Japanese energy bar CalorieMate has released an unusual but also compelling animated advert about Karolina Styczyńska, a Polish shogi player who is also the first non-Japanese to be awarded professional status by the Japan Shogi Association. Check out “Susume, Karoline” (Go forward, Karolina) below!
Karolina Styczyńska is the first non-Japanese to be awarded professional status by the Japan Shogi Association. Her interest in shogi started when she saw the game being played on the anime adaptation of “Naruto”. She began to play matches online, and was soon noticed by Japanese professional shogi player Madoka Kitao.
She was invited to come to Japan to train as a shogi player, so after she graduated from college in Poland, she moved to Japan to start her career as a professional shogi player. She advanced to the top-level 1-kyu ranking in April 2017. She also finished her masters degree in Information Management from Yamanashi Gakuin University in March 2018.
The animated CM also has another Polish connection in the form of Director Mateusz Urbanowicz, who was a former fulltime background artist at Comix Wave Films, and has worked on titles such as “Space Dandy” and “Your Name”.
The animation was produced by Studio Colorido of “Taifu no Noruda” fame, as well as the animated series of recruitment adverts for McDonalds Japan that went viral all over the world.
Last but not least, the music was created by haruka nakamura, a highly respected musician whose works also graced other notable advertisements by CITIZEN, SONY, BOTANIST, and TOYOTA. Besides his native Japan, he has also played at events in Taiwan and Singapore.
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