Surely even for Japan standards, everyone won't be able to understand each other.note
"Long Long Maaaaaaaannnnnnnnn~!!! (sexophone plays)"
— The commercials' Running Gag
Long Long Man is a series of advertisements for Sakeru Gummy, a Japanese brand of candy. It became famous on the internet for its interesting narrative filled with plot twists, making it half-commercial, half-Soap Opera.
Tooru-san and Chi-chan are a happy couple who love eating Sakeru Gummy candy together. However, their love life is thrown into chaos when they encounter the Long Long Man, who eats Long Sakeru Gummy (which is one long strip of candy, instead of several smaller ones like the regular version). Chi-chan finds herself conflicted between her current relationship with Tooru and her love of long things which the Long Long Man can satisfy.
See all of the commercials put together here
. Note that, as mentioned above, the plot goes through a surprising amount of twists and turns for an advertising campaign, so beware of spoilers below!
LONG LONG TROOOOOOOPES~!
- Affectionate Parody: Of Japanese Doramas, especially since much of the series' conflict is driven by gummy candy, of all things.
- Aborted Arc: Chi's Secretly Dying sub-arc is never further explored after the segment it makes it debut in. The next segment implies she was just faking it as an excuse for cheating on Tooru, with her coworker scolding her for it.
- All for Nothing: Chi abandoning Tooru a second time, and on their own wedding, ultimately leaves her empty-handed and an outcast amongst her friends and family. This is no thanks to Long Long Man actually being interested in Tooru and not her. When Long Long Man and Tooru begin sharing Sakeru Gummy together, Chi can only watch in horror and despair as the one thing she wanted is taken away from her.
- Bait-and-Switch: The series shows how infatuated Chi is becoming with the Long Long Man — but ends with the man approaching Tooru over their shared love of Sakeru Gummies.
- Cliché Storm: Invoked. This campaign makes fun of common Japanese soap opera tropes. Even the website they had at the time was designed to look like it belonged to a cliched soap opera.
- Companion Cube: When Tooru tries to stretch out a short gummy piece to make it longer, Chi begs him to stop as she feels bad for the gummy.
- Crazy-Prepared: Chi-chan's friend has a board ready to demonstrate that the short gums contain the same quantity of gum as the long ones.
- A Day in the Limelight: The final commercial is from Long Long Man's perspective, helping to explain his motivations and actions throughout the prior segments.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Chi's preference for longer candy over the shorter version may remind one of... another thing which women prefer when it's longer. To drive the point home further, one of the ads depicts Tooru having an Imagine Spot of Chi eating one of said longer candies with Long Long Man... while they're both naked in bed together.
- Dramatic Drop: Chi drops her things this way constantly, especially in the presence of Long Long Man.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Tooru goes through a lot over the course of the ad campaign, being emotionally manipulated and broken up with multiple times (including during his own wedding), but the story ends on a happy note for him as the Long Long Man reveals that he loves him, and the two decide to start a relationship with each other, with Tooru finally being freed from Chi-chan's toxic manipulation.
- Fat Best Friend: Chi has one of these, who scolds her for the way she's ruined her relationship with Tooru and tries to give her useful advice about it.
- Foreshadowing:
- Rule of Symbolism gives away the final twist in the very first spot. The only ones we ever see eating the candy are Chi-chan and the Long Long Man. If we take the Double Entendre and run with it, this is the earliest hint that the Long Long Man is gay.
- There's also a subtle one, where Chi starts flirting with the Long Long Man while he's delivering the sweets to her at her apartment; his body language and facial expressions make him seem very uncomfortable with the situation, indicating that he's not reciprocating her feelings.
- Hands-On Approach: The Long Long Man holds Chi's hands to show her how to tear the long Sakeru Gummy, but she quickly pulls away in embarrassment.
- Incompatible Orientation: The final commercial reveals that the Long Long Man is gay, and the reason why he was always found near Chi is because he was actually looking at Tooru.
- Ironic Echo: The day Chi officially began her affair with the Long Long Man, she asks him if she can touch his Loooong Sakeru Gummy. Tooru asks the same question, with the same wording, when he accepts the Long Long Man's feelings.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Chi gets hers after dumping Tooru for Long Long Man a second time, and on their own wedding day, no less. Her just desserts come not long after this when it's revealed Long Long Man was only sticking around her to look for Tooru. He then begins wooing and sharing Sakeru Gummy with him instead, leaving her empty-handed.
- Leitmotif: Long Long Man has a specific Sexophone tune which plays whenever he appears.
- Love Triangle: Chi is torn between her current partner Tooru and the new, exciting Long Long Man. The final advertisement reveals that this was actually a Bisexual Love Triangle centered around Tooru and not Chi.
- Malingering Romance Ploy: After she's seemingly caught in an affair with Long Long Man, Chi-Chan reveals to Tooru that she's Secretly Dying, and that she has an affinity for long things because it makes her think that her lifespan might be longer. However, it's implied that she faked her illness in order to get Tooru to propose to her.
