It seems even IKEA isn’t immune to the anime fever. The furniture retail company has launched its first first-ever manga and anime series on TikTok, in efforts to reach Gen Z consumers. Gen Z, as defined by Merriam Webster, refers to the generation of individuals born in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Revolving around the tagline of ‘find[ing] your slice of life’, the shorts tell the stories of different characters as they find relief in IKEA’s organisation and storage solutions for their living spaces: a school dorm, an off-campus apartment, and at home.
The series is developed by IKEA U.S. and Ogilvy New York, with award-winning studio Clubcamping helming the animation. An accompanying manga one-shot will be published online, featuring the biographies of each character, which are as follows:
- Rita is a junior trying to balance living at home and staying on top of her classes. Math and science come easy to her but finding space to study is a lot trickier, especially with parents, grandparents, siblings, and pets around. The attic is Rita’s refuge, and she’s starting to take over the LAGKAPTEN desk by the window.
- Darren is a freshman living in a dorm with his roommate, Jed. They got matched by a computer and are both adjusting to living with a stranger. Darren prefers quiet evenings studying or caring for his plants (he loves his GRADVIS plant mister – style and substance), while Jed is more outgoing and likes to play music in their shared space.
- Luna is rescue living with three college students. She definitely prefers the indoor life and is preferential to desks (laptop keyboards, especially). Luna loves napping, hanging out with her humans, napping, exploring new spaces, and napping.
In similar fashion, each animated chapter also comes with their own description. The pilot chapter, for instance, reads, “Rita just started her new semester, while living at home. Turns out, finding a space to study is a bit tricky with parents, grandparents, siblings, and pets competing for every square inch of space!”
It’s all pretty neat, and the fusion of different cultural elements work to great effect here. While the shorts are primarily designed for TikTok, they can also be viewed on the official IKEA USA YouTube channel.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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