江崎グリコ | OTONA GLICO 〜25年後の磯野家〜 | 2008
The Shock of Realizing This Was Even Possible / Ezaki Glico "OTONA GLICO 〜25 Years Later Isono Family〜"
In 2008, Sazae-san got a live-action adaptation nobody saw coming. And the premise was wild: it was set 25 years in the future. Tadanobu Asano as Katsuo, Rie Miyazawa as Wakame, Eita as Tara-chan, Shun Oguri as Ikura-chan. The casting alone was enough to make people go "wait, you can actually do that?"—a real testament to the strength of the idea.
The problem
This was a commercial for Ezaki Glico's chocolates aimed at adults, "Almond Premio" and "Dear Cacao," targeting people in their 20s and 30s. The team approached the Machiko Hasegawa Museum of Art and asked to borrow just the setting for a live-action version. It came together on the condition that "the content wouldn't damage the original's image."
The insight
People in their 20s and 30s who grew up watching Sazae-san as kids happened to line up almost perfectly in age with how old the characters would be 25 years later. The idea overturned the usual anime rule that characters never age, instead showing them grown up just like the viewers themselves—aiming to spark a sense of connection.
The idea
The four Isono kids reunite after a long time apart at a family memorial service. Katsuo, 36, is still obsessed with baseball just like always. Wakame, 34, has grown into a beautiful woman. Tara-chan, 28, runs a takoyaki stand. And Ikura-chan, 26, is the president of an IT company. The campaign unfolded as a series with chapters like "Reunion," "Exam," "Work & Food Stall," and "Flight." The background music was a piano arrangement of the Sazae-san theme song.
What happened
The commercials aired nationwide starting 9/10/2008. They were selected as a "notable new commercial" by the CM Research Institute and became a huge topic of conversation online as well. The campaign won the Grand Prix at the 2009 TCC Awards.
Afterthought
Reactions like "I wonder how much this cost" and "the negotiations with Machiko Hasegawa's side must have been brutal, my stomach hurts just thinking about it" really hit the nail on the head. The casting, the rights negotiations, the attention to detail in the art direction—all of it must have involved struggles beyond what we can imagine. But there's truth to the idea that "strong work waits on the other side of a stomachache," and this campaign is a perfect example of that. Even the comment "funny how you forget about it after a while" despite how striking it was—that captures both the fleeting nature and the power of advertising all at once.
