Some of our readers will recall the talented Japanese paper puppet creator and character designer Wasu from our article in 2020.

Blessed with a remarkable gift of being able to not only create adorable character designs and turn them into paper puppets with multiple moving parts but also breathe life into them with his masterful puppeteering, Wasu continues to gain fans and followers from around the world. It's clear that this artist knows just which body parts to animate not only to create the illusion of a living, feeling character, but also just how to animate that character in the most adorable way imaginable.

One of the aspects of Wasu's puppets which, according to comments, often fool viewers into thinking they're watching animation, is that his puppets are often capable of complex facial movements. Some puppets can not only open and close their mouths to create the illusion that they are talking or singing, but also look left and right, and open and close their eyelids, sometimes independently.

Some of his videos on his YouTube channel have millions of views.

Since the last time we featured him, it seems that Wasu has expanded the range of movements of his puppets. For example, some of his more recent puppets are capable of spinning or twirling objects they hold, such as a magic wand, a gun, or an umbrella. Others can even shoot arrows. He has also featured dolls interacting with objects, like plugging in a smartphone cable.

With the artist's permission, we've chosen some of our favorites from 2021:

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Some of Wasu's paper puppets are sometimes available as Pepako kits. Follow his social media accounts to find out when they'll go on sale.

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You can also play a game on your smartphone featuring Wasu's adorable character designs called 着せ替えゲーム『ぷちっ子デイズ”ゆるふわ”』(Dress-up game: "Pucchiko Days 'Yuru Fuwa'"). The game is available for iOS and Android.

Wasu even made a puppet of one of the characters in the game!

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You can buy Pepako puppet kits (when available), as well as goods such as acrylic stands and keychains on his Booth store here.

To see more of his amazing and adorable creations, follow Wasu on Twitter and Instagram and subscribe to his YouTube channel. You can also visit his official website here to learn about the growing number of commissions he has done for clients like Sega, Square Enix, SNK and music artist Porter Robinson.