Japanese auto giant Toyota is set to launch a brand new anime series titled GRIP. Scheduled to release on February 26, 2024, the 5-episode series will be shown weekly on Toyota’s Official Website.
This anime series is produced by Long Beach-based marketing company Intertrend and aims to use the essence of Japanese animation with Toyota’s famous Gazoo Racing motorsport division, to appeal to both Gen. -Z and Asian American youth demographics.
A new trailer has been revealed to celebrate this announcement.
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The film follows protagonist Jae Kang and his companions as they navigate a futuristic metropolis controlled by technology corporation SynthCorp. The series opens at a time when the joy of driving has been extinguished by SynthCorp’s dominance. Led by the mysterious Dr. Synth, the corporation convinced the public of the superiority of cookie-cutter vehicles, which he successfully convinced the public to consider safer, more efficient, and would leading to a more controlled society. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. Kang, along with his specially modified GR Corolla, finds himself thrust into a race against time to free the city from impending danger.
Matthew Choy, Executive Director of Strategy/Creative at Intertrend, highlighted anime as the perfect vehicle to connect with its target demographic, stating: “the perfect medium for that audience. hey, leveraging a storytelling platform is not a conventional, expected advertising campaign.”
Inspired by classic animated films like Initial D, Choy notes that the genre provides a more vivid portrait of cars and characters, amplifying the thrill of driving Cars are like telling stories.
“We were inspired to tell a story that went beyond the product and he used stories that we see around us in American culture,” he added. He also went on to say that it will have themes of Automation vs. Manual Control, Digital vs. Analog, and Good vs. Evil.
Source: Variety, Toyota