Habanero-tan (ハバネロたん) is the unofficial mascot of Bōkun Habanero, the habanero pepper-flavored snacks produced by Tohato. Habanero-tan and her companions with names like "Jalapeño-san" are the personification of spices as cute young girls. They were created by several Japanese amateur artists, and of them, Shigatake, the creator of the character Habanero-tan, drew a series of yonkoma manga featuring the lives of these girls. Shigatake later became the graphics designer for the Vanillaware games Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire.
Habanero-tan's popularity has led to various renditions (some of them risque) by other Japanese artists, and even appearances on the OVA Netrun-mon. There is also a dojin game called Habanero-tan House which incorporates many of the things seen in Shigatake's comics. The game's creator, Ashinaga Oji-san, later worked with Shigatake and Vanillaware to develop a similar game called Kumatanchi for the Nintendo DS.