Bland Name Product / Anime & Manga

What? You're acting like you've never seen an ordinary Coco-Cole before.

A general note: It's as easy for a Japanese artist or animator to just change one letter of the Roman alphabet and get away with it as it would be for a Western artist or animator to switch out a single kanji. See here for a non-exhaustive list.

• The 109 building in Shibuya, Tokyo, is also subject to this since it's a department store. My Hero Academia renders its logo as "1009".
• In 20th Century Boys, it's conspicuously absent with everything shown or named is real. (The extra level of real-world grounding makes it especially strange that nobody comments on the character names that are blatant shout outs to classic sci-fi manga.) Although a "Suny" brand music player does appear at least once.
• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You has "Bocky" sticks.^note Depending on the kana, "bokki" can also be a slang term for a Raging Stiffie. Later chapters refer to them by the proper name of Pocky sticks, however.
• Ah... and Mm... Are All She Says:
  • Tanaka reads the new issue of X+C magazine at "Star Fox Coffee".
  • Norush storyboards his next work at "Benny's".
  • Tanaka makes copies of the doujin at "Shinko's".
  • Oshigiri works in an advertising agency called Manpodo, based on Hakuhodo, Japan's second-largest.^note Dentsu is the largest.
  • Inukai gives Toda a Tacom tablet.
• Ah! My Goddess has "Somy" and many others, including "Poca-Cola", on which Belldandy gets wasted, "Dack Daniels" whiskey and "God Year" tires.
• Ai Kora has one chapter which features Nanako Sideway, a shopping plaza based on the real-life shopping plaza (and otaku haven) Nanako Broadway.
• In Ai Yori Aoshi, Miyabi's car is a BMW Z3, only the BMW logo is red instead of blue. They also get out a "Twinsters" party game in one episode. They also have "Starfocks Coffee" restaurants.
• Akumetsu has such gems as Weekly Tsop and Starbunnys Coffee.
• In Angel Beats!, Computers all run on Macrosoft's Winding XO system. Seems like they got an actual English-speaker to help with those puns. (The logo is a spiral, because it's "winding" as in "winding up a cord." It doesn't alliterate with "windows.")
• In Anohana The Flower We Saw That Day, the protagonists have a nostalgic fondness for the game Nokemon. The version they play is very clearly based on Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, complete with the kids having played them on GBA SP looking systems. It is briefly discussed that something called Dojimon exists as well.
• Episode 12 of Asobi Asobase references the "Pineapple Store". Hanako even repeats it with a clear look of disbelief.
• In chapter 2 of the Assassination Classroom manga, the K.Y. Times for the New York Times, and the Turkies for the New York Yankees. The Pocky seen throughout the series is known as Pooky. There's also 5 Up soda, Jac Danas whiskey, and (rather unblandly named) Void brand computers.
• Asteroid in Love:
  • Georgia Max, a highly sweetened canned coffee that is iconic in the kanto region, is known as "Goalgia Mix" here.
  • Ao, Endou and Hayakawa eats at a fast food restaurant called A&M, in reference to A&W, an American fast food chain popular in Okinawa due to the American influence there. Although, many viewers take that to also mean "Ao & Mira", in reference to the main duo.
• Azumanga Daioh has "abidas" (adidas) and "Rocky" (Pocky), and Chiyo and Osaka end up working at Magnetron Burger, whose logo is a dead McDonalds giveaway. (Amusingly, McDonald's is actually mentioned in an early strip about Osakan regional differences. Apparently Azuma didn't decide to play it safe until later.) In a strange twist of real life imitating art, Pocky is indeed sold as "Rocky" in some South-East Asian countries^note something to do with Pocky sounding like puki (pronounced pookie, which is a Malay term for the vagina)., although the original "Pocky" is available at import stores. Nihon also supplies cameras in the anime. There's also a Fuji-like sign (when Sakaki buys her Nihon camera), but no text is visible. In addition, the characters occasionally get food from W's.
• In the opening to Baccano!, it's possible to see chocolate bars by "Herseey's" and "Nostle".
• In Bakuman。 manga it's averted, where the mangaka main characters hope to get their work published in Shueisha's Shonen Jump magazine, and submit works for Akamaru Jump. Played straight in the anime, when it's Yueisha, Shonen Jack and NEXT, respectively. The titles of the manga the characters mention aren't changed, however.
  • Played straight with other brands in the Manga, too. Moritaka and Akito are meeting in front of a Rowson convenience store. Gets partially Lost in Translation in the dialog, as the Japanese spelling of Lawson and Rowson is the same (ローソン).
• In Battle Club, there is the restaurant Kanna Miller's instead of Anna Miller's.
• BECK anime has many examples of "rock bland" names. Including NC5 (MC5), Pixis (The Pixies), Ramonne (The Ramones) Red Hot Chili Poppers, DXM (DMX), etc. Also a plethora of brand name knock-offs on signs in the city. Subverted slightly when characters refer to specific instruments: a 'Strat' (Fender Stratocaster) or 'Telecaster' (also made by Fender), and Gibson's 'Les Paul' - however, no one mentions Fender or Gibson by name; the actual names/logos on guitars are obscured.
• Beelzebub. Oga has a PlayStation 5.
• Black Lagoon has multiple, the most noticeable of which would be the "Heireken" (Heineken) beer the protagonists all drink. Yet there's no issue with them referring to Bacardi, nor is the GTO tag hidden on Benny's car in some shots. Heck, Revy's guns are Beretta M92F customs, which are prominently displayed in the opening sequence and mentioned at least once.
• Blast of Tempest. When Mahiro mentions he's getting hungry, Yoshino hands him a "Znickers" bar.
• Bleach shows a "Handin Donuts" sign at one point when Tatsuki is searching for Orihime, instead of "Dunkin' Donuts."
• Blood Blockade Battlefront has Peiniken (Heiniken, but the logo shows whiskey), Dogimo's (which Leo works for), Codac, Kentudgy Fried Chicken (KDFC), Yo!Tube and Hainz.
