Samurai Mac

For the new burgers in its Samurai Mac (サムライマック) range, on sale from 4 January 2023, McDonald’s Japan launched its first fully animated commercial, Zetten no Samurai (絶巓の侍), broadcast from 30 December 2022. Tetsuo Hara drew the original art, featuring actor Masato Sakai as a samurai, who also voices the character. Hara explained that rather than a likeness, he wanted to blend Sakai into his own world, letting his personality come through the stylisation. He had been struck by the anger Sakai expressed in a TV series, an expression rare in this day and age as he saw it. Seeing his drawing come to life was a dream experience for him. From 1 January 2023, six campaigns on McDonald’s Twitter account reworked lines from Fist of the North Star and offered McCards illustrated from his original art. Hara signed off with “お前はもう食べている!!”.