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Mercedes-Benz/I.G's Anime Short Streamed With English Subs

The official website for Mercedes-Benz's "Next A-Class" campaign began streaming the anime short that Production I.G produced with English subtitles on Saturday. (To turn on the English subtitles, select the [CC] icon in the bottom right menu of the video.)

Mercedes-Benz describes the story:

In the not so distant future.

To cope with the traffic jams and verticalization due to the Increased population, the city of Tokyo was reconstructed under the theme of "city sharing" in which people share the [urban] space by transforming the roads and city structure by time of the day. A woman named Nico [voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro] is walking in the city.

She is having her long-awaited day off; however, she does not know what to do and who to hang out with. She hopes an exciting thing suddenly happens—

Then, a truck passed right before her eyes. The loud music and flashy decoration of the vehicle reminded Nico the car "it" that everyone's talking about on the Internet. As soon as Nico saw it, she ran after it, then ran into Gatsu [Kenjirō Tsuda] and Makito [Kenichi Suzumura]. Nico get in the latest A-Class and they chase after the truck driving through the city that is changing its form rapidly.

See if they catch up with the legendary truck and reveal the true identity of "it."

Mizuho Nishikubo (Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai, Zillion) directed the anime with animator Kazuchika Kise (Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Blood+). Daishiro Tanimura (Kuroko's Basketball, Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san) wrote the script. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children) designed the characters, and Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Gantz, Mobile Suit Gundam 00) scored the music.

A trailer for the anime is running as a commercial on television and in theaters along with Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (Evangelion Shin Gekijō-ban Q Quickening). During the Fuji Sprint Cup 2012 race from Friday to Sunday, an SLS AMG GT3 car will be wrapped with the "Next A-Class" art. After the six-minute anime short, I.G and Mercedes-Benz are planning to continue the collaboration in December and beyond.

Thanks to Vito Plahuta for the news tip.