Anime Loves Apple in Playful Behind the Mac Campaign from Japan

Apple Japan has taken the long running ‘Behind the Mac’ campaign and given it a distinctly local twist. Their new spot, from TBWA Media Arts Lab and the creative team at Apple Japan is a quick-cut cavalcade of anime characters using Mac laptops – and they’ve all been harvested from real animated shows and movies.

The spot is cut to the track ‘I am Shujinko’ – which appropriately enough translates to ‘I am the main character’ – by the artist Kaho Nakamura. This theme of living one’s own story, as well as using the Mac to create stories and worlds, continues with the endline ‘ stories not yet in this world from Beyond the Mac’.

The spot draws from an array of TV series and films, including Mirai Your Name, Weathering With You, Your Name, Sgt. Frog, Terror in Resonance, The Perfect Insider Mr. Osomatsu, Gridman, New Game! and The Wonderland and My Teen Romantic Comedy. Some of those Macbooks featured are more 'official' than others, with some bearing the Apple logo and some laptops featuring cheeky approximations.

But don't worry about any baddies getting their hands on a Macbook - if Knives Out director Rian Johnson's recent revelations are to be believed, Apple has strict guidelines around how its products are used in media, with villains prohibited from using iPhones.

Behind the Mac has been running since 2018 and shows how Apple products have helped supercharge the output of high profile creative talents and influential figures. In the past couple of years, they’ve featured everyone from Grimes to Serena Williams, Anna Wintour and Kermit the Frog.

And this bright, animated campaign continues a trend for lurid, energetic animation in Apple Japan’s creative commercials – last year’s Apple Music campaign was a bright, neon-hued adventure.