• BNA: Brand New Animal has "Facelook" for Facebook on top of its animal Flintstone Theming including "Burger Kitty" for Burger King, "Hedgehog" for Heineken and "Unicorn" for Uniqlo.
• Brynhildr in the Darkness episode 9 has "Rich(m)ond Hotel".
• In Case Closed, Pocari Sweat became "Hocari Sweat", Sony became "ONY" and Denny's became "Donny's". The anime has Ran and Sonoko going to see a film called "Ossan's Eleven".
• Cat Planet Cuties:
  • There are Somy, OIAV, and PanaX (Possibly a spoof of Panasonic and Pentax).
  • The OVA has "Nahapoly" (Monopoly), "Umo" (Uno), "Tracker" (Twister), and boxes showing games that resemble Life and Perfection.
• A Certain Scientific Railgun has a laptop with "Designed for Macindows EXP: Macindows BST Capable" and "Outel Cora i7 outside" stickers.
• Chaos;Head. ...where to begin? Deluoode, Taboo!, Animeight, @Channel, MewTube, McDynald's...The Other Wiki becomes "We-Key Pedophilia". Surprisingly, Coca-Cola remains unchanged.
• Chatting at the Amber Teahouse has "Googla".
• An episode of Chibi Maruko-chan has the titular character take a flight on an airline named Pan Up with the logo of (now defunct) airline Pan Am.
• In CLANNAD, the early drama club room has a cardboard box for a Somy PC laying around.
• Comic Girls:
  • The cast's publisher Bunhousha is created by swapping the first two kanji of the manga's publisher Houbunsha.
  • Kaoruko brings with her a Rintiq tablet.
• Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou and its Horiz ketchup.
• Cowboy Bebop featured "Pippu" cola, whose color scheme was exactly the same as that of Pepsi.
  • Also, in "Heavy Metal Queen", V.T. is seen drinking "Boofeaters" Extra Dry Gin, with the rest of the label unchanged.
  • Rocket Noodles, instead of Cup Noodles. Gives a whole new meaning to instant noodles.
• In one of the extras in the Da Capo TV Series, Miharu has a desktop PC whose OS is "Windoors 2000", and she surfs a website called "Ahoo!" (Japanese site, hence its url ends in ahoo.co.jp) where she does online auctions.
• Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School:
  • In the first episode of Side:Despair, Nagito's luck gets him several cans of "Dr Hopper" and Chiaki plays Gala Omega on her Nantendo Game Girl Advance.
  • While Ryota is working on his anime in a new location in Side:Despair Episode 7, Junko gives him a mini-fridge filled with a Red Bull knockoff, replacing the bulls with bulldogs for its logo. She also references the real life product's Catchphrase.
    Junko: Have you got wings?
  • Monaka's room in Side:Future Episode 7 has a box with a "Darazon" logo, with a curved arrow under it similar to the Amazon logo.
• Darker than Black 2, episode 11 has StartBoxs (sic) Coffee.
  • The original also had "McDonness Burger" and "Lufanser" airplanes. Which makes the Pizza Hut billboards all over the place seem even stranger.^note Many, many Code Geass jokes were made. The dub, however, replaced all the Pizza Hut logos with "Pizza Slice", creating another example of this trope.
• DEAD Tube has Machiya, the male protagonist, carry a Sonv camcorder, it's a clearly one of Sony's HDR series of Handycams; it's used to film murders.
• DearS episode 12 has a "Zutar Bacchus" coffee shop chain, and a coffeeshop by the name of "Starpucks" is introduced to Takeya's town.
• Death Note:
  • There is "Gentle!" instead of Google and Yahoo (it must be for refined internet users), Eighteen instead of Seventeen magazine, "Fanto" instead of Fanta, and "Fanasonic" and "Metsubishi" instead of Panasonic and Mitsubishi giant TV sets.
  • And, amusingly: "Mild Turkey".
  • The manga has "Panasonio" videotapes.
  • Also To-oh University, instead of Tokyo. This is despite the story still taking place mostly in Tokyo.
  • TV-wise, it manages to have both NKK and NHN as blanded versions of NHK.
  • There's also a "CAZIO" mini-TV in the "potato chip" scene.
• Akira is seen purchasing a "CalorieBuddy"^note based on the Japanese energy bar CalorieMate at a convenience store in episode 3 of DEVILMAN crybaby.
• The Devil is a Part-Timer!:
  • Emi works as customer service for "Docodemo", a clear parody of Japanese telecom giant Docomo.
  • Across the street from MgRonald's where the demon king works, there is a Sentucky Fried Chicken, managed by archangel Sariel.
  • They also go clothing shopping at UniSlo (Uniqlo) and Maou threatens to sell Urushihara's "Pasta" game (PSP) at Book-On (Book-off). Other restaurants and brands show up as well.
• Digimon Tamers has one episode with a mom telling her daughter that "Bernard the Dinosaur" is on.
  • Digimon Adventure did this a lot. In one episode, you can see a vending machine that sells "Koca Kola".
  • The follow-up, Digimon Adventure 02, had a "Wac" computer in one episode. Izzy in Adventure was also fond of his laptop emblazoned with a pineapple logo.
  • The first and second movies feature signs labled "Factory Mark". This is a reference to Japanese supermarket chain, Family Mart.
• In the 2005 series of Doraemon, Nobita is often shown reading "GoroGoro Comics".
• Averted in Dragon Ball Z. The legendary farmer with a shotgun owns a truck that has the name "Chevrolet" on its rear. Played straight later on, where Mr. Satan rigs a "GamePoy" to explode.
  • Dragon Ball Super has a weird instance of this with "GodTube", which is apparently what divine beings like the Kaioshin watch instead of YouTube. Gowasu even cracks a joke about wanting to become a GodTuber. The Zenos also use a GodPad to keep track of who got eliminated in the Tournament of Power.
• Dramacon OEL manga has this in spades. "Mcburger Queen," "Mangapop," "Daylodge" and "Taco Hut" appear prominently, as well as references to fake anime such as "Sailing Moon".
  • Taco Hut may be a sly reference to the fact that Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are both managed and operated by Yum! Brands and in many places operate co-branded stores.
