The McDonald's Anime & New WcDonald's Sauce, Explained

For anime and manga fans, it's already a longstanding tradition. Whenever a character needs to chow down on some burgers, they end up at their local WcDonald's. A clear parody of the internationally renowned burger chain McDonald's, the formerly fake set of restaurants first appeared in the anime and manga "Cat's Eye" in the early 1980s and has since shown up in dozens of Japanese-released video games, mangas, animes, and light novels. 

McDonald's has apparently decided to stake its claim on the brand and is introducing special packaging, a virtual weekly anime short series that will be available on its app and the official McDonald's YouTube channel, and a digital manga that will be released via the app as well. Manga chapters and anime shorts will be released weekly through March 24. The shorts and anime are a collaboration with Studio Pierrot and are drawn by Acky Bright.

McDonald's USA started its anime-themed "WcDonald's" campaign today. It includes special packaging, as well as original manga and anime episodes produced by animation house Studio Pierrot.pic.twitter.com/G3DsHn4Vsw https://t.co/3yQSVzVMrd

— Jeffrey J. Hall 🇯🇵🇺🇸 (@mrjeffu) February 26, 2024

As if that isn't enough excitement for the average anime-loving fast food fan, the promotion offers a brand new sauce, as customers can pick up WcDonald's Savory Chilli Sauce at locations worldwide. But the nugget-based excitement doesn't end there.

Aside from the worldwide rollout of its new special sauce and its manga and anime installments, McDonald's is offering a further treat for Los Angeles residents. Consumers can immerse themselves in a virtual dining experience at 8505 Santa Monica Boulevard starting on March 9. It's a pop-up shop that will be enhanced by 360 projection mapping and immersive tabletop projections. Since the experience will only last for two days, consumers are strongly encouraged to reserve a spot with OpenTable. 

This, of course, isn't the first time McDonald's has indulged in promotions related to animated projects. The company memorably launched a special Szechuan sauce for the release of Disney's "Mulan." When said sauce became a huge plot point in an episode of "Rick and Morty"  years later, public demand resulted in a limited re-release. However, the sauce's reappearance ended up causing chaos and resulted in riots and volatile behavior from customers. Hopefully, things down at WcDonald's will prove to be far more peaceful ... and just as successful.