Japanese Netizens Have Fun Impersonating Line’s Cartoony Characters [PICS]

Japan-made social messaging app Line sees about 70 percent of users outside of Japan, which is a good rate of global expansion. But the most love for the app resides in its home nation. Going viral usually helps something like this to grow, and keen users in Japan are living up to their fan status by emulating the app’s cartoony characters. The real-world impersonations aren’t too flattering – actually, two of them are plain terrifying – but it’s all good free publicity for the app.

The parodies of Line’s characters are making the rounds on Sina Weibo right now (see the compilation below). The cartoon-ish cast of Moon, James, Brown, and Cony are featured as huge emoticons in the social app, and are popping up in Line TV cartoons and in merchandise too. But the Japanese impressions focus on Moon and James, who seem to be the most fun to copy. Check them out:

(Source: @史上第一最最搞 on Weibo)