I’ve been watching this non-stop ever since someone posted a link on my twitter stream – a commercial for Japanese conglomerate Nisshin Seifun animated by Kondo Katsuya, a veteran animator at Ghibli Studios ( who was also the character designer for Kiki’s Delivery Service ).

The animation is deceivingly simply but I’m sure it takes nothing short of a practiced hand to create this wonderful piece – I particularly enjoy that subtle tilt of the mother’s head acknowledging the presence of the kitten after her leap, and the sweep of her tail in the last few seconds to cuddle up the little one. Sweet.

I swear that catchy theme song is now stuck in my mind forever. The Japanese characters to the right of the cats translate as “Always Together.”

You can always trust Japanese artists to create the most lovable/adorable characters. There are some additional goodies like wallpapers over at the official homepage –

http://www.nisshin.com/konyara/