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Gundam Characters Hawk Instant Noodles in Japan
posted on by Egan Loo
Nissin, the Japanese ramen maker that is famous worldwide for the Cup Noodles brand, has posted two commercials in which characters of the classic Mobile Suit Gundam robot anime profess their love for Nissin's Donbei instant noodles. The "Mieru" commercial (in low, middle, or high quality) recreates the final scenes of the first Gundam story with the main character Amuro. However, the commercial has Amuro, starved into delirium after the long battle, crying for joy upon seeing a floating bowl of instant noodles.
In the "Eat up, my countrymen" commercial (in low, middle, or high quality), the enemy Zeon leader Gihren Zabi gives his "Sieg Zeon" propaganda speech that has been memorized by Gundam fans worldwide. However, instead of saying, "Sieg Zeon," he now says, "Juicy Udon!" Another line spoofs how the sound of fried tempura (saku-saku) sounds like the Zeons' main grunt robot, the Zaku. Tohru Furuya and Banjō Ginga reprised their roles of Amuro and Gihren, respectively, with the rewritten lines in the commercials.
The Donbei Gundam commercials started airing in Japan this month, but Nissin has used pop culture to hawk its noodles for years. It is marking its 35th anniversary by sponsoring the Freedom science-fiction anime series with character designer Katsuhiro Ōtomo (Akira, Memories) and theme song singer Hikaru Utada (Evangelion:1.0, Hana Yori Dango 2 [Returns]). It also ran a series of commercials that has Masahiro Nakai, the leader of the pop idol group SMAP, interacting with Freedom's main lead Takeru or taking over Nissin as its new president.
Source: Nikkei Trendy Net
