SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Japan
» McDonald’s Japan is selling Gundam burgers, endorsed by anime’s most charismatic antagonist【Vids】

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

McDonald’s Japan is selling Gundam burgers, endorsed by anime’s most charismatic antagonist【Vids】

Casey Baseel Jun 15, 2022
Tweet

Char is here, and he’s brought a whole line of Char Custom burgers with him.

You can find a surprising amount of star power in McDonald’s Japan’s commercials. Last year veteran actress Yoshiko Miyazaki appeared in an amazing age-defying role for the burger chain, and just this past spring ‘90s J-pop icon Ryoko Hirosue, who also seems to be able to stop time, showed up in one too.

Now McDonald’s Japan is ready to introduce its newest celebrity spokesperson, and it’s none other than…

…Char Aznable, the eternal antagonist of mecha anime Mobile Suit Gundam!

As a highly skilled pilot with a flair for the dramatic, Char routinely storms into battle in enhanced customized versions of the series’ standard mobile suits. That carries over to the burgers he’s chowing down on, like the Char Custom Kara Dabuchi.

This starts off as a double cheeseburger (or “Dabuchi”), but an extra-spicy (“kara”) cheese is swapped in, and the heat is further enhanced with jalapeno slices.

▼ “Drawing out the spiciness to its limit – that’s my policy,” says Char, who never misses an opportunity to dramatically declare his beliefs, apparently even if he’s just talking about lunch.

The Kara Dabuchi is actually a revival menu item from last year, but the next one is all-new: the Char Custom Red Garlic Teriyaki.

The base model here is a teriyaki burger, which has been overhauled with smoked bacon, garlic soy sauce mayonnaise, and red buns as a salute to Char’s nickname, “the Red Comet.”

▼ “This is my custom teriyaki! This impact, it’s because of the garlic.”

Char’s not the only Gundam character with an image color, though. His rival, and the original series’ protagonist, Gundam pilot Amuro is associated with the color white, which is why Char is startled when he senses the presence of…

…the Newtype White Torichi, a triple cheeseburger (“torichi”) with white cheddar cheese.

▼ “Is that…Amuro?!? No, it’s a torichi! Show me the power of the white torichi,” commands Char, accompanied by the mysterious Newtype noise.

Also joining the menu is the Char Custom Dabuchi Sausage Muffin, a morning-only item that’s basically an excuse to eat a double cheeseburger for breakfast, which is just the sort of clever scheme that Char can appreciate.

▼ It also seems to still have the jalapeno slices, proving once again that you can never let your guard down when Char is involved in something.

The Char Custom sandwiches also come in wrappers decorated with Char Custom mobile suits.

▼ Top row: Char Custom Zaku (Kara Dabuchi) and Char Custom Gelgoog (Red Garlic Teriyaki)
Bottom row: Zeong (Newtype White Torichi) and Char Custom Z’Gok (Dabuci Sausage Muffin)

With the Z’Gok being an amphibious unit, you could argue it would have made more sense for it to be associated with a sandwich with an aquatic connection, like the Filet-O-Fish. The Z’Gok does still have a liquid liaison of sorts, though, as it’s one of two possible designs for a limited number of artwork cups for the new Red Energy Flavor
McFizz and McFloat, refreshing carbonated drinks made with honey and guarana berries (plus vanilla ice cream, in the float’s case).

▼ The mobile suit you get is random, as Char always likes to keep people on their toes.

The Char menu items make their debut June 22, with prices ranging from 320 to 440 yen (US$2.40 and US$3.30) for the sandwiches and 250 to 310 yen for the drinks.

Source: Press release
Top image: YouTube/マクドナルド公式（McDonald’s)
Insert images: Press release
Gundam ©Sotsu/Sunrise
ⓒ創通・サンライズ

● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he thinks it’s a missed opportunity that the Char burgers aren’t char-broiled.