As Resident Evil Village hits retail shelves in a couple of days, Lady Dimitrescu will be unleashed to fans looking forward to the game, which chronicles the latest adventures of Ethan Winters. But before that, we look back at the recent April fools prank that Capcom did to make Lady Dimitrescu a little less scary than she normally is.

Back in April, Capcom made a few interesting announcements to promote the eagerly anticipated game. One was a new Image Song and the other is a puppet show feature Resident Evil Village’s antagonists, including everyone’s favorite Tall Vampire Lady Alcina Dimitrescu.

Naturally since the announcement was made on April Fools, everyone seemed to treat it as such. Fast forward to near end of April 2021 and what started as pranks actually became reality as Capcom released actual videos of the image song and puppet show on the official Japanese Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan) Youtube channel.

I hate this village!

The image song is one that needs some explanation, as it requires some knowledge in the Japanese music scene. Resident Evil Village’s “new” image song, “Orera kon’na mura iya da Lv. 100″ meaning “This Village is no Good for Us Lv.100” is sung by famous enka singer/songwriter Yoshi Ikuzo, and is a parody of his original song “Ora Tokyo sa Igunda”

Yoshi Ikuzo’s original song is an amusing take on someone who wants to leave his rural backwater village to go live in Tokyo. It’s no wonder then that it’s rather fitting to be an “image song” for Resident Evil Village on account of anyone would hate living there too, on account of the dangers like rabid lycans and vampires running rampant. Of course, for Resident Evil Village players, they’re challenges to test your skills and wits.

And speaking of vampires…

Resident Evil Village “Welcome to Bio Village”

If resident Evil Village is proving a bit too scary for you, then maybe you’d rather visit Bio Village instead? Here, the villains of Resident Evil Village are reimagined as cute and friendly puppets insisting that their village isn’t scary…

As if Lady Dimitrescu isn’t charming enough to fans, they had to turn her into a very cute puppet. They even made her the tallest of the group. Not to mention she’s voiced by Kikuko “eternally 17” Inoue, known in the anime scene for her iconic motherly roles, only with a dash of crazy whenever Domito-oneesan takes a little sip of blood.

Salvatore Moreau becomes this innocent and child-like character eager to be taught by big sister Dimitrescu much like the others. Maro-kun is definitely a big step in the cute direction compared to his real life counterpart that you will no doubt face in Resident Evil Village.

Karl Heisenberg made the leap into puppet form pretty faithfully… sort of. He still has this signature shades and hammer and he still loves machines, so good for him.

Donna Beneviento is absent from Bio Village but her scary puppet Angie makes an appearance, and she’s still sporting a messy wedding dress.

In a twisted Sesame Street like sense, the puppet show has a very kid show feel to it with Lady Dimitrescu teaching her “friends” how to paint. Complete with a song that abruptly gets cut the moment Domito-oneesan gets a taste of blood. And speaking of blood, you can’t deny the gory detail even if it’s just represented by red cloth.

Capcom really knows how to promote a game, and you can also tell how much effort they put if they turned these April Fools Pranks into reality. You just have to see these videos to believe them.

Resident Evil Village launches on May 7 for the PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and the PC.