Yesterday, the world was introduced to Inori Aizawa, an anime character created to promote Internet Explorer in Singapore. Many saw the move as unusual, but some of Microsoft’s Asia-based subsidiaries have been using anime to boost their products’ appeal for years.
A visual history of Microsoft’s anime fetish
Over the past decade, Microsoft has used over 10 individual characters to improve user and developer awareness of its software and infrastructure. These are its most memorable.
1/10Nanami Madobe is Microsoft Japan’s official Windows 7 mascot. Her name is a play on the Japanese words for window (mado) and seven (nana). She was the first Microsoft anime character to get her own video, a guide to assembling a new PC. Her Twitter account is still up and running, albeit under the name of her fictitious sister, Matsumi.
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