  • There's also Pawky, which is an entertaining bonus joke for literary buffs; Half-Metal Alchemist, Fruity Basket, and Wolf's Reign.
  • Mangapop becomes confusing because Dramacon was distributed by Tokyopop (and the rights were tangled up in Tokyopop's collapse, which is why the promised fourth volume of Dramacon never materialized), and thus there was no trademark to avoid.
• Durarara!!:
  • The series is full of Bland Name Products for various advertisements, billboards, and products seen around Tokyo, usually misspellings of real brands: Yohoo!, Amezon, Yo!Tube, etc. Mikado buys an "NEG" computer that runs "Mindows 7", its boot screen contains a logo for "Wbunte" (a parody of Ubuntu)
  • In episode 11, when Shizuo is talking about the meaning of life (or something), in the background there's a sign with a man on it who looks suspiciously like Colonel Sanders.
  • Dotachin shares a drink of Red Snake energy drink with Mikado at one point.
  • The second episode has a billboard for "Yahaha" motorcycles.
• Eureka Seven does this (a lot) with, among others, "Rersi Cola" (which also sounds like "RC Cola", for a double whammy) and "Smickers" bars.
• Excel♡Saga has Nabeshin driving a "Mitsubibi Lancer." They also watch news reports on an SQNY television. The "Next episode" buffers take place in front of a giant "20th Century FQX" logo.
  • The backgrounds of lots of episodes have these. Picari Sweat (Pocari Sweat), Loazon (Lawson), and "33 Ice Cream" (Baskin Robbins is more commonly known in Japan as "31 Ice Cream") are just a few examples.
• In the second episode of Fly Me to the Moon, Nasa considers making a purchase from "Tundra". Their website is blatantly modeled after Amazon.
• In Food Wars!, Soma uses some of these in his cooking, including "Asabi" beer and "Klaft" Parmesan cheese.
• In the Turning Red spinoff 4★Town 4★Real, 4*Town is interviewed live on the network "SuchMusic" (MuchMusic).
• Full Metal Panic!: The Second Raid
  • The opening has Kurz looking through a dirty magazine with a hot babe on it titled "Play Ball."
  • Kaname gets a "Pizza But" ad in her mail, before the current fad of Pizza hut sponsorship.
  • The original series had Bocari Sweat (Pocari Sweat) and Heibeken (Heineken) beer. Oddly, the Product Placement of Budweiser remains intact
• In Fushigi Yuugi, Miaka gives some "Creen Gum" to Tamahome (while keeping the "Lotte" part intact) and later in a flashback shows her using a "Pontax" digicam.
• The Future GPX Cyber Formula series has some actual brand names put into ads, but there are some of them like these such as "Comel" (Camel cigarettes) and "Umited Celors of Pemetton" (Benetton clothing). And there was a racing team based on the clothing company in the '90s, which happened around the time series was made.
• The Garden of Sinners:
  • Fukan Fuukei ("Overlooking View"). The first scene involves Mikiya visiting Shiki and giving her a cup of "Häagan-Dazs" strawberry ice cream. Averted with the Volvic bottled water she keeps in her fridge.
  • Mujun Rasen ("Paradox Spiral") features the strawberry "Häagan-Dazs" again, though it's not close enough to read, and a "Somsomg" (i.e., Samsung) billboard on top of a building.
  • Satsujin Kousatsu ("Murder Speculation") Part 2. The first scene includes Mikiya visiting Shiki and giving her a can of Georgia Emerald Mountain Blend, a brand of Japanese canned coffee. During the close-up on the label, however, Shiki's fingers are partially covering the letters, so this is most likely an aversion but technically may be playing it straight.
• The sixth iteration of GeGeGe no Kitarō has "U-Tube", "Lein", "Instegram", "Geegle" and "CC" (7-eleven).
• The Geek Ex-Hitman: Marco finds common ground with a yakuza boss over assembling and painting "Nundam" model kits.
• Genshiken has the group going to a doujinshi sale convention called "Comifes" (Comiket).
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex:
  • Batou faces robotic dogs made by "Tonda" (using the same typeface as Honda).
  • In the wake of the first Laughing Man incident, Starchild Coffee came into business, using a modified version of the Laughing Man smiling face for their logo.
• Gintama:
  • There's plenty of this in the Bentendo Owee arc. Aside from the titular system, you've got Hijikata berating Okita and Kondo for being fans of the Zega Creamcast and Zony respectively, and the Yorozuya gang and the Shinsengumi competing against each other at Bakiboki Memorial, Nobunaga's Regurgitation, and Dragon Hunter 3.
  • A later arc has the gang playing the MMORPG Monkey Hunter in an attempt to locate some aliens who turned them into screwdrivers.
  • The diner that the Yorozuya trio and others frequently meet at is called Tenny's.
• In Girlfriend, Girlfriend, Rika makes videos for "MeTube".
• Girlish Number gets kind of weird with this — despite being clearly shown on-screen as "BINE" (a riff on LINE), it's introduced as "that chat app everyone is using now" and is only referred to using similar phrases instead of characters just using its fictional name.
• GoShogun: Yatta-la Kernagul wants to open a chain of fried chicken restaurants called "Kernagul's Fried Chicken" and a hamburger chain called "KerDonald's".
• Gravitation:
  • The anime has the characters eat at "Zenny's."
  • Yuuk drinks Budweiser? No, Wudbeiser.
• Haganai has Largehard consoles (Microsoft) and PSP's: Playing State Portables as rival games systems. Also Megasonic air conditioning.
• Happy Lesson had "Windiis XXXP", and "Crocrosoft Mord", as well as the usual "Pony" televisions.
• In the Haruhi Suzumiya anime, "Espon" laptops appear and the characters regularly eat at 'WcDonald's'.
  • The latter seems somewhat odd since during one outdoor scene, the background shows what is unmistakably a Sunkus convenience store...
    • This might be subtly lampshaded in "The Misadventures of Mikuru Asahina", which at the end says essentially: "This product is a work of fiction. Oh, except the store endorsements! Those are real. Please shop there."
