What is WcDonald's? McDonald's introduces special items based on anime counterpart

Hannah Ortega, Austin American-Statesman
Updated ·2 min read
Characters in the WcDonald's anime episodes.
Characters in the WcDonald's anime episodes.

McDonald's is going meta with new anime-inspired offerings.

The limited-time McDonald's specials are based on a fictional restaurant in anime called WcDonald's, which is based on the real place of McDonald's — hence the meta reference.

Offerings include a new sauce, packaging and even animated series. Here's what you need to know about the WcDonald's goodies coming to a McDonald's near you:

Wait, what's WcDonald's again?

I know. It gets a bit confusing. WcDonald's is a spoof of McDonald's used in many anime and manga series, which come out of Japan. At WcDonald's, the golden M arch is simply turned upside down.

It first appeared in the 1981 anime and manga "Cat's Eye," and since then, WcDonald's has appeared in the anime series "Serial Experiments Lain," "InuYasha," "Sonix X," "Assassination Classroom" and more.

What are the new WcDonald's offerings?

McDonald's is bringing WcDonald's to life with a Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce and WcNuggets, which are just classic McNuggets renamed for a limited time.

Meal packaging will reflect the manga art style with work from Japanese illustrator Acky Bright. The manga theme continues with an original, digital, weekly manga series, which WcDonald's customers can access via a QR code on meal packaging.

Lastly, WcDonald's will release its own four-episode anime series from Feb. 26 to March 18. The shorts come from Studio Pierrot, which animates the iconic staple series of "Naruto," "Tokyo Ghoul" and "Bleach," among others.

According to a press release, each episode "will honor four of anime's biggest subgenres - action, romance, mecha and fantasy."

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And anime illustration of the Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce at McDonald's.
And anime illustration of the Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce at McDonald's.

What's the anime's release schedule?

  • "The Race to WcDonald’s" - Feb. 26

  • "Love from Across the Booth" - March 4

  • "WcNuggets Space Frontier 3000" - March 11

  • "The Wisdom of the Sauce" - March 18

Oh and there's also a WcDonald's pop-up in LA

If you're traveling to Los Angeles between March 9-10, you could potentially dine at a WcDonald's pop-up restaurant.

The WcDonald’s Immersive Dining Experience will take guests "into the WcDonald’s universe through 360 projection mapping and immersive tabletop projections inspired by the four WcDonald’s anime episodic shorts – all while enjoying a set menu of WcDonald’s items."

Reservations begin Feb. 28 on OpenTable under the search term "WcDonald’s Immersive Dining Experience."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: McDonald's introduces WcDonald's anime-inspired menu items