The wacky world of bugs is commemorated with a copper round celebrating the South Korean animated TV series, ‘Larva’

The animated TV show, ‘Larva’ debuted in 2011 in South Korea, and was an immediate hit. It tells of the misadventures of a pair of larvae, ‘Yellow’, a dimwitted, but ultimately happy caterpillar, and ‘Red’, also a caterpillar, but more of a jerk. There’s a huge pantheon of other characters, mostly named by their colour, encompassing snails, slugs, bugs, and a dung beetle with bad breath. It’s aimed more at adults.

To date, there have been over 330 episodes, usually running between 2–7 minutes in length, and spread over six seasons. It’s still in production, and a film is apparently upcoming. The lack of speech makes it, like Mr. Bean, easily to show around the world, and over 40 countries have done so, no doubt aided by being picked up by Netflix in 2018. Honestly, it’s all quite anarchic, and a lot of fun for animation fans, so check out the video below to get a taster of it.

This release, by Coin Commander, is something a little different for us. It’s a copper round, struck in fifty grams of the metal, so carries no denomination, but as we’ve expanded to cover a few cast and minted bars, and some silver rounds, I thought ‘why not?’, and here we are. Besides, this thing oozes charm, and the 199 mintage is particularly compelling given the popularity of the franchise it’s based on.

The obverse features the anarchic pair over a child-like, brightly coloured map of the world (they get around quite a bit!). Around them are three jigsaw pieces, inscribed with ’15th Anniversary’, ‘2026’, and ‘Larva’, leaving little doubt as to the focus of the round. Colouration is extensive right down to the rim, which seems particularly apt given the style of the show.

The reverse depicts the pair in front of a clapperboard, and we love the ’15 Years of Chaotic Joy’ inscribed around the top. Yellow’s face has been embellished with some UV glow-in-the-dark snot. Again, this is brightly coloured, and while these are renders, it does look as if some impressive high-relief will be employed on this face, and the obverse. It comes boxed, with a fully themed Certificate of Authenticity.

The whole thing is a terrific homage to a series I hadn’t heard of before, but I’m glad I do now (yes, I’m a big kid…). With South Korean TV reaching new heights of popularity around the world, it’s also quite a timely release, and one that shouldn’t break the bank to get hold of. We’ll keep an eye on these, and spread our net just a little wider when it comes to future coverage of interesting copper releases like this. It should be available soon, and we’ll update on dealers stocking it shortly.