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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. 


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19 comments | showing # 1 to 19

The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 12/03/2007 11:32
Half of my iPod Nano is filled with Japanese game soundtracks. What does that make me?
Dale North's Avatar
Dale North at 12/03/2007 11:39
My friend
Jayson Napolitano's Avatar
Jayson Napolitano at 12/03/2007 11:46
Wow. Beautiful. I seem to recall Uematsu saying something during his first visit here at the first "Dear Friends" concert that this song was included on an audio book version of a children's book in Japan.

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.
Mustin's Avatar
Mustin at 12/03/2007 11:56
Incredible. Just incredible.

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.
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 12/03/2007 12:00
Oh yes. My mother overheard me listening to the piano arrangement of this song and made me burn a CD with this song repeated until the disc is full so she could bring it to work. She still doesn't know what this song is from.
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 12/03/2007 12:08
That was beautiful. I also have a large portion of my music as game music, but if you throw in the anime music as well, its about 50 percent
Dale North's Avatar
Dale North at 12/03/2007 12:09
king3vbo actually beats the rest of you for the inclusion of anime music
Aequitas's Avatar
Aequitas at 12/03/2007 12:12
Amazing. Beautiful rendition of a beautiful song.

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.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 12/03/2007 12:15
Modern pop music deserves to die in a fire.
Variable Gear's Avatar
Variable Gear at 12/03/2007 12:33
Is that Mustin the Mustin?

Also, why can't the US get good music like that on MTV?
Fading Star's Avatar
Fading Star at 12/03/2007 12:37
:D.
kadosho's Avatar
kadosho at 12/03/2007 13:01
Quite an amazing song, timeless as anyone's rememberable rpg journey. Plus Ida Emi is a talented vocalist, taking her voice to many different levels.

Still question why doesnt our MTV air "talented" videos like this.
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 12/03/2007 13:46
@Variable Gear:
That is an excellent choice for your term paper.
Virtualgirl's Avatar
Virtualgirl at 12/03/2007 14:07
That was so beautiful! Her voice was perfect! I love game music, I listen to it all the time and my parents have grown to love it as well. They said they would never be able to tell that half the stuff I listen to is from a game. They have copies of every CD I have!
Variable Gear's Avatar
Variable Gear at 12/03/2007 14:09
@ The-Excel:

I'm getting started on it right now.
EijiKikumaru's Avatar
EijiKikumaru at 12/03/2007 14:38
Classics can't die, do they? ^^ (I'm joining the club with 2HD full of VGM and remixs :))
Syn's Avatar
Syn at 12/03/2007 18:11
Fear not! As soon as all the retarded old people that fear games die and our generation moves in to control the country using a little intelligence, THEN we will be more open minded to entertainment from any medium.
catsithx's Avatar
catsithx at 12/03/2007 20:00
Ilove most game and anime music. I belive we in a clture where it shuns music that is not manistream. well screw them Game Music forever
braulio09's Avatar
braulio09 at 12/03/2007 21:58
that black armored guy always reminds me of Knights of the Zodiac

definitely a must get ;D
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