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Final Fantasy VII Collaborates on New Ad for Donbei Instant Noodles

Since May 2017, Nissin Foods has been producing a commercial series for its popular Donbei brand of instant noodles. In the series, a character known as “young man” (Gen Hoshino) interacts with a cute fox-girl, Dongitsune (Riho Yoshioka), while he's eating a bowl of Donbei kitsune udon. In more recent years, the series has transitioned to an animated series of commercials, with the most recent taking place over the New Year's holiday. In a strange twist of fate, Square Enix partnered with Nissin Foods for the latest in the Donbei commercial series. The commercial features characters from the Final Fantasy VII (FFVII) Remake series. The young man is portrayed by FFVII protagonist Cloud Strife, but who is playing the part of the lovely Dongitsune? The answer is far more shocking and comical than you'd expect:

Donbei announced on Twitter on February 25 the collaboration between FFVII and Nissin Foods. The tweet jokingly pokes fun at who should be Dongitsune for the FFVII collaboration commercial:, “Tifa, Aerith…who should be Dongitsune?” FFVII fans didn't have to wait long to find out who would be Dongitsune as it was revealed in a follow up tweet on February 28: “After thinking it over, this is what happened…”

So, who was the lucky FF7 girl to become Dongitsune? According to Nissin Foods' website, during commercial planning, the staff fought over Tifa and Aerith, with a few arguing for Yuffie. Those are some strong contenders, but it wasn't until one staff member put an end to the arguing, saying, “Why not Sephiroth?” And as if hearing Sephiroth himself say, “Accept it, I am the one who will guide you,” the game's antagonist, the one-winged angel himself and everyone's favorite tortured soul pretty-boy, Sephiroth was chosen as Dongitsune for the commercial.

The commercial is available on the Nissin Foods Group YouTube channel, and the characters are saying::

The commercial uses multiple scenes from Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, most notably when Cloud meets Sephiroth after the destruction of the first Mako factory. Most amusing of all is certainly the piece of deep-fried abura-age tofu replacing FFVII's iconic meteor. The entertainment factor greatly increases if you are familiar with the history of the Donbei commercial series, . Luckily, there is an unofficial compilation of the first 21 commercials in the Donbie series on YouTube for those who wish to familiarize themselves with it.

Those outside Japan may not understand the depth of humor in the FFVII Donbei commercial due to it being part of a longer series. However, seeing Sephiroth push himself on Cloud through an instant noodle brand is beyond entertaining and likely fulfills the dreams of many Cloud and Sephiroth shippers. Hopefully, Sephiroth will always have fox ears and tail going forward because the commercial is clearly canonical... at least until Tetsuya Nomura says otherwise.

Sources: Nissin Foods, Nissin Foods Group's YouTube channel (link 2), Donbei's Twitter account (link 2) via Hachima Kikō