Interest
Super Glue Brand's Youth Promo Campaign Adds Baseball Anime Short
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
For its latest installment in the "Kuttsuke Seishun" (Stick to Youth) campaign, Toagosei's Aron Alpha brand of instant adhesives, sold as Krazy Glue in the U.S., unveiled a baseball anime short at the end of September. The short is titled "Secchaku Nine" (Gluing Nine), and it tells the type of story familiar to many sports anime fans.
Full Version
30-Second Version
6-Second Version
The premise of Aron Alpha's campaign targeting young people is that one of the brand's PR team members is a male "around 40," who is out of touch with youth and keeps pitching wild ideas. His youthful female coworker tries to temper his ideas and discourage him before he gets carried away.
In the "Secchaku Nine" short's "heart-throbbing friendship gluing story," the legendary prodigy pitcher Ruwa Hayasugi suddenly transfers and joins Toagosei Industrial High School's weak baseball club. He is known for his "instant gluing throw method" that can reach a speed of 929 kilometers per hour (about 577 miles per hour). The team manager Kana Torenai hopes that the team might now be able to enter the national tournament. However, Hayasugi's poor attitude and inability to work with his teammates splits the club apart.
The wicked school principal Makurō Hikichigiri wants to disband the baseball club. The future looks bleak for the team when Kana tells Hayasugi that Aron Alpha "borrows the power of moisture in the air and adheres quickly and strongly." The mysterious foreign exchange student Aron Alphano may be the answer for the team. The principal tells the team they will be disbanded if they lose. Then, Hayasugi becomes unable to use his signature pitch during a game. Alphano comes through for the team, and they pull together to secure a win.
The short's cast includes:
- Yoshiki Nakajima as Ruwa Hayasugi
- Emiri Katō as Kana Torenai
- Hinata Tadokoro as Shū Suguho
- Ryūsei Nakao as Makurō Hikichigiri
- Yuu Wakabayashi as Noa Saigō
Macright performed the short's theme song "Alone ja Nai Aron Alpha" (Not Alone Aron Alpha). Aron Alpha's YouTube channel is also streaming a promotional video for the song itself, as well as a karaoke version of the video.
Aron Alpha is running a Twitter campaign for the new anime short. People who follow the brand's Twitter account and tweet with the campaign hashtag will be eligible to win one of 50 sets of two T-shirts. The T-shirts appear at the end of the main "Secchaku Nine" video. When placed next to each other, the shirts form the phrase "friendship gluing."
Aron Alpha's first "Kuttsuke Seishun" anime video debuted in May. The "Kimi ni, Kuttsuke!" (Stick to You!) short's romance story centers on a popular boy and a plastic model-building girl he becomes interested in.
Sources: Aron Alpha's website (link 2) and YouTube channel via Nijimen
