NTT Communications Corp. said Wednesday it will start a new Web chat service in which animated characters augment written messages.
Users of the new Palapla service, to start Aug. 1, will choose one of 10 animated characters to represent themselves on each others' monitors. Five of the characters will be male and five female.
Characters gesture according to the users' wishes, enhancing written messages, the company said.
With the click of a mouse, users can have their characters walk, smile, weep, nod or even kiss a chat partner's character, it said.
Text entered by users appears inside dialogue balloons near the characters.
The characters' clothes and hairstyles can be changed.
Subscribers to NTT Communications' OCN Internet connection services will be able to use the service free of charge. Subscribers to other Internet services will be charged 300 yen per month.