Crying About Miso Soup ~ Marukome Miso Has Been Making Some High-Quality Anime

Japan is known for some pretty unique advertising, including internationally viral commercial hits featuring dancers-turned-tuna and candy-loving long, long men. The gimmicks are unique and wide-ranging, often getting people to pay attention to the products through the use of over-the-top humor. Japanese miso producer Marukome, however, has gone a different route over the past few years. If you ever cry at heartwarming movie scenes, Marukome's commercials are likely to pull at your heartstrings.

Posted on the Marukome Youtube channel (and in part on the Marukome USA Facebook page with English subtitles), these 90-second spots are focused on Marukome's Ryotei no Aji (料亭の味, restaurant flavor) series of miso products. The short videos show scenes of the various miso products bringing loved ones together. An elderly husband showing his love for his wife by cooking (very miso-forward) meals, a cup of miso soup reuniting an estranged father with his daughter and her new husband, instant miso soup acting as a comforting reminder of home for a young man living on his own and missing his mother.

Each of the stories is unique, but they all feel totally relatable, and the background of Japanese culture is strongly reflected throughout (and not just because there's a lot of miso soup). The short glimpses of the believable characters, along with high-quality animation including really delicious-looking animated food, make each video feel like an episode out of a slice of life anime. The charm of the heartwarming narratives makes it hard to hold back tears if you're a bit of a crybaby. All from commercials just a minute and a half long.

Despite the first of this animated commercial series coming out six whole years ago, all eight videos still occasionally make their rounds on Japanese social media, reminding the general public that they are powerless against the emotional force of miso soup commercials. Twitter user @1096_p ("Mikajiru") shares this five-year-old Marukome commercial, commenting "every once in a while I watch this and cry. 😭 "

Bravo, Marukome. Perhaps it's just the tears draining me of water and sodium, but now I'm craving miso soup.