Original subtitles

Calcium, phosphorus, iron...

vitamins A, B1, B2, niacin.

Manpuki Ramen received an endorsement from the National Institute of Nutrition.

How much did the sales go up?

80 percent.

80 percent?

But...

This won't do at all.

Selling a bunch in the corner of a department store doesn't accomplish anything.

Things weren't going as expected.

"Penguin Soap"

- What's this? - It's an advertisement.

- Advertisement... - It's on every day.

- Every day... - Over and over.

Over and over...

"Penguin Soap from P Brand. It's 30 yen."

This is it!

TV's the answer!

Manpuku

♫Marumatteru senakani ni morai naki ♫I get infectious weeping looking at your stooped shoulders

♫Haji datte issho ni ♫We'll share the humiliation too

Week 21

Please Come Up With a Strategy

♫Hikoukigumo bonyari nagamu ♫Gazing absentmindedly at contrails

♫Kokoro kokoni arazu ♫Here in body, but not in spirit

♫Nenkan totaru moshi shitara ♫If I was to calculate an annual total

♫Tsukiau watashi sugoi? ♫Aren't I amazing for keeping you company?

♫Toboketeru mayuge ni morai warai ♫ I get infectious laughter looking at your comical eyebrows

♫Tere datta nandatte ♫Be it embarrassment or whatever

♫Ganko de mendou de hara mo tatsu kedo ♫Although you're obstinate and troublesome and you make me mad

♫Anata no jounetsu wa ♫Your passion is

♫Atashi no hokori de jiman de kakugo nano ♫My honor, my pride, and my resolve

♫Morai naki morai warai morai ikari ♫Infectious weeping, infectious laughter, infectious anger

♫Moraippaji don to koi! ♫Infectious embarrassment. Bring them on!

♫Seiten mo donten mo hekireki mo ♫Sunny days, cloudy days, thunderous days too

Advertise on TV?

That's right. We're going to broadcast an ad for Manpuku Ramen on TV.

Is it possible to do such a thing?

- Won't it cost a lot of money? - What? Does it cost money?

Of course it will. It's an advertisement.

Why didn't I think of that? Fuku-chan's idea isn't bad.

The importance of advertisement was already proven by Daneihon.

Besides, from what I heard,

TV stations are in trouble because there aren't too many companies

that want to broadcast commercials on TV.

- Commercial? - Yeah.

Advertisements broadcast on TV are called commercials.

Even basic things like that are still unknown.

- Then if we do it now... - We may not have to pay a lot for the ad.

Let's do it then.

We're going to broadcast this commercial of Manpuku Ramen over and over on TV every day.

That's nothing like from yelling out from a sales booth at a department store.

Manpuku Ramen will be on TV?

But it's still going to cost a fair amount of money, isn't it?

What are we going to do, Sera-san?

Well... What shall we do? Shinichi-san.

I'll raise the money somehow.

All right. Then let's do the commercial.

The question now is what kind of commercial do we make.

How is a commercial made?

Normally, everything including planning and contents

is delegated to an advertising agency. But...

If we consider the expense, we should do as much as we can ourselves.

- Yes, you're right. - By ourselves?

Even if filming is impossible, we should at least come up with ideas for the content.

- How can we do it ourselves? - We can do it, Mom.

- I'll come up with something. - You will?

Yeah. At the university, I was a member of the cinema fan club.

- Were you making movies?! - No. We just watched movies.,

- What the heck. - But having the desire to do it is important.

- It is, indeed. - Then Kanbe-san, please do that for us.

- Sure. - The important thing is to

- convey the good points of Manpuku Ramen. - Got it.

- The fact that it's tasty. - The fact that it's convenient.

- That 20 yen isn't too expensive. - That it's packed with nutrients.

We're counting on you, Kanbe-kun.

I can't wait to see it.

He wants to borrow the studio?

Yeah. He says he feels more likely to get an inspiration for the commercial in my studio.

I wonder if he's planning to skip dinner.

He said he won't be eating until he gets an idea. With a scary look on his face like this.

He must be really getting into it.

Isn't he overdoing it? He isn't even an employee of Manpuku Foods.

He said he wants to work during the day too, and submitted a leave request at work.

He might get fired one of these days.

How can you say that so easily?

When Manpuku Ramen starts selling, he can go work for Manpuku Foods.

- Right, Dai-chan? - You're too optimistic, Taka.

I wonder who you took after.

- That's got to be you. - Me?

You married a poor struggling artist, didn't you? In spite of Grandma's objection.

That's... well, that's certainly true.

Gosh, I want to help too.

Why won't the president give us a call?

I understand how you feel. But you know,

can you at least order a drink?

We're providing Manpuku Ramen at cost

so we're not making any money from it.

But the sampling sales have been going on for more than 10 days now.

If sales don't increase soon, wholesale dealers will give up on us.

A 3-week period means 11 more days to go, huh?

Will the TV ad be ready by that time?

- It can just be coffee. - Or soda.

We'd be in trouble if it isn't. Manpuku Foods might go under.

- What! - Before we even get a chance to help?

How about fruit juice? Come on.

Or cream soda?

Juice doesn't go well with ramen. Please give me water.

- Yoshino-chan... - Water for me too. - Me too.

Whose idea was it to sell Manpuku Ramen at cost?