  • Actually averted by the time the movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya rolls around. At one point, a computer boots up and we the startup screen for Windows 95 - which gets a few good seconds devoted to it, of course. They even used the Windows 95 startup noise. See for yourself.
• Haruka Nogizaka's Secret has "PDS", "Portable Dream Station" instead of Nintendo 3DS.
• The Hatsukoi Limited manga has a fun one: among Enomoto Yuu'spl many hobbies is reading Shonen Zump magazine.
  • Also: "Chupa Chups" —> "Chip Chops".
• Hayate the Combat Butler has a tendency to do this, given its sheer volume of Shout Outs. The most obvious example is the Ai-Dollar-Master video game in Episode 20.
  • There are also "Pony" televisions and "Seako" clocks.
  • The last episode of season 2 is a ~15 minute, disaster-ridden search for a box of 'Packy'
• Hell Girl has people using the Deegle.com and "Mahoo" search engine to find the Hell Correspondence website.
• Hen Zemi TV series episode 2 has a console game "Pinal Mantasy"
• In Hidamari Sketch:
  • Hiro has a Pony (Sony) television.
  • Nori's computer has a Shaftsoft Wonders operating system. (The logo is four colored squares, straight, not wavy, and rotated 45 degrees with the upper right squares shifted to the upper left. The green and blue squares are swapped, and there's a lighter green square where the yellow would be.)
  • She also has a Furbo (Furby).
• In Higurashi: When They Cry, Rena finds a Kenta-kun doll in the town landfill, and there is a restaurant called "KCF" that the Kenta-kun doll came from. Guess who Kenta-kun looks like.
• Himouto! Umaru-chan Several. NcDonald for McDonalds, Zonama for Amazon, Gapcom for Capcom, Batsune Migu for Hatsune Miku, Jun piece for One Piece...
• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable!: Sayuri's portable game console is called a Witch.
• In I Think Our Son Is Gay, Higuchi was shopping at Neon (Aeon) when she saw Toono being a bit too close with another man.
• in The iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia, "Puchy" instead of "Pocky".
• The Idolmaster - Miki's headphones are a Somy, Chihaya lives near a Burger Queen, the camera Yoshizawa uses is a Qanon, among others.
• I Dream of Mimi: At the beginning of Access 5, we see a PlayStar by Sany.
• Ikkitousen has one character shown sending a text message on a "Sany Ericssan" cell phone.
• Inazuma Eleven: Ares has two soccer teams, Zeus and Minodouzan, sponsored by God Bull (complete with the motto "It gives you wings") and Hecom ^note Secom respectively.
• Initial D, in he first season, the word "Trueno" (in the front of the hero's car) is spelled as "Toreno". This eventually changed when Toyota allowed them to use the AE86 Sprinter Trueno's proper name.
  • Maybe Toyota wanted Manga/Initial D to stop advertising Ford Torinos?
  • The dialogue also usually referred to the car as the "hachi-roku" ("eight-six"), a popular nickname for the AE86, and the name "Trueno" was seldom (if ever) used.
    • Possibly because the name was used on several generations of later models, which were FWD and therefore of little interest to drifters?
• In Inuyasha, Kagome and her school friends like to hang out at "WacDonald's", whose logo is a very familiar pair of golden arches inverted like a "W".
• In It's Tough Being Neeko, some older Nintendo systems are given names like this, such as the "Vii" (Wii) or "DN" (DS). Averted with the Switch, which is referred to by its proper name and is recognizably drawn.
• Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi has Dr. Cinnamon.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4 features the convenience store Owson, modified from the name of ubiquitous Japanese conbini Lawson. For the manga's 25th anniversary, a Lawson in Araki's hometown Sendai (which is the basis of the setting in Part 4) was even remade into an Owson. Part 4 also has mention of a Western-style restaurant chain called Jonny's, a play on Jonathan's, a popular chain in Japan.^note  The same chain that Jonathan is named after. No, really.
  • In Part 3, an Orangutan reads Playbop, instead of Playboy.
  • Also averted, with a 7-Up sign in part 3 and a Pepsi sign in part 4.
  • In the anime adaptation of Part 5, Mista asks Narancia for a "Sparite" soda.
  • In Part 6, Jolyne and Ermes are seen carrying packs of Green D Mint Gum, which is designed almost exactly like Doublemint Gum.
• K-On! has an electric screwdriver made by Ranosanic.
• Kagewani has TomTube for Youtube.
• Episode 8 of Kakegurui references a pop idol's success on "YourTube".
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: Erika's family owns Marukose, a parody of the real life miso company Marukome. They even have near identical looking mascots (the only difference being that the fictional one has a buzz cut instead of being bald).
• Kamen no Maid Guy features at least one episode with a "Meido" laptop, with a logo patterned after Sony's Vaio.
• In the Kagaku na Yatsura manga, there is the snack Bocky instead of Pocky.
• Kill la Kill has REVOCS, the clothing brand owned by the Kiryuin family and a riff on athletic clothing brand Reebok, as well as "Cadiva" chocolate.
• Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien shows tickets for Titamic.
• King of Thorn features two computer-related ones: at one point we see a 'Mindows' (Windows) operating system, and the computer that Zeus conjures up is a 'Bell' (Dell).
• In the japanese version of episode 89 of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Customer Service refers to Dis Walney as the creator of "Macho Mouse"
• Commonly done in the manga of Kochikame even when it's only shown in one panel which are usually store chains or food products. Sometimes, actual real brand names are used, usually the expensive European cars.
  • Zig-Zagged in the anime: while a fair number of episodes use bland name products, one episode is centered over dolls and action figures, and Barbie and G.I. Joe are mentioned several times, absolutely no change done to the names.
• Kodomo no Jikan has a bag of "Buffles" potato chips, complete with the original's slogan in modified form: "Buffles Have Ridges". Mimi can at one point be seen holding two cups of "Starbocks" coffee.
• Komi Can't Communicate:
  • The characters visit a "Starbooks" coffee shop on several occasions.
  • In Chapter 307, one of the chocolates Tadano receives for Valentine's Day is a "Kut Kit" bar from Badou.
