8 Funny Japanese Commercials
Japan is known for it’s eccentricity, no matter the subject, everything is done with maximum enthusiasm and effort. Japanese advertisements are no different, of course the whole point of an ad is to draw your attention, but some take it to the next level. Here are some of our favourite funny Japanese commercials.
Nissin Curry Noodles
Ok so the premise of this one is that curry rice is far superior to cup noodles in every way. The man seems to apologise for his initial mistake to an angelic figure after a giant pot of curry rice crashed into his house. There’s also a 2 second clip of a half-naked man doing a running kick into a monster slurping noodles. What a start.
Monster Hunter: World
This is a commercial for Monster Hunter: World on the PS4 which seems to show a man depicting a variety of monsters from the game, to a scarily accurate level. I love that he screams the name of each monster as he does the pose, like he’s shouting the name of his anime super-move.
Dekavita C Super Mario
Dekavita C is a pretty big energy drink from Suntory, and what better way to advertise it than showing the relentless suffering of Mario and friends stuck inside a DS? It seems like the characters are stuck fulfilling the demands of a player in a variety of heavy energy games, like tennis and football (soccer), only getting a break when she closes the DS. Obviously the only way they can keep up this high level of energy is with a drink of Dekavita C!
Nissin Chicken Ramen
Nissin are back, this this time with an incredible anime power-up of their mascot. The music changes from kawaii, friendly music, to heavy metal as the chicken turns into a large demon-chicken beast thing. Not much more to it.
Summoner’s War
OK I hold my hands up, I specialist in funny Japanese commercials but I can’t make sense of this one at all, if anyone has any context for how this commercial relates to the product let me know. This is an ad for a mobile game, but the advert features a man going through a luggage security check, only to reveal he has a bag full of screaming chicken toys. I don’t get it, but it’s funny.
Calbee Potato Chips Dog
This dog has history, it first appear back in 2007, and has since reappeared in even more strange adverts. This one is one part funny and one part slightly disturbing. It seems like the dog is trying to mimic other things, and then seems to be turned into an alien? Again, who knows. It’s bizzare.
Chocoballs
I think there’s quite a bit to look into in this ad, but the design of the mascot is one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen. I can’t decide whether his mouth is on the side of his face or his eyes. Either way, ignoring that, we also get incredibly poor greenscreen heads of men following the mascot around, making strange faces.
Boss Coffee – Tommy Lee Jones
This one makes the list due to the fact that it features Tommy Lee Jones, pretending to be an alien, and speaking Japanese. He’s been appearing in commercials for Boss Coffee for a long time now, and each one is a hit due to the spectacularly poor special effects and the incredible stern attitude of Tommy Lee Jones which is almost the polar opposite of everything else you see in Japanese commercials.
Which other funny Japanese commercials do you love? Let us know in the comments below or over in our Discord server: https://discord.gg/ZSV6pWG
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