‘He’s tiny, dumpy and funny – so his BMX tricks are hilarious’: Tanuki: Pon’s Summer, an adorable slice-of-life adventure

“Even Japanese people ask why it’s a tanuki,” jokes Liam Edwards, a game designer at Denkiworks. In Tanuki: Pon’s Summer, you play as an adorable but irresponsible critter named Pon, who’s bled the coffers of the local shrine – his home – dry by buying video games and snack food instead of preparing for its semicentennial matsuri. View image in fullscreen ‘Pon is the vessel through which everything can exist’ … Tanuki: Pon’s Summer. At the core of Tanuki: Pon’s Summer is the BMXing, with Edwards citing the likes of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, SSX and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk as inspiration. “And because he’s tiny, dumpy and he’s funny, the juxtaposition of him doing BMX tricks is just hilarious.”