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Studio Ghibli Creates 1st New LAWSON Commercial in a Decade
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Studio Ghibli produced a 15-second animated commercial for the LAWSON convenience store chain, which was released on January 1. Ghibli has been producing animated commercials for LAWSON since 2001, but LAWSON announced that this was the first Ghibli ad in roughly a decade. The ad shows various employees working inside the store, as well as children excitedly trying to purchase something from them.
The ad is animated and directed by Kunio Katō (La Maison en Petits Cubes). The project was planned by animator Osamu Tanabe (The Tale of Princess Kaguya animation design), who works part-time at LAWSON for "a hobby." Toshio Suzuki, who produced the ad alongside Tomihiko Ishii, commented that because of their almost 20-year partnership, he found it very hard to turn down a request from LAWSON. "This case was the same; we didn't have a choice," he said with a laugh.
Conceptually, the ad is a spiritual sequel to the first LAWSON ad from 2001. The young girl who purchased a ticket from LAWSON to watch Spirited Away is now an employee at the store.
Sources: SoraNews24 (Oona McGee), LAWSON
