Game developer collaborates with two Japanese artists for video with actress returning from last year’s amazing ad.
Pocari Sweat is Japan’s quintessential sports drink. It’s got such a strong image that no one bats an eye at the unusual name, and competing sports drink brands, like Aquarius and the Japanese version of Gatorade try to make themselves taste as much like Pocari’s grapefruit-esque flavor as they can.
So when Pocari Sweat puts out a new commercial, it often has some Japanese show business star power behind it. Its newest promotional video, though, also features the work of someone with a huge fanbase outside of Japan as well: Toby Fox, developer of indie video game smash hit Undertale and its spiritual successor Deltarune!
As usual, Fox appears in the announcement represented by a smiling pixel-art dog. The New Hampshire native, as beloved as much for his games’ musical compositions as their unique gameplay mechanics and singular storytelling style, Fox collaborated with Japanese musicians Punpee and Imase (pictured left and center, respectively, in the above photo) to compose the music for the new Pocari commercial.
▼ Starring in the video will be Sena Nakajima (seen on the left), who also appeared in a Pocari ad in 2021.
News of Fox’s involvement has been met with loud cheers from his Japanese fanbase (Undertale was voted the #13 game of all time in last year’s Video Game General Election) on Twitter:
“Whoa whoa whoa…whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa…whoa whoa whoa!”
“THE Toby Fox? This is awesome!”
“Can’t put it into words how happy this makes me.”
“Punpee and Toby Fox!? It’s like they made this just for me!”
A video game icon might seem like an unintuitive choice of collaborator for a sports drink commercial, but Pocari’s marketing has long focused on emotion as much as it has athletics. Their jaw-dropping, no-CG ad with Nakajima from last year, for example, focuses on a pair of schoolgirls making an interpersonal connection, with its theme described as “Forging your own path in life is hard, but we believe it’s fun too. If you have a friend running with you, you’ll feel braver.” In billing themselves as a beverage for anyone who’s giving their all to their dreams, sports-related or otherwise, Pocari also has a strong connection with youth, and the timing of the new ad, which begins airing on April 1, coincides with the spring start of the academic year in Japan.
Source: PR Wire via Denfaminico Gamer via Livedoor News via Otakomu
Top image: PR Wire
● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!