Matsuken Sunbreak! Japan’s favorite dancing shogun promotes Monster Hunter in promo MV

Today, June 30th, 2022, is an exciting day for gamers who have been following the hit Monster Hunter game series. The Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion has just been officially released!

Capcom has been going all out with promotions for the game, including an impressive 3D appearance by the elder dragon Malzeno on a digitial ad space outside of Tokyo's busy Shinjuku Station.

But what good promotion campaign doesn't have an awesome promotion video? In this department, Capcom didn't fail to deliver, tapping the talents of Japan's most famous "dancing shogun," the inimitable actor and singer Ken Matsudaira.

Japan's favorite "dancing shogun"

For those who don't know him, Matsudaira is not only known for playing such roles as the title character Tokugawa Yoshimune in the historical drama series 暴れん坊将軍 abarenbō shōgun (The Unfettered Shogun) for a quarter century from 1978 to 2003 but also as a singer famous for donning an Edo period topnotch, wearing a glittery kimono and performing a hip-swiveling dance while singing マツケンサンバII (Matsuken Samba II). Released in 2004, the hit song was featured in media, endeared Matsudaira to younger audiences, and spawned multiple collaborations and variations in the nearly two decades since.

Matsuken Sunbreak

To celebrate the release of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, Capcom has created a promotional video called "Matsuken Sunbreak" with parody lyrics perfectly matching the theme of the game. In addition to his iconic gold glittering kimono look, Matsudaira also plays the four roles of an office worker, a student, a rapper, and a chara-o (a superficial guy), all four of whom are engrossed in the game.

The new song skillfully incorporates things like the outpost of Elgado and names of new monsters like Malzeno, Garangolm and Lunagaron.

Here are a few of the lyric replacements featured in the song:

For example, 叩けボンゴ響けサンバ tatake bongo hibike samba (Let the bongos beat and the samba music sound) becomes 叩けハンマー響け狩猟笛 tatake hanmā hibike shuryōbue (let the hammer strike and the hunting whistle blow)...

...and 心ゆくまで踊れば kokoro yukumade odoreba (if you dance to your heart's content) becomes 大空を翔れば ōzora wo kakereba (if you soar in the sky).

Of course, there's also a great replacement for the song's famous refrain "Olé Olé Matsuken Samba":

オーレオーレマツケン ōre ōre matsuken sanba (Olé Olé Matsuken Samba) becomes 狩ーれ狩れマツケンサンブレイク kāre kare matsuken sanbureiku (Hunt Hunt Matsuken Sunbreak)

Promotional Video

Fans of the game will also appreciate scenes in which Matsudaira appears in the world of the game, running walls and launching himself with wirebugs. Check out the video below!