McDonald's Japan is tapping into nostalgia for its latest summer campaign, partnering with acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda to promote the chain's Big Mac and Coca-Cola combo.

The "When You Say 'Summer,' Then and Now" commercial series weaves together memorable moments from three Hosoda films: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, and Wolf Children. The anime clips are intercut with fresh live-action segments featuring Olympic gold-medal-winning figure skaters Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, alongside Sakurazaka46 idol member Hikaru Morita.

The spots lean hard on nostalgia by reviving "I Feel Coke," a jingle from Japan's 1980s Coca-Cola advertising campaigns, to tie the classic soft drink with what McDonald's calls the "strongest combo." Available in 30-, 60-, and 120-second formats, the commercials began rolling out on June 30 across Japanese television and digital platforms.

This marks the second consecutive year McDonald's Japan has built its summer Big Mac push around anime and Japanese pop culture. Last year's campaign drew from 1980s properties including Maison Ikkoku, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?, and Kimagure Orange Road, with creators Rumiko Takahashi and Shōji Kawamori offering public support for the effort.

Hosoda's catalog provides particularly strong material for the summer angle. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars both carry substantial summer imagery and emotional weight, while Wolf Children centers on family and renewal—themes that align with seasonal comfort food marketing. The director's mainstream popularity in Japan makes his work instantly recognizable to the campaign's target demographic.

The commercials are currently available on McDonald's Japan's YouTube channel, though they're geo-restricted to Japan. For international fans, the campaign reflects a broader trend of major Japanese brands leveraging anime properties and talented creators to connect with audiences during key sales periods.