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Resident Evil 4, the current-gen remake of Capcom’s 2005 survival-horror action game of the same name, is scheduled to arrive this Friday.
The highly anticipated revamp of one of the most influential titles of the 2000s isn’t exactly the type of game that really need a huge marketing push to compel would-be audiences to pay attention to it. Still, that doesn’t mean Capcom isn’t willing to have a little fun while promoting it, as we see in this hilarious (and gory) ad for the game that nods to one of the most iconic Japanese children’s shows of the 1970s.
Released on Sunday, the ad recounts the opening moments of the Resident Evil 4, albeit now portrayed as an episode of “Resident Evil Masterpiece Theater.” The title of the ad, as well as the cutesy animation style, are an overt reference to World Masterpiece Theater, a series of children’s anime produced by Japanese anime studio Nippon Animation, which originally aired from 1969 to 1997.
The series adapted several notable works of children’s literature into anime, many of which featured the work of animators like future Studio Ghibli co-founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, as well as Mobile Suit Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino. Arguably the two most iconic anime to come out of the World Masterpiece Theater series are 1974’s Heidi, Girl of the Alps (directed by Takahata) and 1975’s Dog of Flanders, the latter of which Takahata and Miyazaki worked on and is explicitly referenced in the opening minutes of this new Resident Evil 4 ad.
It’s a fun and quirky way of not only promoting one of the biggest video game releases of this year, but also paying homage to a beloved work of Japanese animation with its own storied legacy. Just don’t expect the game itself to be as cutesy; this is still Resident Evil 4 we’re talking about after all.
Resident Evil 4 will be released on March 24 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
