It was a little over a year ago when Kiyoyuki Amano from Omoshiro Houjin Kayac (a multifaceted company that creates games, apps, restaurants, businesses and tackles at Japan’s ultra weird side) came up with the Zettai Ryouiki Kakuchou Project (Project Spread the Zettai Ryouiki) “Hikaru Skirt” that did exactly what the name addressed (hello to “glowing” skirts). Looking very Harajuku kawaii what with the poofed up figure, the skirt could be well-enjoyed on its own without the lights being lit ― but the fun begins once those LED bulbs hidden under the huffs and puffs of this crowd-funded skirt get turned on to play (for those who are curious, the skirt weighs down to 300g, aka you can handle that for the cuteness that comes with it). What are the lights supposed to light up, you may ask? The space none other than that between a girl’s skirt and knee high socks, that goes under the term, zettai ryouiki (translates to “absolute territory” but you should know that already).

There it is!

Photo credits: http://fukunono22.tumblr.com/

“The mystical zone” as Amano calls it on the Hikaru Skirt tumblr page, the introduction follows like so: “I am in the light. I live inside the light. I live before the light.”

While this item was fascinating upon its arrival, with a limited 32 skirts ready to be shipped from the factory of theirs, it went out of stock before we knew it — which means it was time for Zettai Ryouiki master Kiyoyuki Amano to come up with something new. So here we are with the Zettai Ryouiki Kakuchou Project part 2: “The Arm Skirt”!

BUT WAIT, LET’S TRACE BACK TO HOW IT ALL STARTED.

Thanks to the term zettai ryouiki being coined, that’s all you have to type into the search bar now to find girls teasing you with that “mystic” zone of theirs. The word, zettai, according to goo dictionary points at something that has nothing in comparison to, as well as something that is uninhibited. While ryouiki means area.

But until 1995 the combination of these two words never existed ― at least not until Evangelion came along. The legendary hit anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion” was the first to make use of this term, though as a translation for what they claimed as the A.T. field (Absolute Terror Field), the orange, octagon-shaped force barrier generated by the Angels and Evangelions. This word has a much darker tone to it than that peep of skin, considering that the A.T. field, in a psychological sense, is a defense mechanism or an emotional wall that is the single most powerful thing that resides in every living being to help protect you from others. That deep and heavy term then evolved from Eva’s “zettai KYOUFU ryouiki” to the word we’ve become familiar with: “zettai ryouiki”. (With that said, we can safely conclude that these two have little in common in terms of how it is interpreted)

It was first used on a blog by MIY who created the ghost SERIKO where he wrote:

“I’ve said this repeatedly in the past, but that zone between a mini skirt and knee high socks is heaven. Should I call it the God’s zettai ryouiki? *LOL*”

It then spread explosively amongst the otaku community (otaku: people who have obsessive interests, typically over anime/manga), and in 2011, Aichi-born photographer Yuki Aoyama published a photo book entitled “Zettai Ryouiki,” and you can guess what sort pictures were made available there. He was also the one who introduced us to the golden ratio of the Zettai Ryouiki which is 4:1:2.5 (length of mini skirt, Zettai Ryouiki, the the specific length of your knee-high socks that are above your knees) so all of you can use that for future reference! And now we catch up to 2016 ― where Kiyoyuki Amano has released his long-anticipated follow-up to the “Hikaru Skirt”: the “Arm Skirt”!

What is an Arm Skirt?

Made in collaboration with Amauchi industries and bloomakeLab, the robotic-functioning skirt was invented in hopes of “aiding the life of girls.” And it sure does — the arm skirt is simply an arm that is attached to a skirt (don’t you love it when names are so simple and to the point?), and will take place of your own arm, acting accordingly to its preprogrammed movements which you can take control with its remote. You’d be quite surprised to see how smooth its movements are.

Couple of things it can do.

1. It will pick up your pet bottle at times of thirst:

2. Or your phone when you want to send off a message to that special someone:

3. Or hold your book for you as you read because you’re a book worm as stated in your IG profile line:

Contrary to the Hikaru Skirt, the Arm Skirt is not available to the public unless you were a member of Akihabara born 6-piece idol unit Mousou Callibration who got to wear it for their “Chichinpuipui” music video. We must say the arm has blended in well with the pastel-colored, fairy-tale world they’ve got going on with the “arms” gripping anything from lollipops to wands, and even swiftly participating in a game of ping pong while the girl pays no attention to where the ball is landing.

Now with four arms dangling from your body, (or three, considering one will have to control the remote) multitasking has gone next level with this new item — but since this one isn’t out for public release, we’ll be on the edge of our chairs (note: with two arms, like a regular person) waiting for the next “zettai ryouiki” item to light up our worlds.