日清食品 | HUNGRY DAYS | 2017
Destiny Begins with a Teaser / Cup Noodle "HUNGRY DAYS Teaser"
This teaser is too cute. Eisaku Kubonouchi's illustrations are too cute. The narration is too cute too.
The problem
Since its launch, Cup Noodle has targeted young people, consistently sending out the message "Let's cheer on the youth." "Write it as seishun (youth), but read it as Aoharu. That's something blue, hot, something you can lose yourself in for no reason." To cheer on those hungry days, in 2017 an entirely new anime commercial series got underway. The concept—turning a piece of content everyone knows into a youth anime—stood out as one of the most impactful ideas among many.
The insight
As creative director Yusuke Sato put it, this teaser was "made around the theme of youth's sense of incompleteness." It leaves behind nothing but the feeling that something is about to begin, then disappears. The composition makes the most of Kubonouchi's pencil-drawing touch, paired with director Hiraoka's hand-drawn animation, Hayashibara's narration as its backbone, and BUMP OF CHICKEN's music wrapping it all together—a miraculous combination. It's a strategy that stirs viewers' memories at the crossroads of "a world you've seen before" and "a youth you've never seen."
The idea
The 30-second spot opens with a narration: "After school. One-sided love. A confession. A diploma. Write it as seishun, read it as Aoharu." It closes with "2017. A youth no one has seen yet begins," ending on the catchphrase "Aoharu kayo." This teaser was actually a bold one-off, aired on TV for just a single day. It served as the opening to a series that would go on to include a Kiki's Delivery Service chapter, a Heidi chapter, and a Sazae-san chapter, instantly raising viewers' expectations for what was to come.
What happened
The total number of online video views topped 10 million, drawing huge attention and getting picked up by many different media outlets. The teaser included motifs hinting at the story's future direction. On YouTube, it has already passed 150,000 views. The series ran from 2017 into 2018, moving through Kiki's Delivery Service, Heidi, Sazae-san, and a final chapter, depicting beloved anime characters as present-day high schoolers under the catchphrase "Aoharu kayo." These youth stories became a major talking point. In 2019, the series even made a comeback with a One Piece collaboration.
Afterthought
When it comes to Cup Noodle's anime commercials, "FREEDOM" had long stood as the gold standard, but this HUNGRY DAYS series completely rewrote that history. Eisaku Kubonouchi's crystal-clear character designs, BUMP OF CHICKEN's "Kinen Satsuei," Megumi Hayashibara's narration, and Tatsunoko Production's careful animation—it all clicked into place. Even though it was just a 30-second teaser, it left me brimming with anticipation for the story to come. My hunch that "this is the one to remember when it comes to Cup Noodle anime" turned out to be spot on!