- It was yours! - That's right.

It's ready.

- It's ready?! - Yes, I have three.

- Three? - You have three ideas for a commercial?

- Yes. - That's amazing.

Let's see them.

The first one is this.

You see this in other commercials too. It's what's called manga?

- It's called animation. - It's a commercial made from animation.

Mr. Chicken and Ms. Chicken comes along.

Mr. Chicken, who had his feathers plucked, was boiled in hot water and turned into chicken soup.

And Ms. Chicken eats the Manpuku Ramen made from that soup.

"Manpuku Ramen's soup is made from me. Enjoy!"

"Look. Just pour in hot water and it's ready to eat.

See how easy it is. It's ready to eat in just 3 minutes."

" Manpuku Ramen is so delicious.

What's more, it's also nutritious. Cock-a-doodle-doo."

What do you think?

- It's kinda scary. - This is no good.

- I think I might dream about this. - That's what I was aiming for.

- That's going overboard, Kanbe-kun. - Show us the other ones.

Next is... this one.

This is...

Manpei Brand's Manpuku Ramen.

It's the same as Daneihon.

That's right. Manpei-san will be appearing again.

- No way! - It's been almost 10 years, but

there's still a lot of people who remember that sign.

- No! - If we advertise the fact that

the person who made Manpuku Ramen is that Manpei-san from Daneihon,

everyone will be surprised and it would draw attention.

- That's true. - That is not true.

But Manpei-kun was arrested by the Occupation Forces after that

and drew attention in a bad way.

Don't you think it's best to leave Manpei Brand alone anymore?

- Oh, really? - I'll never do it!

Since Manpuku Ramen is a new type of ramen,

I don't think we should bring up Manpei Brand after all these years...

- I agree. - What about you, Manpei-san?

That's why I've been saying that I don't want to do it!

I understand. Then...

this is it.

You may think it's too ordinary, but

actually, I like this one the best.

- Is this a housewife? - Yes.

The housewife makes Manpuku Ramen and the kids are eating it with delight.

That's right.

"Just put the noodle in a bowl and pour hot water over it."

"Delicious ramen is ready to eat in just 3 minutes."

"Endorsed to be packed with nutrients."

"Loved by adults and children alike, Manpuku Ramen."

"5 packages in every household, Manpuku Ramen."

- "Yummy!" - What do you think?

It certainly does feel a bit too ordinary, but...

Isn't 5 packages in every household being a bit too pushy?

This line means you can always have some on hand so that you can eat it anytime.

I think this one's the best.

- I think it's good too. - Not playing on its novelty leaves a good impression as well.

This one's good from a man's point of view as well.

- Then it's settled. This is it. - What? It's decided?

Thank you! What a relief.

But who's going to play this part? A well-known actress?

- A well-known actress would cost too much. - An unknown actress would cost money too, right?

Then who?

The ramen is the star here, so the housewife can be anyone.

I can do it for you, you know.

Actually, I had Madam in mind when I came up with this idea.

What, me?!

You've got to be kidding. There's no way I'm appearing on TV.

- Shall I do it? - Fuku-chan would be perfect.

That's right. Together with Gen-chan and Sacchan.

Something like this happened before too, didn't it?

It's for Manpuku Ramen. No is unacceptable in this situation.

But I don't want to do it.

Then why don't you let me do it?

Please, Fukuko. Help us out here.

- Please, Madam. - Go ahead and ask me.

Show your pride as an Osaka woman and say yes.

- That's right. - Can't you all hear me?

All right, all right! I shall be pleased to do it!

- Ah~ Thank goodness. - Thanks, Fuku-chan.

Then we'll start working on producing the commercial right away.

Isn't this exciting, Grandma?

Yes, indeed...

It was 2 days later that the filming crew showed up at Fuku-chan's house.

So Madam, start pouring the hot water when you hear "Ready, start."

- This won't do. She's terribly nervous. - Fuku-chan, smile.

Please finish pouring while I read the narration.

Here we go then.

Smile!

Hold that smile.

Roll the camera please.

Ready~ start!

"Just put the noodle in a bowl and pour hot water over it."

Okay!

What? That was okay?

- That was good, Auntie Fukuko. - You did good.

- Hey, you think that was okay? - She had a nice smile.

What was nice about that smile!

- It'll make the viewers feel uneasy. - Really?

- Take it over again. - From the beginning?

She was shaking so bad, the kettle was knocking into the bowl like crazy.

- Really? - You could hear it clanging.

After that, the filming somehow managed to proceed and...

This is the last scene.

When I say "Ready, start," start eating

and Gen-chan and Sacchan are going to say "It's delicious!"

- In a loud voice, okay? - Okay.

Now then, Madam, look at the camera...

"5 packages in every household, Manpuku Ramen."

That's right. But that wasn't good. Smile, smile.

I know.

This is the only scene she has a line.

But you're stiff as a board. Fukuko.

Fuku-chan, relax.

You're still tense.

Fukuko.

Look at Gen and Sachi.

Smells good.

- Can't we eat yet? - Aren't you two nervous at all?

- Not at all. - You're here with us.

You're right. We're here together, right?

Her expression's getting much better.

Let's go. Please get the camera rolling. Ready, start!

It's delicious!

5 packages in every household, Manpuku Ramen.