Superflat Monogram

If only all designer commercials were like this. It hasn`t convinced me to blow a month`s pay on a Louis Vuitton bag, but it has given me 5 minutes of happy. The music video starts with a little girl texting away on her phone. A tie-dye bear appears in front of her, and before the poor girl can recover from the shock of seeing something so outlandish, it eats her phone. Then it eats her as well. The inside of the bear is an alternate dimension that looks something like a hippie`s imagination filtered through the taste of a pre-teen Japanese girl. The girl flies ... around in search of her phone, and what could have been the stuff of an acid trip gone wrong turns into happy fun time.

The perfect match that the animation forms with the music makes it seem like they were created for each other. When the girl is just standing outside a mall, the music is a bright and somewhat spastic melody. Just as we see the bear, the bass comes in, and just as the girl sees the world inside the bear, the beat and choir are added. Many other dramatic moments in the animation, like a blooming cascade of flowers, are accompanied by a dramatic shift in the music. As the story layers, so does the music. The music itself is a bubbly hodge podge of samples from every instrument imaginable. A single instrument will rarely see more than 3 or 4 notes before surrendering the melody to something else. The techno beat gives some order to it all, but it`s still a wonder to me how in all its jarring disjointedness, this piece of music manages to make sense. It`s quite amazing to listen to.

Superflat Monogram is a simple pleasure. A frolicking little girl to groovy music anyone? Aside from an LV symbol here and there, I don`t really see how this ties into designer fashion, but who cares about that.

Rating a commercial is fairly simple; how effective is the work promoting the brand? There are many ways to do, but most commercials fail in that aspect; they either try to pretend it's "hip" to use the promoted product or use trashy witless humor. Even the recent Super Bowl ads feel a bit bland and stale.

This commercial, on the other hand, is memorable, adorable, and visually trippy.

For those who don't have three sisters who shop like I do, Louis Vilton is a well-known designer brand that sells designer bags and other fashion accessories. The commercial is intended to attract teenage girls to the brand, so ... in some ways, it is like a shojo anime. Thus, it is bright and colorful.

However, it goes one step further. It begins with a girl being swallowed by a walking panda and she travels into another dimension; the visuals are remarkably similar to some scenes in the Digimon series, a work the key animators are very familiar with. However, instead of gritty cyberpunk visuals, the work went the Mawaru Penguindrum way by just being spectacularly pink and stylish. The work is literally a five minute mouthwatering project for people who love artsy things.

There is no concrete story. Instead, the story is based on conveying emotions through visuals, which creates themes and ideas. Basically, this commercial asks you to check out Louis Vilton because it's not just trendy, but really family-friendly; that is a no-brainer, of course, but the way it is presented is beautiful. The music complements the story and it's a catchy experimental tune. This is what I call effective storytelling and it's pretty damn amazing to see a commercial to be this top-notch.

This is of course a commercial and it's no Neon Genesis Evangelion. People looking for a concrete story will definitely not enjoy it, but if you are willing to spare your five minutes and go on an acid trip, check out this commercial. This is a great commercial without a doubt.

all i have to say is "if only all commercials are like this"
its cute and happy, this short anime made me happy and want to go buy a bag badly.
overall i thought was enjoyable and cute

What is it, what we got in that 5 minutes, we should spend with that anime?

Story: [7/10]

I think, when you see that it goes only 5 minutes, you will know that it has not much of a story but even in that short time, it manages to give you something that will satisfy you. It's nothing really amazing but it fulfilled his purpose to show us a fantastic world, where everything can be possible and nothing could be wrong. Nothing needs to be explained because it is just the fantasy what that little girl imagined and the viewer of this has just to sit comfortable ... and enjoy this cute, simple story of a dream.

Art: [10/10]

That is really something, that stands out in this little animation. I love the colorful world and cute way of drawing. It know's how to set the center of the happen and catch our attention every single second of that 5 minutes. The animations are peppy and fluent, so that we fly dynamic trough the happen and let us feel like a adventurer in a new country, who wants to see all new things as fast as possible.

Sound: [10/10]

In the whole 5 minutes you hear only one song but it changes in every situation in the right kind of music, so that it supports the animation in the best way. The background sound is always happy, little bit wierd and enjoyable so that we can take all the happen with a bright feeling and nothing stops the trip of that.

Character: [8/10]

That little girl, that takes the viewer to that fantastic world gives us not much information about her or the world itself, so that we can not see her as a own standing character but more importantly takes the little girl the role of person, who wants to be identified as the viewer himself. I think, the people shall see the own way of thinking in their childhood. Of course, there a some other figures, that shall impress the viewer and the girl but these people are more like someone who is more necessary to show the fantasy-world itself. The relationship between the creatures are not intensive but the time, their spend together are the result of that childlike curiosity what I love so much about kids.

Enjoyment: [9/10

I enjoyed this animation very well, because there are not complex activities or settings, where you can do things wrong. Only the little adventure of that girl and enthusiasm of a fantastic world, full of fantasy. There's nothing, what you can dislike and all is somehow nice and cute in that animation.


Overall: [9/10]

In the end, it's something that is really worth to spend 5 minutes in that little animation, if you can let loose your mind and enjoy the pictures and music. Superflat Monogram is for every person, it doesn't matter which age you have, because only one thing here is important; your willingness to enjoy.

If you want to see more animes like this, I recommendate you to watch Tobira wo Akete.