  • Chapter 170 features WcDonald's having a promotion of Sokemon figurines. Three of the figurines themselves resemble Pikachu, Bulbasaur and Squirtle (the fourth one resembles an Office Lady).
  • In Chapter 174, Nakanaka's snacks include "Panglis" (Pringles), "Packy" (Pocky) and "Caca-Cola" (Coca-Cola).
  • In Chapter 330, the student use "Enough" guns in their battle royale.
  • In Chapter 331, Omagawa remembers watching a show appreciating Studio Zublies "Panyo on the Right of the Hill".
  • Several chapters, starting with 352, are about the characters playing a game of "Content Us."
• In Kurau Phantom Memory it's averted with Carrefour (in the year 2110!)
• In Kyō, Koi o Hajimemasu, Tsubaki can be seen sitting in front of "Bear Bucks Coffee" at the beginning of chapter 37.
• In Ladies versus Butlers! it's done hilariously for a military organization: during the school festival, the festivities are kicked off by an airshow featuring F/A-22s sporting a livery similar to that of the USAF Thunderbirds, along with the phrase "I AM CHICKEN" written on the fuselage and wings, plus the letters "CSAF" on the wings as well.
• Laid-Back Camp:
  • Nadeshiko attempts to purchase Orio sandwich cookies in the fourth episode, with the Nabisco triangle visible on the packaging.
  • The Zebra supermarket that Rin and Nadeshiko visited in the sixth episode is based on the Selva Food Garden store in Minobu.
• In Level E, Kyoko have a part-time job at Pizza Hot.
• Little House with an Orange Roof has a few examples. In chapter 2, Shoutaro's youngest son tries to watch "Momas the Tank Engine".
• Little Witch Academia: Big Eater Jasminka is at one point seen snacking on a bag of salt and vinegar Skipers potato chips◊. The logo, color of the bag and white markings on the bottom left corner^note In the UK, many foods display nutritional info on the front of the packaging indicate was based on salt and vinegar Walkers Crisps (the British equivalent of Lays; unlike their American counterparts, salt and vinegar chips are packaged in green bags instead of blue). Given the series is set in England, the inclusion of a bland name based on a UK-exclusive product and the amount of detail paid to replicating the original indicates that the creators have done their research. There's also the "Mark & Sponcer" store instead of Marks & Spencer.
• Love Hina once had a series of banners with Santa Claus's face above the word "iSATAN". The chain being referenced is a Tokyo-based department store named Isetan. This looks at first glance like a case of Rouge Angles of Satin, but isn't because it's intentional wordplay.
• Love Live! School Idol Project has the characters occasionally playing an arcade Rhythm Game called Dance Explosion, which is totally not DanceDanceRevolution.
• Lucky Star has "Rindows◊" (who knows, maybe it's an Engrish version of Lindows...) It also makes references to other anime and video games, even going so far as to bleep the titles out. The soundtrack is full of them as well (Mariya Might Watch Over Us, Bunguster...).
  • The cover of Volume 2 of Lucky Star has Kagami and Tsukasa eating "Poppy" (Pocky).
• Lupin III: Dead or Alive gives Inspector Zenigata a portable television to play Lupin's video Calling Card, with the Bland Name of "Somy".
  • The Mystery of Mamo features a "Panasonick" radio playing Yuji Ohno's Love Theme that Jigen and Goemon are listening to.
• Magical Girl Ore refers to its producers, Pierrot Plus as "Hirrot+", and one of its episode subcontractors, drop as "drow".
• In Fancy Lala, Miho Shinohara has a backpack made by "La", with a logo similar to "Fila". One episode also involves a makeup company called "Soseido", a reference to "Shiseido".
• Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro had a 'Zeep' as well as 'Wacintosh'.
• In the Japanese version of MegaMan NT Warrior, Yaito's father is the president of Gabcom (ガブコン), a pun on Capcom (カプコン). Since Capcom made the Rockman.EXE series, this was probably meant to be a parody of the trope.
• In Melody of Oblivion, Bocca buys Sayoko dinner at 'Starducks Coffee'.
• Midori Days has Game Non Stop.
• Minami-ke Okawari, has a later episode with Chiaki seen browsing "Nekoneko Douga" (Cat Video), which is a parody of the Japanese video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga (Smile Video).
  • Episode 10 of Okaeri prominently features Bringles in several shots, complete with an altered mascot.
• Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou shows Yuzu using a search engine called "Gaagle" with almost the exact same logo and color scheme.
• Mob Psycho 100 has "Mobdonald's".
• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam has the fast-food restaurant McDaniel's used as a cover for an underground meeting — Henken Bekkener, a warship captain, is even pretending to work there.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Wing has an episode which briefly features a circuit board labeled "Intel Outside". In a thermonuclear warhead. This was in the episode where Heero had to disarm a sabotaged missile silo (he does so by simply pulling a few wires).
• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE.73: Stargazer, people are watching the news on ENN, an obvious take on CNN. Sven is also watching on a TV branded "MUSA", which stand for Sony's "WEGA".
• Mobile Suit Gundam 00 has JNN, also a take on CNN, which stand for "Japanese News Network".
• Monster Rancher had a fictional counterpart of the original game (played on a logo-less PlayStation) which was produced by Mecto.
• In Muhyo and Roji, the eponymous duo like reading and fighting over the "Jabin" manga magazine, while Busujima drives an "Isuzo" truck. The anime has bonus segments for "LawTube" videos explaining magical law and other aspects of the setting, the pun being that the characters practice magical law to sentence spirits for crimes.
• My Bride is a Mermaid. Episode 11 of the anime has Luna using "Ningyonet Explorer" (Ningyo means mermaid) to browse the web rather than Internet Explorer. In episode 15, Luna has a black "MERIKAN EXPRESS" credit card.
• My Hero Academia:
  • As a child, Midoriya obsessively watched a "YoTube" video of All Might's debut as a hero, in which he saved over a hundred people from a bus crash.
  • Deku's hero notebook is branded "Kukuyo Campos", rather than Kokuyo Campus.
  • When Gran Torino's microwave breaks, the replacement he orders arrives in a box from "omozan," rather than Amazon.
