New Ramen Commercial Channels Its Inner 'Dragon Ball'

When you think 'ramen instant noodles,' there's a good chance you don't immediately think 'Dragon [...]

By Rollin Bishop

When you think "ramen instant noodles," there's a good chance you don't immediately think "Dragon Ball." But thanks to a recent Nissin commercial, that might be about to change.

Nissin posted a new commercial for its Chicken Ramen instant noodles this past week, and it's a continuation of a previous ad campaign for the poultry-flavored meal. Back in April, the company transformed its mild-mannered chicken mascot, Hiyoko-chan, into a devilish version of itself. The commercial, which you can watch below, essentially took all the hallmarks of the classic Devilman franchise and applied it to the otherwise gentle baby chicken.

The latest commercial takes things a step further by including several moves and scenes that reference Dragon Ball Z. In the embedded video below, the devilish version of Hiyoko-chan takes on a human while talking about using an "afterimage" and the human even uses what appears to be Special Beam Cannon, a signature move of Dragon Ball's Piccolo. It's not subtle.

There's even multiple references to this not even being Hiyoko-chan's final form. Does that mean the ad campaign will go on to reference even more classic franchises? There's always other Go Nagai properties, of course, but a Yu Yu Hakusho ad would not be unwelcome.

This isn't the first time Nissin has leaned on anime to sell foodstuffs. You might recall an earlier ad campaign that featured someone that looked suspiciously like Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. Whether Kiki and friends would bother to hawk instant noodles rather than bread -- given her business' location -- is unclear.

What do you think of Nissin's Chicken Ramen instant noodle ad campaign? Would you say it has a power level over 9,000? Let us know in the comments!

[H/T Anime News Network]

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