Saya no Uta and
Chaos;Head. I suspect that her popularity is going to wane soon, now that
she's advertising [train stations and
beer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Sonico#Endorsements). However, for
now, she seems to be an important part of Nitroplus's marketing strategy.

(Now we just need the Super Sonico vs. Miss Monochrome Battle of the Mascots
rhythm game/manga/anime/visual novel, continuing the epic battle between big
boobs and average boobs which has played out across countless anime.)

### Notes

1: The [Madoka wiki article on Urobuchi](https://wiki.puella-
magi.net/Gen_Urobuchi) claims Phantom of Inferno came out in 2001, but
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroplus) and [TV
Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/Nitroplus) agree on 2000
(February 25th, 2000 according to Wikipedia).


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-03T22:32:11.310
23789
2015-08-03T22:32:11.310
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answer