The WcDonald’s Sauce, Manga, and Anime at McDonald’s – A Review!

It’s February 26th and McDonald’s has officially become WcDonald’s – an anime version of the fast food restaurant – and brought along a new sauce for its Chicken McNuggets and a bunch of other cool though less edible things. To be honest, I was a bit hesitant yesterday to try the new anime themed “Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce” McNugget sauce at McDonald’s as I am an on-again/off-again/on-again manga/anime fan and frankly, even when I’m on-again, I don’t really write about here on this blog. Then again, I once reviewed McDonald’s BTS meal (CLICK HERE) and the Kerwin Frost meal (CLICK HERE) and I’ve covered a ton of Happy Meal news over the years – so over the course of the last 24 hours, I’ve slowly came to the realization that in addition to everything else this blog covers, it might be a McDonald’s blog as well. Yikes.

But I get it dear clicker, you want the review. So here you go… Well, almost.

Wait, what Is WcDonald’s?

“WcDonald’s” is an in-store branded experience aka a “takeover” within most local McDonald’s in the United States. Akin in spirit to recent collabs with creators like Cactus Jack and the aforementioned Kerwin Frost meal, this most recent “takeover” is not by a creator per se but rather an idea. “WcDonald’s” strives to emulate McDonald’s anime/manga in-universe counterpart “WcDonald’s”. Pronounced by otaku as “Wacdonalds”, the brand has appeared in manga and anime for the past 40 years and was first created in the 1980s for the anime Cat’s Eye (1983 in Manga and 1985 in anime) to avoid getting sued by McDonald’s when the creators wanted to set scenes of the manga at a McDonald’s. It has since been used in other manga/anime as both an homage and frankly, a necessity.

But now, the trademark holder McDonald’s has turned the tables, using the co-opted name to hop on the increasingly popular anime/manga subculture as an in-roads to sell fast food to a younger, hipper demographic. The company has transported the anime world’s “WcDonald’s” to our world via in-store advertising, a new character line-up, new packaging, and most prominently a new “Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce” that you can use on your Chicken McNuggets. For what it’s worth, there will also be a limited time restaurant in Los Angeles for one weekend in March that will replicate an actual WcDonald’s in real life (though if WcDonald’s is just supposed to be McDonals – aren’t we already technically at WcDonald’s?). What this will entail is unknown as of the writing of this review, but might presumably feature appropriately uniformed employees, a new sign, maybe more menu items. IDK it is a fine line between homage and appropriation so let’s hope it all goes well. I, for one, sure hope this guy is there:

The WcDonald’s Sauce Review

As mentioned, the “Savory Chili WcDonald’s Sauce” for Chicken McNuggets is the most prominent part of the takeover – and honestly the only substantive one. But how is it? Well that depends, how much do you like ginger? The sauce is definitely spicy with a real heat to it, but the primary base taste is ginger. And if you don’t like that, you’re probably out of luck.

Japan’s McDonald’s regularly offer a salted ginger sauce – but this new WcDonald’s sauce is different than that: less creamy and more of a jelly – like sweet and sour or hoison sauce and closer to the sweet and spicy sauce the chain offered a few months ago for a limited time. Some have described it as also being comparable to the spicy ginger sauce that you might experience on poke or on a spicy tuna roll. It is, frankly, a unique taste though – especially when paired with chicken McNuggets. Anyway, I’m one of those that doesn’t like ginger. And accordingly, I didn’t like this sauce that much. It was a distant third to both the aforementioned sweet and spicy sauce and Mombo sauces that were introduced in 2023. But if you’re one of those folks that is a fan of ginger, then you’re really going to like this sauce.

Online WcDonald’s Extras

But there’s more than just sauce. Sure, you can still get other sauces and if you are a Chicken McNuggets fan like me, all it takes is a 10 piece nugget order to access online extras including an anime short as well as manga chapters that will release weekly through March 24th and a Fortnite mini-game. The manga will be illustrated by Acky Bright (whose work has been featured for a takeover in the tankobon B/W aka Black and White Line and has also been commissioned by BMW and other corporate sponsors for manga-related projects.) and will be featured on the WcDonald bags that you get with the meal along with a locked chapter accessible through the wcdonalds.com website that you can unlock with the QR code on the bag. The locked manga was a blast and a quick read. There are some themes and turns in the story that were unexpected. It revolves around two rivals: Hashirune, a race car driving food lover, and Mitero, a businessman that was the youngest of five children who is ultra competitive. Both are racing to WcDonald’s to get the new sauce first to pair them with nuggets fries. The twist is that both have altered forms and neither is in their final when the (24 page!) manga begins. Acky Bright’s artwork is also great:

The rivals end in a joyous and, dare I say, affectionate denouement.

The related (to Acky Bright’s locked manga though not the characters on the bag – more on that later) anime will be produced by Studio Pierrot (who recently produced “Black Clover” and “Boruto”). You can watch the first episode HERE:

And you know what, that quick but effective anime was pretty good IMO. It made me remember how much I enjoy the intensity of anime but also the joyful frankness. And each week’s short will explore a different animated genre: action, romance, mechs, and sports. This was action. Could I be getting back into anime because of McDonald’s – I mean WcDonald’s??? As far as the exclusive stuff that you only get when you order McNuggets, there’s not much – just a few frames of the two characters in the short above called “Signature Move”. I didn’t totally get it but it looked cool enough – and most importantly to some fans, unlocked a mini-game in Fortnite. Honestly, the whole takeover is best represented by the in-store packaging, courtesy of Acky Bright.

Ackey Bright’s WcDonald’s Packaging

There is a special bag and cup that comes with the WcDonald’s order. See photos above at the beginning of the post. There is also a bag featuring a crew of manga-esque WcDonald’s workers. You can also use the QR code on the bag to unlock manga related to Hashirune and Mitero’s adventures. I actually really enjoy Acky’s character design for the crew:

I guess this bag-based “manga” follows the crew of a WcDonald’s as they finally receive that special WcDonalds sauce. All look at it differently and like it for a different reason. I love the shout-out to that one character’s “mysterious lore”. They all look very colorful especially the Mayor McCheese anime character known as “Burg” and the girl in the bottom left. I want to know more about them. Also the mech-inspired guy is pretty awesome. I honestly wish we could get a whole book featuring these characters. I hope this is not a one-off bag and really hope we get a new manga bag each week.

Side-Topic: Why The Apprehension To Cover The WcDonald’s Sauce?

That’s it for the review and takeover showcase. But what about my internal angst? Why was I so hesitant to try the much hyped “WcDonald’s” sauce? I showed no such hesitation for the BTS or Kerwin. I guess I worried that I wasn’t being authentic. You see, I went through my anime era in 2022 and binged all of ATTACK ON TITAN, NARUTO, CHAINSAW MAN, and DRAGON BALL SUPER. I even started an anime/video game blog that I rebranded twice. One of those pieces even ended up on this blog with that Year of Mario piece at the beginning of last year. But I decided that ultimately, the subculture is probably not for me. I mean what is this blog if it is not about pop culture that I absolutely love – and the weirdest parts of it that rarely get noticed by mainstream blogs – let alone long-form treatment. Don’t get me wrong, I more than admire anime – I love it. I just felt like I would be perceived as a bandwagon fan and I hated that idea, so I was apprehensive. Is it ok for me love anime again? I don’t know, but I do know I love WcDonald’s. Guess I’ll just take in from there.