  • While some of Class 1-A deliberate what to do for their class's activity in the U.A. school festival, Todoroki pulls up a video on Yap!Tube, a website that, aside from the spelling and color (blue) of the logo, is formatted exactly like YouTube is as of 2019.
• Chapter 112 of My Monster Secret features Demon Hunter and Straight Fighter.
• In Nabari no Ou Yukimi uses software like Odobe Photograph, Mouton AntiVirus 2015, Saikrosoft Sentence/EXL/Autolock/Postman, and Ninja Seiden (a pun on Ninja Gaiden).
• In Nana & Kaoru Nana uses the "Moogle" search engine to do some independent research before Kaoru accepts her apology.
• Negima!:
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi:
    • Characters can be found drinking coffee at "Starbooks" (directly based off of the Starbucks near the Keio Line Seisekisakuragaoka Station).
    • In chapter 172, Chisame uses "Mahoo!?" in place of Yahoo!
    • Makie enjoys a cold Mr. Paper in the White Wing OVA.
    • One character wears a "Sax Pascals Anarchy" hat in chapter 27.
    • An aversion can be found in the manga, as Vaio is a real computer, made by Sony. Although it looks like a netbook, rather than a full-size laptop as the Vaio line is (aside from the W series, released July 2009).
  • A "Nihon" camera appears in the first episode of Negima!? (second season) in place of the Nikon brand.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • There is "Yebichu" (Yebisu) beer, carried from the Oruchuban Ebichu manga; the Rebuild of Evangelion movie, however, did had the real Yebisu. There's also a "SECA" video game, odd considering Sega was in fact a major sponsor of the series.
  • The series also features a drinks machine offering "Asashi". This is a take-off of "Asahi" (and its logo), a Japanese beer popular worldwide.
• DHL becomes DHU in Neon Genesis Evangelion and BHL in Battle Programmer Shirase.
• New Game!:
  • Rin is seen with several empty cans of "Red Gull" at her desk. Aoba also spends some time reading an "Autodesk Saya" (Autodesk Maya) user guide for her first assignment.
  • Aoba's company's game, Fairies' Story 3, is being distributed on PZ3 consoles, and a game magazine shows a picture of an Animal Crossing-like game for the WillU.
  • While designing Sophia, Aoba attempts to use the "Qeegle" search engine to find a picture of a girl with twintails... the style of hair Aoba herself wears.
• The Mono eraser appears with the name "Nono" in Nichijou.
• Noein has a "Yonkie" [Yorkie] bar.
• The anime Oh, Suddenly Egyptian God has the titular gods, especially the Selfie Fiend Bastet, using the photo and video sharing social media app called Egystagram.
• In chapter 17 and a volume 1 omake, Morei of Omujo Omutsu Joshi is shown doing her online shopping on Amezon.
• One Piece:
  • There is an in-universe version; Doko1 Panda, cheap knockoffs of the in-universe clothes brand Doskoi Panda.
  • There's a straight example with one character drinking "Jacky Daniels", though.
• In Osomatsu-san, Todomatsu works for a Starbucks stand-in called "Sutabaa".
• In Otogi Zoshi, Hikaru borrows a vespa-scooter-thing from "Pizza Hot".
• Ouran High School Host Club does this often, with 'Mational' light bulbs (National), 'PineApple' computers, 'Hescafe' coffee, 'Oh!Laan! Auctions (a parody of Yahoo! Auctions), and 'Ukidoki Memorial' (Tokimeki Memorial).
  • It's especially noticeable in episode 23, when one of the gangsters shows the others a pile of soda cans, all of which are Bland Name Products (such as "8-Up" and "Bprite"),
  • In chapter 77 of the manga, one of the medical comapnies listed is "GlexiSmithKings".
  • In Ouran: The Vaguely Abridged Series, Tamaki asks Haruhi why she bought Hescafe instead of Nescafe, calling it a cheap knock-off.
• An episode of Paranoia Agent features a crime manga serialized in Shonen Champ, or perhaps Shonen Chump.
• Persona 4: The Animation features "Atzrbucks" in one episode.
• In the Persona 4 manga adaptation, Soji get a package from abaddon.co.jp.
• Persona 5: The Day Breakers features a character drinking Corong beer.
• Planetes has "Bepsi," and there's also a Coca-Cola analogue.
• in Please Teacher!, "Pochy" takes the place of "Pocky". The sequel, Please Twins!, features a character who eats "Prech", a parody of "Pretz" and a cup of "Starjackass Coffee."
• Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon has three recurring Team Skull Grunts named Tupp, Zipp, and Rapp. In the original Japanese version, their names are Tupper, Zip, and Wrap. ^note After Tupperware, Ziploc, and Saran Wrap respectively.
• Popotan uses both "Mikon" and "Monica" cameras.
• Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General has 6/11 and Hentucky Fried Chicken.
• In the second OVA episode of Pretty Sammy, "Standardsoft" and "Pineapple" were parodies of Microsoft and Apple, respectively. Similarly, Standardsoft's SynchroniCity OS spoofed Microsoft Windows, while Pineapple's Mach 8 OS is a spoof of the Apple Macintosh.
• The Prince of Tennis:
  • "Ponta" as a stand-in for Fanta.
  • Fila's distinctive "F" logo was altered into an "R" (for "Ryoma", as in Ryoma Echizen) in the anime.
• In Project A-Ko, we briefly see a can of "Doctor Bepper."
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica has "Rocky" in place of "Pocky" . There's also a DanceDanceRevolution stand-in called "Dog Drug Reinforcement."
• Ranma ½ has one episode with Genma using a "Seny Gandycam" to record Ranma and Akane's Almost Kiss. In another, Ranma and Akane buy burgers from what is clearly a Bland Name Product version of McDonald's... possibly the ancestor to "WcDonald's" in Inuyasha.
• In Episode 7 of Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, the word "Wi-FI" is switched to "Wo-Fo◊" on a sign.
• Re:CREATORS has an iPad-like tablet, that crashes with a BSOD containing a Mac OS kernel panic that identifies the kernel as "Lamarck" instead of "Darwin". Given the context, this also counts as a Genius Bonus, given that Lamarck inspired Darwin, and real iPads do run a derivative of the same OS and kernel and can◊ crash like that in rare circumstances.
