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Soft wieners for otaku break man’s heart with their anime-style packaging

Casey Baseel Jan 11, 2019
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Artist’s rendition doesn’t match user’s reality.

Someone at Osaka-based Marudai Food Co. felt that the packaging for its budget-priced Tokuyo Wiener (“Economical Wiener”) line could use an upgrade, and it’s really hard to argue with that. As seen above, the standard package is little more than a photo of the wieners themselves floating on a plain white field, and while that does a decent-enough job conveying what the product is, it doesn’t do anything at all to help it stand out from its competitors on store shelves.

So Marudai decided to add a bit of anime flair to the package.

https://twitter.com/1ol2nwYHIeLmUx5/status/1080335298620313601

Perhaps realizing that cheap sausages would be especially attractive to otaku who’d rather spend their time and money watching anime and buying merch than cooking from scratch, Marudai has now decked out its Tokuyo Weiner bags with some scenes of happy family life, anime-style. In one, we see a cheery, apron-clad mom grilling breakfast for her sleepy son, and in another, we see a pig-tailed young lady sitting down to eat with her husband and their toddler.

However, while the intent clearly seems to be to appeal to the aesthetic tastes and idyllic imaginings of otaku, maybe the visual renderings of a blissful home life are a little too good. Along with the photos above, Japanese Twitter user @1ol2nwYHIeLmUx5 tweeted:

“What’s the deal with this packaging, Marudai Food? What’s with the way it just oozes modern anime style to show this totally sweet and cozy home life? You’ve made me, a member of the friendless, live-alone aristocracy, cry. This is the sort of family life I wanted to create.”

Elsewhere, some other online commenters, perhaps as a conditioned reaction to how often anime art is intended to titillate, have latched on to the fact that the new packaging, like the old version did too, proudly boasts that Marudai’s Tokuyo Wieners are “soft with thin skin” (while, surprisingly, the fact that “Marudai” means “big and round” has largely escaped any associated snickering). @1ol2nwYHIeLmUx5 is taking the high road, though, and focusing on the fact that the obviously otaku-oriented aesthetics are being used to showcase a lifestyle that, traditionally, the demographic has been unable to enjoy.

@1ol2nwYHIeLmUx5 (who, it should be noted, still bought multiple bags of the product) might want to keep in mind that with anime enjoying more mainstream popularity in Japan than ever before, and even the creation of for-otaku dating services, a happy family breakfast featuring Marudai’s cheap wieners isn’t an impossible dream. And even if it were, the packaging includes the disclaimer “artist’s rendition” over the illustration, thus freeing the company from any liability if customers end up eating an entire package by themselves while marathoning their favorite anime series.

Source, featured image: Twitter/@1ol2nwYHIeLmUx5, Otakomu
Top image: Marudai Food