Some delivery guy just visited my house to bring me a mysterious package. I was not expecting any parcels since none of my preorders are due for release yet, so it was quite a surprise.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What I found inside was bread. Nine pieces of bread… It’s not everyday that I receive home deliveries full of nothing but bread, so you could say that it’s quite a momentous occasion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It turns out that this is yet another promotional gimmick by Animax Asia<\/a><\/strong>, a regional branch of Sony’s Animax satellite network. They will soon be airing Yakitate! Ja-pan<\/strong> in Singapore and other Asian countries where the channel operates. In Singapore, they have partnered up with BreadTalk<\/a> to promote the show.<\/p>\n

BreadTalk<\/strong> is a really popular bread and pastry franchise in Singapore. It was founded in 2000 and has now expanded to other Asian countries. You can read about the in-store promotions on Anime Desho Desho?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nClick for larger version<\/a><\/p>\n

By the way, if you’ve not heard of Yakitate! Ja-pan<\/a>, it is an anime\/manga series about people making bread. That’s about it. It’s also oddly successful, but not my cup of tea. The “Ja-pan” part in the title is a pun as “pan<\/em>” also means bread in Japanese.<\/p>\n

\nClick for larger version<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While I think it’s great that Animax Asia has recently been going all out<\/a> to engage the anime fan community in Singapore (as opposed to the other<\/em> guy), I question the effectiveness of their chosen methods. Of course, I am grateful for the free bread and all, but I would’ve preferred something that is more relevant to the series itself…<\/p>\n

But I guess this can’t be helped. Animax Asia is just a cable channel and not a DVD distributor, so they are disadvantaged by the fact that they don’t have actual physical product samples which they can give away to reviewers. Still, I wonder if there are better ways to go about this whole viral marketing approach.<\/p>\n

That said, I was feeling particularly lazy to buy dinner today, so the timing is just perfect! Thanks for the free bread guys! :P<\/p>\n

On another note, this is the only real reason why you should watch Yakitate! Ja-pan:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The bread came with a two-page press release but oddly the air schedule is nowhere to be found. According to the website, Yakitate! Japan will start airing on Animax Asia from 28th November<\/strong> at 8.00pm<\/strong>. So uh, watch it! If you want to… Or something.<\/p>\n

I can’t believe I am selling out for bread. This blog has hit a new low.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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