#count downs

Thanksgiving: 64 days

A Sky Beyond the Storm: 69 days

Acosf: 146 days

Animated commercials are common place, and so are anime commercials (at least in Japan). Anime commercials are produced by studios small and large from to Studio Ghibli to Studio Colorida. Not to mention all the commercials advertising individual anime themselves and the cross promotional campaigns spun off of them with Evangelion probably having the weirdest. Some of these commercials are actually rather impressive or entertaining. So here are my favorite anime that are actually advertisements.

5. Toshokan Rocket (Library Rocket)

This cute animation from 2013 about little birds in a corgi-shaped spaceship is set to a song about the wonders of discovering history and learning through books. It’s presumably meant to promote literacy and library visitation in Japan, but I think it’s pretty entertaining too.

4. Bear Control [Wonder Garden]

This short (which I didn’t actually realize was a commercial until I did some research) is how I first heard of Studio Colorida. They make interesting anime shorts and commercials with significant talent behind them. Despite the popularity of their McDonalds recruitment commercial, this Bear Control promo directed by former Ghibli animator, Yojiro Arai, is my favorite of their works.

3. Internet Explorer

This video was produced by Microsoft’s Singapore branch in celebration of Anime Festival Asia 2013 (one of the largest anime conventions in the world ranked just above Anime Expo). Microsoft has a long line of cute anime girl mascots used to personify and promote their products. Windows 10 is the most recent addition. (But fans have come up with a more accurate personification of the software)

2. Superflat Monogram

In 2002 Takashi Murakami, one of Japan’s most famous contemporary artists, collaborated with fashion brand Louis Vuitton to design a line of handbags. This animated short was created as part of the promotional campaign for the new bags and premiered in 2003. Murakami collaborated with director Mamoru Hosoda on the short and the result is conceptually and visually similar to Hosoda’s later work Summer Wars. The short then received a sequel in 2009, this time solely directed by Murakami, called Superflat First Love and features a teenage version Louis Vuitton himself.

1. 6♥Princess

You’re likely already familiar with the concept of a fan made anime music video. But there are also official music videos that take clips from anime and set it to a song from the shows soundtrack in a similar fashion to their fan made counterparts. From old classics like the 80s Creamy Mami to modern shows like Space Dandy, this is a very common practice in not just anime, but other mediums as well since it’s a good promotional tool. 

But what about music videos that don’t recycle clips but instead create brand new animation? These do exist in fandom. The most famous obviously being Daicon IV, but there are other examples of copyright infringement or character homage (depending on how much you like it) particularly in the rap industry. A more recent example of this would be branUn Deshay’s Had Em All.

But then there’s also new animation created to officially accompany an anime’s soundtrack (that isn’t meant to be interspersed with recycled footage).  Things like the music videos spun off of the anime Gurren Lagann, or the anime Mekaku City Actors spun off of music videos. 

So with so many types of anime music videos, I’ve narrowed things down to a list of five official music videos that used new animation to accompany songs not created for the purpose of an anime soundtrack or franchise promotion.

5. Takashi Murakami’s It Girl

Pharrel Williams collaborated with contemporary artist Takashi Murakami to create a hip-hop, superflat, epileptic, anime and video game montage for the song It Girl in 2014.

4. Daoko’s Girl

Not to be confused with the previous entry on the list, this music video was a part of the Animator Expo in 2015. The animation is simply titled Girl but the song is titled Samishii Kamisama (Lonely Deity) and is by J-pop artist Daoko.

3. Gundam’s White Reflection

For electro pop duo TWO-MIX, their sound was perfect for the Gundam Wing soundtrack and the growing interest in 90s techno among anime fans. (TWO-MIX’s music has also been featured in the anime Detective Conan.) So for their 1997 song White Reflection, the music video took the form of an animated short film, but the feature was unrelated to the mega-franchises anime fans knew them for.

2. Miyazaki’s On Your Mark

Miyazaki wrote and directed a music video for the Japanese band Chage & Aska in 1995 for their song On Your Mark to help his writer’s block during Princess Mononoke. This was the first time Miyazaki used CG in one of his works.

1. Leiji Matsumoto’s Bohemian Rhapsody

Back in 2009 Queen collaborated with Leiji Matsumoto to create a story set to their signature song. The result is a music video that’s more like a short film. This wasn’t the first time Matsumoto made visuals for a western band. In 2003, he collaborated with Daft Punk to create the film Interstella 5555, a film based on the band’s album Discovery. Both projects have a very similar feel.

Related Posts:

I get asked for anime recommendations all the time and I’m always surprised by how many people haven’t seen what I think of as classics. So if you by chance haven’t seen any of these yet then check them out.

Movies:

1. Ghost in the Shell via Hulu

2. The Castle of Cagliostro via Hulu

3. Tokyo Godfathers via Crackle

4. Millennium Actress via Youtube

TV Shows:

5. Cowboy Bebop via Hulu (or funimation)

6. Princess Tutu via Hulu (or the anime network)

7. Samurai Champloo via Hulu (or funimation)

8. Michiko and Hatchin via Hulu (or funimation)

9. Ouran High School Host Club via Hulu (or funimation or Netflix at the time of this post)

10. Kino’s Journey via Hulu

11. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad via Hulu (or funimation)

12. Revolutionary Girl Utena via Hulu

13. Gurren Lagann via Hulu (or crunchyroll or netflix at the time of this post)

14. Shirobako via Hulu (or crunchyroll or the anime network)

15. Mushishi via Hulu (or crunchyroll)

16. Trigun via Hulu (or funimation)

17. Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water via Hulu (or the anime network)

18. Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day via Crunchyroll

19. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo via Hulu (or funimation or crunchyroll)

20. Taisho Baseball Girls via Hulu (or the anime network)

21. FLCL via Hulu (or funimation)

Bonus Shorts:

The Daicon Animaton

On Your Mark

So i gotta say, the new management is getting a little comfortable with the her employees.. i like how she takes action! And that she has my back on some things.

I woke up with an addiction of buying these new stamps! Omg if i had all the money in the world not only would i help third world countries and the needs here in the US, i would shop for life!

We’ll see, i ordered my charming’s bday gift.. and it back ordered… booooh 👎