Tag Archives: mascots

Mascot Analysis: Card Loan Girls, Moe Credit Card Loans

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NOTE: This is the second of my paid posts, where I have been asked to discuss the use of anime character mascots to promote a certain service, company, or idea. As stated in my previous entry, I have not used the products in question, and can neither endorse or turn people away from them. Rather, I am writing to go in depth on the use of anime mascots, and to help spotlight the idea of their usage in general.

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11 years ago, I made my first trip to Japan to study abroad. As I walked through the downtown area of my city for the first time, I noticed a branch of Mizuho Bank, the oldest bank in Japan. However, it wasn’t anything lofty like history that made Mizuho Bank stand out to me. Rather, it was the simple fact that it shared a name with Kazami Mizuho, the teacher from Onegai Teacher.

Because I was merely an exchange student, I didn’t open up a Japanese bank account, but I know I would have entertained the notion of going with Mizuho Bank just because of that tenuous anime connection. As an aside, it’s that sort of thinking that made me realize that I was most certainly an “otaku” by even the strictest of definitions.

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Are enough people of a similar mind? Would they base their financial choices on a love of anime and its characters beyond simply spending money on merchandise? The creation of Card Loan Girls, a site dedicated to introducing different types of credit card loans in the form of anime girls, contends that this is more than a mere possibility.

While Hikkoshi More goes with a simpler and less flashy design for its mascots, Card Loan Girls is straight up “anime as hell.” The girls emphasize cute elements with character designs that wouldn’t be out of place in a light novel or visual novel, and are knee-deep in their emphasis on kyara: a focus on character design that tries to convey a sense of liveliness purely through visual presentation.

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Orix Bank’s Orihara Komugi

What’s notable about the Card Loan Girls is that they all represent real banks. From Orix (sponsor of the Orix Buffaloes baseball team) to Mobit, actual companies are behind this. Sure enough, Mizuho Bank is there too. Despite my expectations, its mascot is not an attractive teacher but instead a petite student named Kingami Eira who looks something like a cat girl or fox spirit.

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Mizuho Bank’s Kingami Eira

I believe that Eira’s design is supposed to invoke some kind of old spirit to go in line with the fact that Mizuho Bank is Japan’s oldest bank, and in that respect it certainly got my attention. I mean, I didn’t even know that factoid about Mizuho until I clicked on Eira’s profile page. There are many other bits of trivia throughout the site, and it potentially inspires people to learn about these banks in a manner similar to how Hetalia fans really delve deep into history. In many cases, these sorts of cute girls-as-things media franchises/campaigns try to incorporate and interpret as much actual detail into the characters’ designs (like larger guns equaling larger chests in Kantai Collection), but I simply don’t know enough about Japanese banks to actually figure that out.

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Mobit’s Hino Saori

As for the credit card loan information itself, Card Loan Girls doesn’t appear to be pushing any one bank over the others. Each girl is accompanied with a long list of important information, such as who can borrow and what the interest rates are. While Mobit’s Hino Saori is the most popular according to the site, I can’t say for sure why that’s the case. Are people voting for her because they think Mobit offers the best loans, or are they attracted to her tomboy design? Given the strength of anime mascot marketing in Japan, I think it’s probably more the latter, but the fact that Saori represents an online-only loan company that seems perfect for today’s modern otaku might mean it’s actually a mix of the two worlds.

I’d like to end with a couple of questions. For those living in Japan, would you pick your credit card loan based on Card Loan Girls? For those living elsewhere, what do you think of the idea of having something as far from entertainment as possible as a loan being anthropomorphized into cute young girls? Is it the kind of marketing you can get behind, or is it perhaps a step too far?

 

 

Mascot Analysis: Japanese Moving Company Aggregate “Hikkoshi More”

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NOTE: I want to be upfront about what follows in this post. I was recently contacted by a promotional company, asking if I could mention a couple of their websites on this blog for pay. I agreed to do so, knowing that this is part of the SEO game.

While I normally wouldn’t accept an offer to just promote something, what caught my attention was that I was requested to make posts specifically because of their purposeful usage of manga and anime characters in marketing. I’m always fascinated by this topic, especially when it comes to Japan where cute fictional cartoon spokespeople are much more ubiquitous across all age groups. Because the types of mascots used can say a lot about a company and who they’re targeting, I decided it would be worth writing about.

I also want to emphasize that I have not used the service below, Hikkoshi More, so I can neither endorse it or advise people away from it.

I hope this makes everything clear.

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In the English-speaking world we have sites like Orbitz and Hotels.com that aggregate various offers and prices and present them in one place, allowing users to choose from hundreds of offers. Hikkoshi More serves a similar function in Japan, except it’s for moving rather than traveling. Hikkoshi More is meant to help users to find the right moving company that suits their needs and finances.

I came to understand the purpose of Hikkoshi More because of the comic on their website, which explains what they’re all about. Sadly, it does not involve shipping the shipping companies, and is instead a parody of the Legend of Momotarou using the site’s mascots, Momoa (the girl) and Kuronishiki (the black cat).

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In this story, “Kuronekotarou” is born from a peach and takes it upon himself to defeat the oni of Onigashima Island, but is beaten to the punch by the real Momotarou. The oni are forced off their island, and need to find a new home. Kuronekotarou introduces them (and eventually other character parodies from the Legend of Momotarou) to Hikkoshi More, and they all find homes.

The comic is actually pretty effective for giving an overview of what they’re about, and in my opinion was easier to get through than their actual website.

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My personal favorite part of this manga is how Momotarou is kind of an asshole. In this panel, it mentions that he not only beat them up, he also took their money and credit cards. The fact that he carries a giant Nippon Ichi flag on his back (not shown above) adds to his ridiculousness. Also, because Momotarou is instantly recognizable to any Japanese person, it becomes an easy target for parody, similar to something like Snow White or Johnny Appleseed for an American.

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When looking at Momoa and Kuronishiki, it’s clear they’re mascots meant for regular adults. They have neither the high moe factor that would draw in more hardcore otaku, nor are they as generically cute as something like Hello Kitty. They’re drawn very simply, and Momoa’s design positions her as anywhere between 18 and 40, giving a sense of youth and vibrancy to the company without making her too young and thus unsuited for representing a site dedicated to a very adult concern of moving. Not that kids don’t care (they arguably care more than anyone), but they’re not responsible for the details of it.

I think people are more used to seeing the Dejikos and Hello Kitties of Japan than what Momoa and Kuronishiki are, which is simply cute and attuned to a more specific, yet not hardcore, demographic. The result is that Momoa and Kuronishiki are charming yet safe, and are perhaps a little more immune to the Erin Esurance syndrome. In that particular case, it was clear that Esurance wanted to use its mascot’s sex appeal to its advantage, only for the whole thing to explode in their face. Momoa might be closer to Flo from Progressive Insurance, if anything, except through that Japanese lens of kawaii.