A new Japanese advertisement video is garnering attention for featuring the King Ghidorah kaiju and the Final Fantasy V track “Battle at the Big Bridge.” Marubeni, the company behind the ad, published an official webpage which is also available in English. However, its Japanese press release provided more context that confirmed the formal usages of the above two elements. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]
Marubeni chose Final Fantasy V‘s “Battle at the Big Bridge” not only due to fan popularity. Gilgamesh, the character who has the track as his leitmotif, reappears frequently in subsequent Final Fantasy titles. The company thus also noted that he has become an unhateable character despite often appearing as an enemy.
The press release also revealed that Toei gave approval for Marubeni to re-use King Ghidorah’s assets from the 2001 movie Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Other than re-using its sound effects, Marubeni also repaired the kaiju suit that was last used for the movie.
Marubeni has uploaded the full 90-second video to its brand channel on YouTube. It also included English subtitles with “Share the Challenge” as the ad’s official English title.
[tnm_video layout=”mnmd-post-media”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1C_hXD1HOw[/tnm_video]
While the ad video premiered first on YouTube, Marubeni will also show it on Japanese television channels. The original 90-second video will appear exclusively on TBS on the evening of Sunday, September 10, 2023. An abridged 30-second version will air sporadically starting from September 17, 2023.
Final Fantasy V originally came out for Super Famicom (SNES) in 1992 in Japan. Its first English localization landed in North America for the PlayStation in 1999. Square Enix released a new Pixel Remaster version for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile devices on November 10, 2021.