  • The same episode featured in quick succession, Studio Creator (Paint Tool Sai), an oddly bland-named Google, Mauchly and Piclive (Pixiv).
  • Several other websites got this treatment in the fourth episode, including wrokedia.nt (wikipedia.org) and niwavideo.jpn (nicovideo.jp).
  • Meteora played a copy of Avalken of Reminisce which had "Games for Screen" (Games for Windows) and a Xero (Cero) rating on the cover.
• Revolutionary Girl Utena has a "Yamama" piano and "Sebastian Dior" luxury jewellery.
• Gin's camera in Rosario + Vampire is "Nokon" ("Nihon" in the manga).
• Rumic Theater episode 5 has a Dehny's restaurant.
• In episode 7 of Sailor Moon Crystal, Ami checks up the info on Sailor V on the 'Finepad' tablet.
• In the Saiyuki Reload -burial- OVA, Sanzo has 'Merlboro' cigarettes. They're always regular Marlboros in the manga.
• Sakura Trick has Pokitz, which is something like Pocky or its sister product, Pretz.
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei has NtarBucks Coffee
  • Zan Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Lampshades this in an episode of where a radio labeled "SONV" with an offhand comment "so Sony used to be Sonv, then?"
• School-Live! has a lot of these in the manga. Gamer Chick Touko owns a "BSP", amongst other consoles ranging from a "Saga" Mega Drive to an (unnamed) Wii U. You can see games like "BallOut 3", "Mad Mix", and a game that is clearly Splatoon but has a name that begins with "P". Several manga such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica also have fake names.
• Sekirei has Sony Vaio laptop spoofs.
  • Sekirei: Pure Engagement has a card game Naho instead of Uno.
• In selector infected WIXOSS, we see Ruuko making a search using "Gargoyle" in episode 10 of the first season.
• A Senran Kagura card shows Homura organizing an aisle of snack foods, including boxes of "Chocolate Stick" instead of Pocky.
• Sgt. Frog has featured in its manga Mahoo! (instead of Yahoo!), Keuters (instead of Reuters), KerockTime (instead of QuickTime, probably because the software is from their homeworld) and Nendo CS (instead of Nintendo DS). The Kerons also use barely disguised Apple computers. There's also a minor character named Dasonu Maso (ダソヌマソ) whose name is deliberately similar to the katakana for Dance Man (ダンスマン), the stage name of the guy who composed the ending theme for the first season of the anime.
  • Speaking of the Keroro anime, there were episodes that regularly mentioned "Monthly Shonen Alpha" (Monthly Shonen Ace^note Where the manga is serialized.), which is published by "Kanikawa Shoten" (Kadokawa Shoten, which publishes Shonen Ace).
• Shakugan no Shana shows the protagonist entering a music and DVD store named HNV with an all but identical HMV sign overhead, in the first episode.
• Shinozaki-san Ki wo Ota Shika ni! presents a lot. Most commonly we see PrePure in place of PreCure. When setting up a new computer, we also see their version of Windows is "Wenby's".
• Done in Shirobako for real-world animation companies, though it is not surprising, as the series itself is about the animation industry. There are so many, that it had to be placed in its own page.
• Shirokuma Cafe shows Polar Bear using "tulitter" to tweet something.
• SHUFFLE! features a "Tochiba" microwave.
• Silver Spoon features prominent use of the search engine "Geegle".
• The Sky Crawlers features such products as Pops-Cola and Treasure soft drinks (with logos that resemble Coca-Cola and Pepsi, respectively), Green Label beer, and Leopard cars.
• In Sky Girls, there are "Camon" cameras among other things. There's also a computer screen which has Mac toolbars and Windows folder designs. So it's "Maplesoft"?
• Slam Dunk. The manga is filled with sports brand names everywhere, but the anime had to work around it, usually just not drawing the brand name. However, there is at least one instance in which a brand name was simply modified into "adadis" instead.
• Smile Down the Runway features clothing brands such as "Gacci", "Louis Villan" and "Channel".
• Soul Eater gets bonus points for tying theirs in with their Theme Naming: "Deathbucks Coffee".
• Squid Girl:
  • Episode 9 has the game SF4: Stockings Fighter IV with a logo in similar font and color to Street Fighter's.
  • An OVA has "Mintendo" games and consoles.
• Star Driver has "Sougen-Dazs".
• In Steins;Gate, the Spiritual Successor to Chaos;Head, MewTube and @channel return, in addition to the IBN computer brand and SERN. They also have Dk Pepper and Goodle.
• The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a High School Girl with an Inappropriate Skirt Length: Kohinata and her friends hang out at "Starbakka Coffee".
• Sun-Ken Rock. A movie Ken watches at the theater was apparently produced by Boniversal Studios, who have the same logo as real-life Universal Studios.
• Superman Vs. Meshi: Lex Luthor and Superman have beef over the social media site "Pixtagram" (Instagram/Snapchat). Superman also compliments Lois by calling her "Pixtagrammable".
• Tamayura sports "Coco Cola", but then averts the trope with actual Rollei and Nikon cameras.
• In Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, Tanaka and Ohta stop by a manga shop that sells copies of Two Peak and Detective Coban.
• In Tenchi in Tokyo, the girls are watching a Samy-branded TV; "Samy" is also a reference to Pretty Sammy, which is originally called "Pretty Samy" in Japan.
• Tenjho Tenge has some very Narmful cans of "Caca Cola."
• In Toradora!, it's lampshaded when Ryuji wonders how a "Sudoh-bucks Coffee" has yet to be sued◊. Their logo is the Starbucks logo in disguise — fake mustache and all.◊ ^note If you're wondering who or what Sudoh is, try saying it out loud.
• Transformers: Super-God Masterforce features CNM News, Dunpop Cars, and Camon Cameras.
  • In Genshiken, Interestingly, all of the games the boys/girls play aren't product-changed, but the SYSTEM they play them on is. There's a wonderful image of a popular PS2 game sitting next to what is clearly a PS2 controller with the brand name "SANY" on it.
