Golden Arches continue to be a source of surprisingly cozy anime shorts.
Every couple of months, anime fans get a fresh batch of treats, with the start of a new Japanese TV season and the accompanying new anime series that make their debut. Recently, though, there’s been another periodic source of beautiful Japanese animation to look forward too: McDonald’s.
Over the past few years, McDonald’s Japan has been using more and more anime artwork in its promotional videos. Last fall it touched viewers’ hearts with a series of cozy scenes of happy but nothing-special everyday life, and then in March it tickled otaku funny bones with a throwback dance for Nyan Cat. Now McDonald’s is going back into heartwarming mode with a new anime video.
Shared through the chain’s official Twitter account with the description “After school with a certain guy, girl, and cat,” the summer-y scene starts with a twintailed school girl sitting on a stoop and sipping a sweet drink in a McCafé cup.
Presented as though she’s filming a selfie, the girl then sets her unseen phone down and the perspective swings around to show the guy and cat promised in the tweet’s text.
In terms of character design, the most eye-catching elements are the teens’ hair colors, with the girl having subtle pink highlights and the guy straight-up pink hair. This isn’t just anime aesthetics at play, as the color is no doubt meant to make you think of peaches, and by association McDonald’s Japan’s new Peach Smoothie and Peach Yogurt Frappe, which the anime pair is drinking (and which we tried for ourselves a few days ago).
McDonald’s also now has peach macarons, and the guy takes one out and teasingly offers it to the girl before pulling it back and chomping down on it himself. He’s not a total jerk, though, as he’s also brought a second one, which he does give to her.
If you’re an otaku culture enthusiast who thinks the music sounds familiar, it’s actually a jazzy piano arrangement of Vocaloid composer n-buna’s “Umiyuri Kaiteitan” (sometimes also known as “Deep Sea Lilies”), performed by pianist Banken.
▼ A separate video of Banken playing “Umiyuri Kaiteitan” with yet another arrangement
▼ The original version of the song, sung by Hatsune Miku
McDonald’s tweet video has already racked up over 3.7 million views, with Japanese commenters reactions including:
“Strong summer vibes.”
“Looks like someone wants to be friends.”
“Whoa, it’s Umiyuri!”
“So happy to see McDonald’s using this song.”
“This art style really feels like a good match for McDonald’s.”
Surprisingly, McDonald’s hasn’t said who the illustrator for the video is, but hopefully that’s because there’s another on the way soon and they’re planning to reveal the artist then.
Source, images: Twitter/@McDonaldsJapan
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