Mirai no Watashi

Moderator Edit: This review may contain spoilers.
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Mirai no Watashi is a very simple advertisement for McDonald's, even so, it has a sense of charm all it's own.

The artwork is superb and stylized in a sort of watercolor form.

The short starts off with our main character a young woman pulling up on her bike to McDonald's which has a very modern design, she has what looks like an instrument case on her back and there is some very light shadowing on the McDonald's restaurant's windows created by trees which is an astonishing amount of detail for an ad meant to encourage employment.

Our Main Character ... is called by a current employee at the McDonald's who is dressed in very sleek almost hipster like attire, with a bow, some sleek glasses that shine in the typical anime fashion, and a stylish cap, and it seems she is sweeping up the front of the store. After basic research, it is clear that Japanese McDonalds employees do have this style of uniform among others so it is accurate on it's outfit design.

However, there is one issue, the sign in the background leading to the drive through says 6:00 - 0:00 o'clock, now this is a problem for multiple reasons as 1) it doesn't say wheter 6:00 is AM or PM and 2) what is 0:00 o'clock? Even if this meant 12:00AM like I think it means, these are really strange times for a drive thru to be open.

This is followed by a scene where some students are ordering some food from her, but with this job being new she gets flustered, but at the same time the students are being cheeky as usual with some semi flirtatious dialogue. The Main Character then follows by blushing vividly, followed by the manager saying something that makes the students embarrassed as well. The character designs of the students are also very realistic and varied as it has a bald kid with glasses and two boys with different shades of brown hair. In the back, you can see another employee washing his hands, which accentuates the importance of cleanliness and hygiene to the McDonald's brand. The menu is bright and filled with colorful menu items, and the cash register even has the classic apple pie advertisements that are usually there.

What you see next are some devices meant to evenly distribute ketchup and mustard onto a burger, nearby you see an open bin of onions, it's obvious that our main character is starting from the bottom making basic burgers and is not yet trusted to handle the almighty Big Mac, the pride and joy of Mickey D's, it just shows that as a character she has room to grow.

We then see our main character shovel some fries into a medium sized McDonald's fry package. However if you look closer, there is what seems to be a rusted over deep frying basket with no competent handle, this is a health hazard to both the customers who are eating food cooked in these rusty baskets and the employees who could potentially get burned thanks to the lack of handle on the basket.

Our main character then almost makes a fatal mistake that could have potentially cost her her employment at the great fine dining institution at McDonald's by almost spilling the fries on the ground. The animation in this segment of the commercial is exaggerated in a good way, our main character, charming as ever has her hat jump in the air and conveniently fall back into place same with the fries which defies physics as we know it, the lady in line with what is presumably her son has her lips transform thick and red, and the male employee who probably would have to help clean the mess in his panic has his entire body confirm in upwards arcs in fear. In the background we can see the various demographics that consume food at the culinary bistro of excellence that is McDonald's, high school girls are having a nice long gossip in line while in the background you can see an old couple enjoying the day, the male in the older couple is wearing a fedora, the true pinnacle of class, and the donation box is filled to the brim with coins, showing that McDonald's patrons truly care about charity and the needs of others, this store is truly family.

The older woman suddenly comes in to help calm down the main character whose eyes have now turned into stylistic swirlies and the boy at the counter blushes, showing that he has best taste in best girl Manager-Chan, he has a fetish for older women, best boy has a bastion of best taste.

What we see next as an audience is shocking, not only is the double cheeseburger that is being wrapped have a lower patty that is missing it's depth, but it also is handled as haphazardly as a hockey puck, being slid across the table, despite this the burger looks like it's shaped well and not impaired in any way, so this is forgivable. But it is accurate that McDonald's skimp on the meat, 10/10 realism.

What comes next is the key scene of this entire short, showing the existential theme of passing on the torch of the McDonald's love down to those younger than you. The true power of McDonald's is not it's greasy fries or it's hamburgers that taste of paper mache, no it's not even the rare occurrences of the godly Shamrock Shake (R.I.P best menu item), it's the power of love that makes McDonald's what it is, for McDonald's is not just a corporation, but it is a family, as seen as our main character gives a small child a Happy Meal, the true token of childhood happiness for any youth born this century. The little girl accepts the Happy Meal with all the warmth in her heart, and our main character now gives a thumbs up, the ultimate signal of affirmation to Manager-Chan who returns in kind showing their own sisterly relation. With such emotional dialogue as "senpai" and "good job" that warms the heart.

Next is the shake machine, which is producing a strawberry shake, it did not top off near the top of the cup, but that's ok as the machine gave it's all with it's detailed texture pumps did what they could.

Consequently, next is a scene in which our main character is helping spread the McDonald's love even more by giving flowers to a Manager-Chan who is now retiring and wearing casual clothes with her hair down, which is the best look for best girl. All of her coworkers are behind her cheering our Main Character on in support as well as Manager-Chan in her new endeavors.

Final the scene pans out to show a photo collage of all the memories that our Main Character has had at McDonald's with all of her greatest friends, along with a notebook, a collared shirt and some cute pens.

She closes the literal door on them signifying despite losing her most valuable coworker she is prepared to move on with the day to #MakeMcDonald'sGreatAgain

She smiles and puts her cap on exclaiming proudly "Yes".

What we see later is the next generation, a young girl looking at the extremely well designed McDonald's poster and our Main Character smiling taking the same place that her former boss did, showing the parallels between them and how McDonald's creates winners.

Charlie Sheen

#Winning

With the fullest smile, the commercial now ends with the classic McDonald's jingle sung in a kawaii voice, followed by a full shot of the cast.

Overall, this anime has some fantastic themes and character development creating parallels of itself in such a short amount of screentime.

The only thing that makes it not a masterpiece is two factors:

1. The sign which has times that do not exist and even by the end of the commercial it still is not fixed.

2. McDonald's does not serve Shamrock shakes 24/7 like it's supposed to.

So I leave Mirai no Watashi with a well deserved 9/10

Mirai no Watashi is a brilliant short animation. I honestly did not know what to expect when I watched it since it was technically an advertisement for McDonald's, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had a quick clear story that was easy to grasp watching the short. The art style and animation were top notch and better than a lot of anime airing this season. The music was good, but nothing to write home about, but the voice acting was cute and sounded very genuine. There's not much characterization you can get out of a minute long short, but somehow the studio pulled off some ... slight character growth in that short amount of time.

I enjoyed it very much and have actually re-watched it several times. I highly recommend.

So, I have been dared to review this. I'm not really sure how to review shorts, but here goes nothing!
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STORY: 8/10

The story is short, but sweet. It tells the coming of age of a girl that goes to work at McDonalds and her growth there. Now, we know that McDonalds is a terrible place and the person who made this deserves to [CENSORED FOR THE GOOD OF READERS] but... there really isn't much to complain about, of you think about it. I'm sure it's very good for a 1 minute series.
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ART: 8/10

Surprisingly, there was a lot of effort put into the artwork. The animation is ... wacky and goofy, and it looks... well good. Not to mention extra detail like when she is looking into the glass and the horizon is reflected; in a normal anime that would have been excluded.
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SOUND: 4/10

All we get from this is one mediocre soundtrack played in the background, topped with subpar voice acting and sound effects. Not horrible, but not good, far from it.
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CHARACTER: 1/10

We don't really get to see much of either of the two characters, but even if we make do with what we have, it's not much. The protagonist is very typical, and so is 'senpai'. I'm not sure if the supporting characters are even worth mention.
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OVERALL: 5.25/10

I suppose it would be above average... for a short? I don't know, maybe this is for you, if you're looking to waste a minute of your life.