Have You Seen This Naked Baby?
By: Laura Stevenson
The flimsy white printer paper taped to the display window of Kinokuniya Bookstore read in bold “SOLD OUT! NO SCHEDULED RESTOCK.”
An array of Sonny Angel baby dolls sat behind the glass. Standing at three inches tall, each Sonny Angel rested in its respective compartment in the display. The case stretched 16 babies across and 7 babies down, facing outwards and showing off their little penises and colorful animal themed headgear. The babies in the display window were not for sale.
Kinokuniya, located in San Francisco’s Japantown shopping center sells other merchandise besides Japanese made Sonny Angels: stationary, many rows of manga, magazines, Japanese books and American bestsellers. In the store entrance, a sign that reads “NO DRINKS ALLOWED” with a giant red X crossing out a picture of cups hangs over a white folding table littered with half finished boba teas and matcha lattes. Tucked away, close to the checkout register is the toy and blind box area where Sonny Angels for sale used to live on the top shelf. They had been replaced by plush toys and other types of blind boxes.
“Excuse me!” I turn to see a girl, who looks no older than 18, talking to the older woman behind the checkout counter. The girl had two Sonny Angels, one in a pink hippo hat and one in a blue mouse hat, in a clear carrying case swinging from her tote bag. “Do you have any Sonny Angels in stock?”
The woman at the register unenthusiastically pointed at a sign hanging on the wall behind her. “No scheduled restock,” she said. “We’ve been sold out for two months now.”
I imagine the register woman has been asked about those little babies everyday since Kinokuniya started selling Sonnys. These small baby dolls are sold in over 33 countries. Anya Osundwa, a first year at the University of San Francisco, said that she went to Berkeley with friends for a Sonny Angel trading event they found through social media. She has only been in San Francisco since August and managed to figure out the BART for the sake of the Sonny swap meet. Why have these dolls become so popular?
According to the blog Lovely Little House, the first Sonny Angel introduced in March 2005 was a seven-inch doll, inspired by the American cartoon character “Kewpie” doll, which was created in 1909. Japanese CEO and toy designer, Toru Soeya, created the doll and gave it his nickname “Sonny”. The doll evolved into a mini three inch figurine.
Part of the attraction of Sonny Angels is that you don’t know what you’re getting until you open the box. The dolls are sold in blind box packaging–fully disguised boxes that don’t reveal the type of figure until the consumer opens it. Each regular Sonny arrives in his birthday suit with tiny white angel wings, a smile and colorful headgear.
There are over 650 kinds of this angel baby boy in existence according to the Sonny Angel official website. Sonny Angel Mini Figures come in series featuring sets of 12 dolls. The series have included animals, vegetables, and flowers; figures arrive wearing hats corresponding to the series.
A collection of special edition Sonny Angels such as the Birthday, Carnival, and Cherry Blossom series.
In addition, the franchise has released limited edition babies. Some of these special edition babies get to wear painted-on clothes! Dreams, Soeya’s company, released the “Gifts of Love Series” on January 18, 2024 as a special edition Valentine’s themed collection. The figures come in a pastel palette with generous touches of red and pink and features animal headgear including bunnies, puppies, and bears. These Sonny Angels are wearing cute brown, yellow, red, or pink t-shirts but their tushies are still out. One of these figures costs roughly $19, in comparison to the regular babies priced at $12.
Why even create the little white baby in the first place? According to interviews Toru Soeya gave in Japan, the original purpose of the Sonny Angel was to provide “comfort and support” to 25-year-old working women. He said that his goal was to create a product “that will be loved for a long time” and “that heals just by looking at it.”
Tori Verceles, a 22-year-old woman that recently graduated from USF, is a huge Sonny Angel fan that brings her babies with her everywhere. Tori said she always has at least one baby in her bag at all times. “They’re just so cute and they motivate me to do my work,” she said.
Sonny Angel lovers prop them on shelves, attach them to their keys, carry them on their bags, and even take pictures of them in various locations like the airport. Anya has a baby with an apple hat attached to her laptop and one with a koala hat on her phone. The “Hippers” collection features animal and vegetable series Sonnys with adhesive on their stomachs so the owner can attach them to surfaces like desks and laptops. She said they’re an interesting conversation starter. I asked Anya if she had any more Sonnys and she said she has about six on her desk at home.
There is something about the unseriousness of carrying around these little white babies that makes the toy attractive and fun for grown women. In America, toys are usually associated with kids, but having this cute little character originally meant for women taps into their inner child. “They’re like a little friend,” Tori said.
In Japan, there is a culture dedicated to the appeal of cuteness called kawaii. Kawaii culture draws on childlike, charming, and playful elements and qualities. Kawaii, which translates to “cute” directly in English, represents an aesthetic that transcends international borders. Kawaii can be seen in fashion, TV shows, toys, food and more. Famous Kawaii characters including Hello Kitty and Rilakkuma are plastered on lots of Japanese stationery. According to My Modern Met, Kawaii characters typically have simple designs, big heads, small noses, and compact bodies. Soeya birthed a toy that aligns with Japanese kawaii culture and drew inspiration from an American cartoon doll.
The side of Sonny packaging has a list of the 12 possible babies that could be inside. You have in mind the ones you want or you’ve already ranked them from most to least wanted. Whether the baby you dreamed of was inside the box or not, it’s yours now. Kinokuniya Bookstore, iFun, and Amiko Boutique are the three Sonny Angel hotspots in Japantown. If one store is sold out, Sonny lovers hop to the next. If they didn’t unbox the baby they wanted, they move on to another store with hopes of having better luck. The cycle repeats itself and you’ll have five new cute babies to bring home and $70 gone. Tori mentioned a toy store called Woot Bear located on Haight Street being their favorite place to buy Sonnys. Tori said she always gets good pulls from there.
Sonny Angel collectors have started communities both on and offline. In September 2023, #sonnyangel amassed over 95 million views on TikTok. On the hashtag, there’s all kinds of videos: people unboxing their Sonny purchases, crocheting clothes for the babies, going out to eat with them, and even advertisements for trading events. As of February 2024, it has grown to 804.8 million views. On Instagram, #sonnyangelwtt, which stands for “Sonny Angel willing to trade” has over 1,000 posts and #sonnyangel currently has 511K posts. The “Sonny Angels Swap Group” is a public group on Facebook that currently has 15.2K members. Online marketplaces like eBay, Mercari, and Depop have also become central hubs for Sonny Angel collectors and resellers. In these groups and hashtags, collectors post staged photos of their babies outside on a picnic or joining them out to eat at a restaurant. They also post when they’re interested in trading.
Collectors organize their own in-person meet ups to trade Sonny Angels batches at a time. The people at these events sometimes sell Sonnys in order to afford buying newer babies. Sonny lovers at these events make new friends from sharing their experiences at other trading meets and their interest in the figures. Anya said last semester she went to an on-campus trading event in Gleeson Plaza too. “Sonnys are building community in a weird way, especially for women who are dominantly collecting them. It’s just girlhood.”
Soeya created an emotional support baby doll nearly 19 years ago and it still has a grip on grown folk today. I'm even a victim of the cuteness. I have a pink strawberry headed baby in a white t-shirt hanging on my keys and I take it everywhere. Maybe I carry it for the little girl inside of us who used to love playing with dolls or because I’m susceptible to a bandwagon mentality or maybe simply because I find it silly and cute.