- Moving Right Through: In the final commercial, Long Long Man shows up to Chi and Tooru's wedding. When he starts giving a Love Confession, Chi immediately assumes that it's directed towards her, and dumps Tooru at the altar... only for the Long Long Man to walk past her and go for Tooru.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Chi has such a moment when she learns that putting all of the pieces of a regular bag of Sakeru Gummy together results in the same amount of candy as the Long format, meaning that her breakup with Tooru was for nothing.
- Netorare: Parodied: much of the plot plays out like an NTR story, with Tooru having to watch as the Long Long Man tempts his girlfriend into unfaithfulness, even going as far as crashing their wedding... except that instead of sex, the characters share candy.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Long Long Man is first seen working as a deliveryman, and then later, as a mascot selling balloons.
- No Name Given: The Long Long Man himself is never given an actual name.
- Oh, Crap!: This happens several times.
- Tooru's expression when he finds the Long Sakeru Gummy in Chi's bed. Cue him tearing the gum apart with his hands
- Tooru, again, when he sees Long Long Man arriving at his (Tooru) and Chi's own wedding.
- Chi's expression when she finds out that Long Long Man wants Tooru and not her, not long after she dumps the latter a second time, no less.
- Once More, with Clarity: In the finale, several earlier scenes are re-shown to show Long Long Man's focus on Tooru, not Chi.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Long Long Man's real name is never given. Same with Chi-chan, since her name is likely a nickname as well.
- Pair the Suitors: In the final commercial, Long Long Man goes from Tooru's romantic rival to his love interest after revealing that it was never Chi he was into.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Chi shouts this when she sees Long Long Man and Tooru sharing their Sakeru Gummy with one another. This is not long after she attempted to dump the latter.
- Rewatch Bonus: The scene of the rabbit mascot with the balloons? Not only is it Long Long Man inside the costume, but him letting go of the balloons can be read as him being shocked to see Tooru proposing to Chi-chan.
- Runaway Bride: Double Subverted the final ad. Throughout the whole series, Chi, who is in a relationship with Tooru, lusts after the Long Long Man. When the Long Long Man shows up at their wedding, Chi decides that she'd rather be with him than Tooru, breaking up with her boyfriend right there at the altar. Unfortunately for her, the Long Long Man is gay and actually came to deliver a confession to Tooru, so she just ends up ruining her relationship without accomplishing anything... but then Tooru decides that he loves the Long Long Man and ends up with him.
- Running Gag: Several.
- Tooru is almost always shown tearing apart Sakeru Gummy in Chi's presence.
- Chi always drops something dramatically when seeing Long Long Man and his Long Sakeru Gummy.
- Long Long Man's sexophone tune always plays when he appears in the story or when he tears apart his long Sakeru Gummy.
- Secondary Character Title: While the series is named after him, Long Long Man has the least focus amongst the main characters.
- Secretly Dying: It's eventually revealed that Chi is actually ill and doesn't have long to live. This is why she loves long things so much because they make her think of a long life. However, the next segment heavily implies it was just an excuse for her to get out of trouble with Tooru.
- Sexophone: The shout of "Long Long MAAAAAAAAN!" is followed by a seductive-sounding saxophone riff which may remind one of George Michael's "Careless Whisper".
- Shipper on Deck: Chi-Chan’s coworker helps advise her on Tooru. She also later Long Long Man on when he woos Tooru.
- Skewed Priorities: Tooru takes Chi-chan apparently cheating on him to mean he needs to make his ordinary Sakeru Gummy longer, and Chi-chan begs him to stop stretching it because she feels bad for the gummy.
- Soap Opera: Parodies many of the tropes of the genre and squeezes it all into a series of (ironically) short commercials.
- Straight Gay: Long Long Man, who always wears masculine clothing and even grows a mustache and beard, is revealed to be gay in the final commercial.
- Trademark Favorite Food: It's a commercial for Sakeru Gummy, so guess what everyone's favorite food is.
- Twist Ending: Admit it, you never thought that Long Long Man was gay and after Tooru and not Chi the whole time, didn't you?
- Wacky Marriage Proposal: Defied. Tooru asks Chi-chan how she would like to be proposed to, to which she replies that she doesn't like flash mobs. Cue the panicked Tooru signalling the flash mob he's already prepared to disperse and call it off, before quickly proposing to her in the ensuing chaos.
- Weddings in Japan: Tooru and Chi have a Western-style wedding ceremony, during which Tooru wears a white tuxedo. The Long Long Man, however, wears a black tuxedo when he shows up. With a ridiculously long tail.
- Wham Shot: The Long Long Man gives his Love Confession while walking towards Chi-chan... then the camera zooms in as he walks past her and towards Tooru, revealing that he was the true target of his affection all along.
