Naoko Yamada directing candy commercials should feel like wasted talent. Instead, these two minutes become the kind of quiet moment you didn't know you needed, where a KitKat is just an excuse for a mother and daughter to actually look at each other. The first one is the setup. The second one is the answer, and it lands softer than anything trying that hard has any right to.

Naoko Yamada directed this pair of animated commercials, both released in 2022 under a title that presents a KitKat as the trigger for something. The first aired in February. The second arrived in October and centers on a daughter and her mother, with the chocolate bar serving as what links their hearts. Both are slice of life pieces made as advertisements.