How Does Mercedes Benz Promote Cars In Japan? Why With Anime, That’s How.

To help launch the A-Class in Japan, Mercedes Benz is releasing an animated short in which the car chases after a noodle truck.

One of the country’s biggest studios, Production I. G, carries out the animation duties, while Yoshiyuki Sadamoto of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame does the character designs. Miyuki Sawashiro lends her vocal talents to the project.

The vast majority of Mercedes Benz ads in Japan aren’t anime like this and certainly don’t seem to be region specific. Instead, they appear to be fairly conservative, recycled commercials from either the U.S. or Europe, but with Japanese voiceovers and text.

However, Mercedes Benz seems to think it can aim the small, fairly reasonably priced A-Class at younger Japanese; hence, a splashier ad campaign. Check out the car’s < ahref=”https://next-a-class.com/animation/index.html”>Japanese site. It’s an assault on the senses.

The visuals and voice acting are top notch; however, the guitar music is truly awful.

スタッフに貞本義行、Production I.G！ メルセデス・ベンツのアニメーションプロジェクト『N­EXT A-Class』が攻殻感ぱない [Kotaku Japan]