Japanese Company Creates Epic, Hand-Drawn Anime Commercial to Get Popular – And It Worked

Kyoei Forging Works, a company based in Sanjo, Niigata Prefecture, Japan that makes engine parts, agricultural equipment parts, and conveyor belts, made the anime commercial post on YouTube where it shows a transforming robot – commonly referred to as a mecha – fighting off villainous ships, according to SoraNews24.

Upon contact, the black and red villain ship continued to fire missiles indiscriminately towards the protagonist.

During the fight, the hero suddenly transforms the ship into a badass female robot.

Our hero eventually defeated the smaller ship after transforming into a large robot.

The fight doesn’t end there just yet, though, as the hero now shifts its focus on the mothership of the invading villains.

The 50-second long clip ended with the giant mecha standing in front of a hangar  with the whole crew cheering for victory as they tend to the robot.

Animator Yoshihiro Kanno, who previously worked on “Hunter X Hunter” and directed “Sword Art Online Aliasing,” was tapped by the company to oversee all aspects of the anime including the robot design and the animation.

While the fast-paced action was no doubt amazing, what made this anime commercial jaw-dropping was the fact that this could very well be the last “cel animation” for this era. Cel animation is a type of animation technique where everything is made using hand-drawn material.

As said in the report, the last instance that cel animation was aired on television was back in Sept. 29, 2013 for an episode of “Sazae-san,” one of Japan’s longest-running  anime programs.

If no other artists or company produce another piece with cel animation, Kyoei’s commercial will certainly go down the history of anime as the last to ever showcased cel animation on television when Heisei era, which will likely end in April 2019.

Images via YouTube / 株式会社共栄鍛工所