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Gunma, Tochigi Cities Plan 4 Anime Commercials for 2019
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Gunma Prefecture's Kiryū city and Tochigi prefecture's Ashikaga city are working together on tourism initiatives, including four 30-second anime commercials targeting Asian tourists. Voice actress and Gunma native Aya Uchida has signed on as Gunma Prefecture's sight-seeing representative and will voice characters in the commercials. Pony Canyon is helping with the campaign as well and the musical group Jazztronik is also collaborating on the project.
The commercials are scheduled to debut in mid-March. MoCa News included the two images embedded below with its article, but did not elaborate on how the images are related to the upcoming commercials.
The city of Kiryū previously collaborated with graphic design company Fantasista and Dai Nippon Printing to create the tourist manga Shokunin Minarai wa Kiryū no Mitama to Kurasu (The Silk Weaver's Apprentice and the Kiryu Spirit) on the Manga Planet website in April. The story is written by Yasunori Kasuga and illustrated by Ariko. The supernatural comedy is available to read in Japanese and English. Manga Planet describes the story:
In this heartfelt comedy, Princess Shirataki, the spirit of the Kiryu traditional weaving art, takes the form of a young girl and appears suddenly before an apprentice of the Kiryu tradition and his childhood friend, a girl going to Tokyo College of Art. These three live together, learn the seven techniques of the Kiryu art and discover how to use it in modern day fashion.
Saga prefecture was previously the subject of four anime shorts last year and Gifu's city of Ōgaki's nine-minute promotional anime debuted in April. Gunma itself was the setting of You Don't Know Gunma Yet, the television anime shorts based on Hiroto Ida's Omae wa Mada Gunma o Shiranai manga. The city of Annaka, Gunma used the anime as a jumping off point for its own tourism.
Source: MoCa News, Pony Canyon, Kiryū City home page, Manga Planet
