Get on! Kyoto City Subway explained

is a Japanese multimedia advertising campaign produced by the Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau since 2013.

History

The origin of the project, a campaign to increase Kyoto Municipal Subway passengers by 50 thousand, started in 2011.^[1] At that time, one of the project team called 'Moe-Moe Challenge team' created a character, 'Moe Uzumasa', to promote subway. After that, the project team created her friends and families in sequence.

In 2013, Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau held a competition to promote Kyoto Municipal Subway using the characters. Then the characters' refine plan proposed by GK Kyoto, a design studio in Kyoto, was adopted unanimously. Through the refine plan, campaign posters using Moe and her friends, Saki and Misa, with the sales copy 'Get on! Kyoto City Subway'.^[2] These characters were newly illustrated by Kamogawa.^[3]

Characters

Characters' detailed information was published for the alternative fiction event.^[4]

Main characters

Moe is a second-year student of high school. She loves a subway affected by her father. She lives near Uzumasa Tenjingawa Station. Her hobby is taking pictures.

Saki is Moe's childhood friend. She belongs to the track and field club and is good at running. She lives near Matsugasaki Station.

Misa is Moe's childhood friend. She wears lower half-rimmed glasses. She joined light music club in high school and play the guitar affected by an animation program. She lives near Ono Station.

Rei is Moe's older sister and 25 years old. She works as a curator at a museum in Kyoto. She likes Sake and Tsukemono.

Ryō is Misa's older brother. He is a student of a university and studying design. He is a geek of digital gadgets.

Takeru is Ryō's high school friend. He is an apprentice to a baker. He lives near Jūjō Station.

Miyako-kun is a mascot character of Kyoto Municipal Subway. He is modeled after rolling stock '50 series' operated on Tozai Line.

Kyō-chan is a mascot character of Kyoto City Bus.

Collaborated characters

Sono is Moe's cousin. She is an official character for Kyoto Gakuen University, which is near Uzumasa Tenjingawa Station. She loves Parantica sita.

Miyu is Ryō's university friend. She is an official character for Kyoto International Manga Museum. She lives near Karasuma Oike Station. She knows a lot about comics. She sometimes works at a part-time shrine maiden at her grandparents' shrine.

Kyōka is Rei's drinking companion. She works in JR Kyoto Isetan as an assistant buyer.

Kakeru is a member of Super command rescue team in Kyoto City Fire Department. He lives near Kitayama Station. He loves Rāmen, but he easily burn his mouth.

Aoi is a firefighter of Kyoto City Fire Department. She lives near Nijō Station. She studies the soup broth of Udon.

Miyabi works in the public relations department of Daimaru Kyoto Store. She lives near Imadegawa Station. She loves Japanese sweets.

Media

Anime

First 15-second-long anime commercials were produced in 2014 by Gyorai Eizō Inc. with the background theme "sakura" performed by Harumi Ōki. In 2015, another 15-second-long commercials were released.

A short animation was announced in 2016 as a crowdfunding campaign.^[5] At first, the goal of the campaign was 1 million yen, but it finally surpassed 10 million Yen, and released in May 2017. Its ending theme is "Kōsen" performed by Harumi Ōki.^[6]

In 2018, another crowdfunding campaign was announced to produce anime commercials with male characters, Takeru and Ryo. It finally surpassed 3 million Yen, and released in May 2019.^[7]

Novels

A light novel adaptation written by Motoki with art by Kamogawa was first released in 2015. In 2018, another novel adaptation written by Mai Mochizuki was released.

Kyo Girls Days

Uzumasa-so Diary

External links

• • Subway, Bus One-Day Pass - Kyoto Municipal Transportation Bureau

Notes and References

1. Web site: Kyoto Subway Creates Moe Character to Boost Ridership. Anime News Network. December 22, 2011.
2. Web site: Manga in the frame: images from the British Museum exhibition. The Guardian. 18 May 2019.
3. Web site: http://hatenanews.com/articles/201407/20490. ja:京都の地下鉄キャラクター「太秦萌」はなぜ“進化”した？ デザイン会社と交通局に聞く制作秘話. Japanese. Hatena. May 29, 2019 . 4 July 2014 .
4. Web site: http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/f1536c_c77b28c86cd84df395491fb35d1ae49d.pdf. ja:ちかつくっ キャラクター設定資料. Japanese. May 29, 2019.
5. Web site: Crowdfunding Secured for Anime Short on Kyoto's Subway Girls. Anime News Network. March 19, 2016.
6. Web site: https://gigazine.net/news/20180531-kyoto-kotsu-chikatetsu/. ja:交通局の職員が考案し1000万円以上を集めるにまで成長した京都市交通局公式アニメ「地下鉄に乗るっ」が無料公開中. Japanese. Gigazine. May 29, 2019 . 31 May 2018 .
7. Web site: https://karasuma.keizai.biz/headline/3415/. ja:京都市営地下鉄「地下鉄男子」アニメCM公開 クラウドファンディングで資金調達. Japanese. Information Workshop Co.. May 29, 2019.