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Prince of Tennis' Atobe Is Here to Serve You Milk

Prince of Tennis character Keigo Atobe, resident pretty boy and a regular top-scorer in the franchise's yearly popularity contests, has a new calling in life beyond playing tennis. Starting from Monday, he has been appearing in an animated TV commercial for Morinaga Milk Industry's Miloha drink product. Atobe is depicted wearing a cow hoodie while encouraging a girl to drink Miloha with his typical brash confidence.

The company also posted the ad on YouTube, embedded below:

The ad is a parody of an earlier ad featuring actress Kana Kurashina (Bartender, Minasan, Sayonara). One viewer posted a comparison video on Twitter, demonstrating the close similarities:

As the cherry on top, "Keigo Atobe" answered questions about his involvement in the ad while in-character. When asked how the "filming" the commercial went, the fictional character responded: "It was my first time doing filming for a commercial, but it was more straightforward than I expected. I thought it would be somewhat harder. Oh well, I can do this much no sweat. It was a rather good experience. In the ad, I appear as the 'Spirit of Miloha' in the form of a cow, and it really made me think that there's nothing in this world that doesn't look good on me."

According to a comment by Morinaga Milk Industry, Keigo Atobe showed up for the filming in his personal helicopter. The entire shoot was performed in one take. According to a person who knows Atobe well, he practiced his part over and over again while watching Kana Kurashina's version. "That's Atobe-sama for you, he never does anything in half-measures."

Morinaga Milk Industry also plans to organize a campaign around Atobe's birthday in October 4 to give out clear files inspired by the commercial. Details will be provided through the company's official Twitter account at a later date.

Source: Comic Natalie