Umacha

Damn, this day sucks. I sure hope some Umacha would save the day.

Eh. Chotto matte. Let me just get some. Eeeee, sou da sou da sou da.

Here. Take some.

As a commercial by Studio Ghibli with an ever so incoherent yet unsurprising key visual, I didn't really know what I was going to be in for. I can tell you now, you are welcomed with a nice commercial for its time.

It has the right appearance for it to correlate with what it is selling, everything is pretty much chill overall and the advert doesn't have anything that wouldn't make it memorable, the art and to some ... extent, the situations were enough.

It just works as a commercial. I liked it and that's that. Though one would imagine Ghibli could do better, however, this was back in 2001 so it is pretty good.

7/10.

Overall: 8

Simplicity in the making, sure. It lasted a breeze, that's true. But even with its childish lightness, this animated entry manages to be exemplary. It's like the peak of frolic advertisement, and the eye candy is so all over the place, and the sounds altogether all so tuneful, you can't even want to zap.

Story: 7

In such a short time, it's difficult to tell much. The right choice, as Umacha shows us, is to cover lively snippets of the likely and believable. As the situations pictured focus on adulthood, it is clear who this advertisement is meant to cater to, and how the product sold ... may change one's life for the better, even for a bit.

Art: 8

Studio Ghibli's distinctive palette really shines, with its ethereal lightness, and simplistic characters. What the visual delicacy accomplishes, too, is conveying the flavor and mood of ice tea consumption. The second part's animation, accompanying a man's pace frame at a frame, doesn't offend. In fact, it carries the charm of the artificial that respects itself, not needlessly searching to hide the untruthful and the lying.

Sound: 8

Tuneful, as previously mentioned. Whether it describes the chirping one-liner, voiced by a young female, with all the significance it will bring to it, or the dubbed characters, hardly bold, or the man of the second part as he leaves a company meeting, where his voice actor gave him walking noises. The latter part felt charming, because of the lusting aspect it gave to the character, and what is weak is cute.

Character: 7

Your everyday people, a surrogate to its audience. This advertisement decided to keep things sturdy and there's not much to tell. Or perhaps not totally. If one gives it a thought, Japan has been a patriarchal country since a long while. So for the first woman to be shown in equality with her male fellow, able to possess a GPS, means this animated piece is aware of modernism and societal trends, which may or may not deserve commendation, but certainly brings credit and relatability to its characters.

Enjoyment: 7

In a flash, it was over. Nothing bold, nothing challenging the norms. And that's fine. Melodious, fast, intriguing, simple. It had clear goals, and the forwardness of their resolutions is worth its acknowledgement.

To the average viewer, it may permit a glimpse as to what was two decades ago considered normal for the Japanese working class. But it's not all the entry may tell us. For someone specialized, it may very well become a textbook example of the economic activities of a Japanese animation studio. For example, they may be commissioned to advertise ice tea.