Not all cute things are necessarily cheerful and innocent. If you have seen animations like ‘Happy Tree Friends’, you’ll understand.
A mother took to social media to share a rather morbid discovery when she bought some capybara items from Japanese retail store Ninso for her young son. In case you’re wondering, a capybara is the largest living rodent species native to South America.
TikTok user Eryn Azreen uploaded a photo of a water bottle she recently bought for her son. At first glance, it looked like a cute capybara-themed item for children.
However, upon closer inspection, the water bottle harboured a dark secret:
The menacing print of a capybara holding a knife to a smaller capybara’s throat is definitely not something that should be on a children’s product.
“I didn’t notice it when I bought it. I don’t understand why this picture is needed. Print a picture of a capybara sleeping or eating rice, right?” Eryn wrote in her TikTok post caption.
Netizens concerned over sinister print
Many netizens who commented on the post expressed their concern over the seemingly violent print, saying it’s not suitable for children who might try to imitate the act of holding a knife to another’s throat.
Capybara with knife origin story?
While there are no official records on the origin of the knife-wielding capybara, there seems to be a rising trend with the animal lately. The closest related image that could be found is from within meme generator website imgflip.com, which looks like this:
A student from Hong Kong shared on Youngpost, South China Morning Post’s youth portal, that the rising interest in these adorable animals is attributed to escalating stress levels.
The emergence of the “lying flat” culture, which refers to doing the bare minimum to get by in life, is closely associated to the capybara, which are laid-back and leisurely in nature.
This trending culture encourages rest, relaxation, and inner tranquility in the face of overwheling demands. In all honesty, that sounds like a much more acceptable capybara trend to follow, rather than the one tackling life’s hardships with a knife.
With all that said, perhaps the bottle from Ninso was not meant for children, though adults can enjoy cute capybara prints too, and there’s no reason cute things with adult elements (within reason) shouldn’t exist.