Sumikkogurashi debuted in 2012 as slightly negative characters who like to stay in the corner of a room. The characters include "Shirokuma", a polar bear who is sensitive to cold, "Penguin?" (with a question mark in its name), a penguin who is unsure if it is actually a penguin, "Tonkatsu", a piece of pork cutlet that was left uneaten, "Neko", a shy cat, and "Tokage", who hides his nature as one of the last dinosaurs.  The franchise has inspired toys, books, stationery material, video games—and now a feature film.

Sumikko Gurashi: The Pop-up Book and the Secret Child

The story begins with the emergence of the first high-tech molcar in Molcity, with drivers beginning to ride state-of-the-art AI-driven Molcars. Potato and friends get involved in a chase between a mysterious organization and a Molcar AI named Cannon, and are saved by a talented driver. Potato finds out that the driver is in search of his missing Molcar, and gets the idea to use Cannon's AI functionality to help with the search.