Studio Ghibli sound effects master recreates canned coffee commercial with just his voice 【Video】

We bet you’ve never heard anything quite so “delicious for your ears” as this unique commercial and its accompanying second !

The folks at Asahi Soft Drinks are trying a new marketing tactic of appealing not to your mouth, but to your ears, to make you want to drink their company’s Wonda Kiwami Black canned coffee product. The marketing scheme is part of the company’s Wonda Sound Project campaign, and while it’s an interesting concept for sure, will it actually cause you to crave coffee? Let’s find out below.

As the Japanese text states at the beginning of the commercial, there are no visuals (other than rising steam) to go along with the audio. In fact, the commercial was specifically designed to be enjoyed with your eyes closed and your ears open wide. Make sure your sound is on and get ready to immerse yourself in the experience of a cup of coffee being prepared!

At the end of the clip, the narrator remarks, “This taste moves the heart,” before revealing that the coffee sounds you heard are coming from a fresh brew of Wonda Kiwami Black coffee.

As part of the same Wonda Sound Project, the company also released a second commercial which is almost identical to the original, but with some significant audio differences. The first half of the video below is this recreated second commercial, while the second half explains why the audio is different (this part is meant to be viewed with your eyes open). Can you discern what’s different between the audio in this clip and the audio in the original one you listened to above?

In fact, the sounds in the second commercial were produced not by brewing coffee, but by a human mouth! Specifically, it’s Koji Kasamatsu’s mouth we can thank, a sound effects master who has even lent his sound engineering talents to Studio Ghibli films such as Ponyo, The Secret World of Arrietty, and The Wind Rises. His effects are often said to be even more realistic than the sounds they portray, and we think he did a pretty darn good job sounding like a liquid.

Now, please excuse us while we go practice our best coffee imitation a dozen times in front of the bathroom mirror.

Source: Nijippoi Keyword
Top image: YouTube/WONDA Kiwami Oto no Himitsu