Anochan co-stars with Takahashi Meijin in new Book Off commercial

The latest in the "Book Off" commercial series "Ano-chan's Part-time Job," starring singer and TV personality "Ano-chan," has been released on YouTube and elsewhere. The six segments are "Off-time with a masterpiece," "Off-time with a Korean drama," "Off-time with a classic album," "Off-time with nostalgic games," "Off-time with trading cards," and "Off-time with figures." The "Off-time with nostalgic games" segment also features the gaming guru Meijin Takahashi, known for his "16-shot" technique on the Famicom.

This is the first time that Ano and Takahashi have acted together. In "Off Time Immersed in Nostalgia Games," Ano, dressed in the style of a Showa-era boy, is depicted returning to his childhood and enjoying the game with Takahashi, who plays a senior store clerk, and actress Kakimaru Michie. After seeing Takahashi's impressive rapid-fire hits, Ano hands him a pair of maracas, saying, "I want to get excited somehow," and Takahashi, in a surreal turn of events, demonstrates his high-speed maracas playing with the same rapid-fire hand movements.

Regarding his performance with Takahashi Meijin, Ano said, "I had only ever seen Takahashi Meijin in old footage from variety shows and the like, so I didn't know what he was like, but he was just an 'old man' when I saw him on TV, and when I met him in person he was just an 'old man' too, so I had the illusion that time had stopped and it was a strange feeling. The staff were the ones who were most pleased, so I thought he was an amazing person (laughs)."

Along with the new commercial, a project was also released in which Ano will compete in a "tonton paper sumo" match against Master Takahashi.