he New York Times newspaper's Arts Beat blog reported on Thursday that Kakikai and Kiki, the mascot characters of modern artist Takashi Murakami's studio, will be joining the balloon floats in Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in New York City this year. Kaikai, a childlike character in a rabbit costume, and Kiki, a companion with three eyes and sharp fangs, will be about 40 feet long (about 12 meters long) and three stories tall when they are filled with helium. The 84th annual parade will run on November 25.

According to The New York Times, Murakami and his Tokyo-based team traded notes on two-dimensional sketches that were used to create clay models. The models were further refined and colored before the fabrication of the balloons was underway.

This is not the first time that anime icons have appeared in the parade. The Mach 5 car from the Speed Racer series also rode through the parade last year. The car joined the giant balloons of Pikachu with a Pokeball from Pokémon and Sanrio's "Super Cute Hello Kitty."

Murakami created several "Kaikai & Kiki" anime shorts in the past. Earlier this month, 4,387 people protested against Murakami's works appearing in the Chateau of Versailles, the apartments that once housed the kings and queens of France, later this year. Murakami revealed on his Twitter account that he has been making a new anime called "Six Hearts Princess" for the Versailles exhibition.

Update: The Slamxhype website posted a video of Murakami's team of artists working on the Versailles exhibit at their studio.

Update 2: Slamxhype's video originated from Le Figaro. Thanks, Denys.