Interest
SMAP Recruits New Members in Dragon Quest X Ad
posted on by Egan Loo
The boy band SMAP stars in this week's Dragon Quest X: Mezameshi Itsutsu no Shuzoku Online commercial. In the ad, the idols create a media frenzy when they reveal that they are recruiting new members, for an unexpected reason:
The current members want to go back to being just ordinary boys — Dragon Quest X is coming out, so they are going on hiatus. (The commercial's producers actually saw the need to put a tiny disclaimer at the corner of the screen, in case someone believed that this is a real breaking news flash.)
This is the fourth straight title for which SMAP has been the public "face" of the Dragon Quest franchise. Dragon Quest X, the first multi-player online Dragon Quest game, will ship in Japan on Thursday, with the regular version of the game costing 6,980 yen (about US$86) and the Wii disc plus USB memory version costing 8,980 yen (US$111).
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
Update: Here is the longer 30-second version:
The game's official website is also streaming a "making-of" video.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history