Video games featuring marketing tie-ins with food and beverages is certainly nothing new–especially in Japan, where beloved game characters have been hawking things like ramen seasoning for decades. However, this latest campaign–a tie-up between famed international beverage-maker Asahi and Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth–is deliciously strange in all the right ways.
Asahi introduced a canned alcoholic chu-hai beverage in Japan called Mirai no Lemon Sour (Future Lemon Sour) in 2024, with distribution spreading across Japan in 2025. Chu-hai’s been growing in popularity in recent years, and Asahi set out to differentiate itself from the competition with a unique gimmick: an actual lemon slice miraculously crammed into every can. Pop the lid open, and the lemon slice floats up to the surface to flavor up your drinking experience. A strange gimmick, but one that seems to have been successful in the market.
So what does Final Fantasy and Sephiroth have to do with any of this? Well, Sephiroth’s famous ultra-long sword, the Masamune–you know, the one that’s killed Aerith and also skewered Mario that one time–would certainly be useful for chopping up those floating lemon slices in Mirai no Lemon Sours, right? And that’s exactly what our beautiful boy does, hacking a lemon into thin slices before savoring his handiwork by taking a refreshing sip of his new favorite adult beverage.
Additionally, Asahi will have a limited-time pop-up bar set up in Tokyo’s famed Roppongi entertainment district. Themed after Tifa’s Seventh Heaven bar, which acts as a secret HQ for Avalanche in-game, you’ll be able to sit down, relax, and enjoy any of the three varieties of Mirai no Lemon Sour.
This isn’t the first time Final Fantasy has teamed up with canned drinks: Final Fantasy VII was featured in Pepsi promotions in the United States during its launch. In Japan, both Coca-Cola and the Japanese company Suntory have produced Final Fantasy-branded drinks and merchandise. This, however, marks first time a Final Fantasy-branded drink has been alcoholic, perhaps an acknowledgement of the age most people who played the original FF7 are now.
Unfortunately, if you want to try Sephiroth’s sliced lemons for yourself, Mirai no Lemon Sour might be hard to get outside of Japan. Your best bet would be to check any local Japanese or Asian groceries–provided you’re of legal drinking age, of course.
And remember: drink and engage in swordplay responsibly.