Oh, how I long to live in a country that is so open to entertainment from any source. Unfortunately, I'm an American, and it's not uncommon for people to scoff at or ridicule those who listen to anything other than good ol' FM radio pop music here. In Japan, on the other hand, game music can be just as mainstream as the music of the latest pop star. A perfect example is this video of Ida Emi's "Tsuki no Akari - Final Fantasy IV Ai no Theme" ("Final Fantasy IV Love Theme") from Japanese television.
This beautiful, moving rendition of one of the best songs from Final Fantasy IV's score and the upcoming Nintendo DS remake is now airing as a music video (they call them "promotional videos") on MTV Japan. It's certainly not the first version of Nobuo Uematsu's classic song (both the Celtic Moon and Final Fantasy IV Piano Collections arrangement albums feature wonderful versions), but it's probably the best, with Emi's heartfelt vocals softly floating above lush strings and clean piano.
This song will be featured on the upcoming Final Fantasy IV official soundtrack that we told you about earlier, though the CD/DVD single will be available for importing this week.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
11:28 AM on 12.03.2007
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I'm really excited about this game, so if anything, this is a big teaser. I'm looking forward to what they do with the music.
I showed this to my girl. She's blown away at the fact that video game music is on MTV in Japan.
I told her I was blown away that 1.) it's not on MTV in the States, and 2.) that there's not even MUSIC on MTV here.
@The-Excel, I'm the same way. While I love my popular music, over half of my .MP3 player is video game music and remixes.
Also, MTV doesn't suck in some parts of the world. Who'd have thunk it? You'd pretty much have to turn to public access or college television stations to find piano music on TV over here. I was almost as stunned by the MTV logo as I was by the incredible piano and vocals.
Also, why can't the US get good music like that on MTV?
Still question why doesnt our MTV air "talented" videos like this.
That is an excellent choice for your term paper.
I'm getting started on it right now.
definitely a must get ;D