  • Not only that, they've got anime and manga that are very clearly famous series In Everything But Name. Series like Neko-Yasha and Astro Girl, Mode Riisu and Anman-Dama. Only Gundam makes it through unscathed, and even then, only in the manga.
  • There's also a "Starbooks Coffee".
  • There's also a "Kujifilm" camera, which doubles as a Shout-Out to the Spinoff Show Within a Show Kujibiki♡Unbalance.
  • And there was an "MG" model kit which turned out to be a Humongous Mecha, not a British sports car.
    • MG is an abbreviation of "Master Grade", the detail level of Gundam model kits by Bandai. There a three of them: High Grade, which are cheapest and simplest, Master Grade, which are much, much more complex, and Perfect Grade — the large-scale monstrosities costing hundreds of dollars, standing two feet tall, and taking months to build, paint, and pose.
  • The TV in the Genshiken room is a "Pehasohic" (Replace the h's with n's and it becomes obvious what they are getting at).
• Trauma Ryoushi Kesshou. Haruto decides to have the study group play some video games during a break as a way to bond, so he pulls out his "Wry" console. (It's obviously the Wii, from the look of the console and controller and even from the font on the box.)
• Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase has many, often containing cat-related puns, such as Nyapporo beer, Nyankus convenience store. Notable others include Kouhei's Ninolta camera, and Hazuki flying Riftnanza Airlines. Episode 20 of the anime ends on a picture with Hazuki holding a camera. Of course it's a "Neko".
• Uchiha Sasuke's Sharingan Chronicles has "3DN" (Nintendo 3DS), "GS4" (PlayStation 4), "Nin-Ja-Oh" (Yu-Gi-Oh) and "Mon Cook" (Minecraft).
• Subverted in Video Girl Ai, when Youta tries to take Ai to the movies, but she doesn't want to. He eventually ends up going alone, and the film he sees is a spoof of Batman (1989) in which the titular character's bat motif refers to baseball bats rather than the animal. The subversion is in the fact that the name is written the exact same way as Batman's name is written in Japanese.
• In Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!, most of the products have "Uza" in them: Uza Glasses, Uza PC, even Uza Curry. Shinichi and Uzaki also play NyaaCraft and Doramon Go.
• Wandering Son averts this and plays this straight at random. Sometimes you'll see actual brand names and at other times you'll see Bland Name Products. In the anime you can see "Starducks" at one point instead of "Starbucks," though in the manga they mention Starbucks by name.
• Wasteful Days of High School Girls:
  • In episode 4, Loli shares some Bocky with the main trio, but Baka eats them all in one go.
  • In episode 7, Kohaku recommends Majo using Mericar to sell unwanted stuff.
• Wata Mote has the "SterTully" coffee chain, a mix of Starbucks and Tully's Coffee, which is fairly popular in Japan.
• Welcome to the NHK also has "Mindows" OS, a "Pujitsu" computer and a "Lurex" (or something like that) wristwatch, "Warboro"-brand cigarettes, and probably other such brands.
  • Yeah, several beer brands, Starbucks, some MMORPG, and many, many other things get Bland Named.
• Witch Hunter Robin also has Bepsi, as well as "Zony" and "Cock Cola".
• The World God Only Knows:
  • Keima plays all his myriad Dating Sims on a PFP. In one episode this is shown to stand for "Play Field Personal", which almost sounds like the name of a Shoddy Knockoff Product.
  • The local Idol Singer also advertises "Poca-Cola."
  • All of Keima's gaming systems are Bland Name Products, some of them more obvious than others◊.
• In The World of Narue, Kazuto's PC's OS is "Minboms '97".
• In xxxHOLiC they use GuGoot. (i.e., Google. This one's a bit further off the real name and some may be confused; the logo on the website is almost identical)
• Yaiba's nemesis Takeshi has a wide-screen made by "Ony".
• Yawata has the traditional WcDonalds' in an early chapter, but around 70 chapters in, it has a "McQueen Hamburger," complete with a crown over the golden arches.
• The boys in Yo-kai Watch are big fans of the "Yolo Watch" series.
• Everything in Yowamushi Pedal, from bikes to equipment and clothing.
• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! featured quite a few of these in the early manga:
    • Sory (Sony) and Panazonic (Panasonic).
    • Before its Defictionalization, the card game originally featured in one early chapter^note It was meant to have been a one-time-only appearance, but Kazuki Takahashi (the original author) got such a positive response from readers, that he decided to bring it back in a later chapter, before finally deciding to build the rest of the manga around it beginning with the "Duelist Kingdom" arc (where the [second] anime series starts its adaptation from). was originally called "Magic and Wizards" (or "M&W" for short) as a reference / homage to Magic: The Gathering.^note The "Duel Monsters" name was invented by Konami when they created the previously mentioned defictionalized card game.
    • Capsule Monsters (Pokémon), Monster Fighter (Rock-Em-Sock-Em Robots), Super Dancer (DanceDanceRevolution), Digital Pets (Tamagotchi) and both Monster World and Dragons, Dice, and Dungeons (Dungeons & Dragons). There were some differences, though, with the games usually being a fair bit more technologically sophisticated and having unfamiliar rules compared to their real-world counterparts.
    • Ryou Bakura's favourite game is a tabletop RPG called Monster World which is played on a giant specialized table, with custom scenes and figurines, and twelve-sided dice. It's basically a fancier version of Dungeons & Dragons. Notably, both times this game appears in the story, Thief King Bakura tries to trap Yugi and his friends within it.
  • The anime has "Lemon'' computers. It also briefly features Cora-Cola and Znickers bars.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL has "Space Nook''.
• Yui Kamio Lets Loose: In the first chapter Life Lovers visit Moonbucks Coffee.
• Yuri!!! on Ice's second episode has Victor using boxes from "CedEx".
• Yuyushiki has a search engine called HooYa! (which incidentally does not seem to be associated with the United States Navy).
• The manhwa Zen Martial Arts Academy features "Taibucks Coffee." The name is close to "Starbucks Coffee," and it uses the exact same logo.

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