McDonald’s Japan continues to be a reliable source for tasty burgers and heartwarming anime art.

On Wednesday, this year’s batch of tsukimi/moon-viewing burgers went on sale at McDonald’s Japan. That in itself is cause for celebration, as the fried egg-topped hamburgers are some of the tastiest seasonal sandwiches around, but even for those who haven’t been able to make a tsukimi burger run yet there’s still something to be happy about, as McDonald’s is providing some emotional nourishment too through the latest entry in its growing library of heartwarming anime/manga art videos.

The video opens with a couple of schoolkids sitting in a park pavilion under an autumn night sky, with a nearby telescope suggesting they’ve been peering up at the stars and moon. They’re taking a break, though, to dig into some tsukimi burgers.

Set to J-pop vocalist Ayaka’s “Mikazuki” (“Crescent Moon”), the scene is full of the cozy, comforting vibes that McDonald’s Japan’s anime videos have become known for, but there’s a special twist this time around. “Please watch until the end,” says McDonald’s in its tweet, and soon a pair of fingers come into frame, zooming in the image all the way into one of the tiny windows in one of the background buildings…

…where there’s a young lady taking a quick tsukimi break from her study session, looking up at the moon while snacking on one of McDonald’s new Kinako Mochi and Anko Tsukimi Pies.

Pretty cook trick, right? But it’s not over yet. Zooming in on the smartphone she’s set down on her desk reveals…

…a family of four, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder while taking in the view of the moon from a McDonald’s branch. Even this isn’t the video’s last surprise, as there’s more to see when we take a closer look at the hill on the far side of the restaurant, followed by yet another zoom-in that reveals Princess Kaguya, the lunar-linked folklore figure who’s starring in her own McDonald’s ad these days, before we get to the video’s final surprise that takes us right back to where we started.

In addition to McDonald’s food and drink, you’ll also notice quite a few rabbits in the video, referencing Japanese folktales about rabbits living on the moon and making mochi rice cakes there.

▼ The video’s beautiful artwork was created by illustrator Fumi Futamori (@fumi_futamori on Twitter)

Like most of McDonald’s Japan’s previous anime videos, there’s a pretty clear understanding that some fast food burgers and sweets aren’t, in and of themselves, anything of profound significance. At the same time, it’s a poignant reminder that taking a moment to hit pause on the busy modern lifestyle and do something as simple as look up at the moon, either to share a moment with someone important to you or just to recognize that you’ve been working hard and deserve to treat yourself to a little break, has its own special, and meaningful, beauty.

Source, images: Twitter/@McDonaldsJapan
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s always down to go look at the moon.