Capcom made a cute children’s anime ad for Resident Evil 4 inspired by Hayao Miyazaki

Resident Evil 4the current-gen remake of Capcom’s 2005 survival-horror action game of the same name, is due out this Friday.

The long-awaited revamp of one of the most influential titles of the 2000s isn’t exactly the type of game that really need a huge marketing push to force potential audiences to pay attention to it. That doesn’t mean Capcom isn’t willing to have a little fun promoting it, though, as we see in this hilarious (and gory) ad for the game that nods to one of the most iconic Japanese kids’ shows of the 1970s. .

The ad, released on Sunday, talks about the opening moments of the Resident Evil 4, albeit now portrayed as an episode of ‘Resident Evil Masterpiece Theater’. The title of the ad, as well as the cute animation style, are an overt reference to World Masterpiece Theatrea series of children’s anime produced by the Japanese anime studio Nippon Animation that originally aired from 1969 to 1997.

The series has adapted several notable works of children’s literature into anime, many of which feature the work of animators such as future Studio Ghibli co-founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, as well as Mobile Suit Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino. Arguably the two most iconic anime to come out of the World Masterpiece Theater series are those from 1974 Heidi, girl of the Alps (directed by Takahata) and 1975 Dog of Flandersthe last one Takahata and Miyazaki worked on and is explicitly referenced in the opening minutes of this novel Resident Evil 4 advertisement.

It’s a fun and quirky way to not only promote one of this year’s biggest video game releases, but also pay homage to a beloved work of Japanese animation with its own storied legacy. Just don’t expect the game itself to be all that cute; this is still Resident Evil 4 after all we are talking about.

Resident Evil 4 will be released on March 24 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X.