This page is inspired by an interesting thread I found at the FFO Forums about the writing on Jenova's metal head plate. All images used on this page were capped by me using PSmplay, and edited in Photodraw and Paint Shop Pro - so hands off. :P

One of the FMVs in Disc One shows Sephiroth going to the Nibelheim Reactor and removing Jenova's head to take with him to the Promised Land. During the sequence a close-up shot of Jenova's head is shown, and it is just possible to make out some words on her metal head plate. Take a look at the image below:

Sharpening up the image doesn't really make the text any easier to read, but here are the results of the sharpen filter I applied:

Personally I can only understand the writing because I already know what other people think it says - but if you look closely, you can just make out the following:

I can't make out what the XXXXXXXXX part says - however, from the look of the last few characters, I'm thinking it could possibly be written in Japanese. I'm also not 100% certain about the year - it could be either 1995 or 1996. Seeing as the game was released in 1996 it's unlikely to be any later than that. One opinion I've read said that all the game's FMVs were finished during 1995, so that seems to me to be the most likely answer.

Another mystery is the word "SQUER" - assuming Square put this text in as an "easter egg" for fans of the game to find, surely they'd spell their own name correctly. Having said that, there could be other explanations:

1. The translators could have made a mistake. This is unlikely because, as far as I know, the same FMVs were used in all versions of the game - all that was changed were the subtitles. This would mean that there weren't any translators for the FMVs - so something that never existed couldn't have made a mistake.
   
   
2. Perhaps the name refers to a branch of Squaresoft that exists only in the FF7 world? It may sound stupid, but it's entirely possible that "SQUER" is a secret company in the game whom Shinra, Inc contracted to deal with Jenova's body. It's not very likely, but it's still possible. So there. =P
   
   
3. Perhaps it's meant to say something else? It might be meant to say "SHINRA", but perhaps somebody somewhere made an error and it ended up as "SQUER". This isn't very likely either, but it's interesting to consider.
   

I'd be interested to hear your opinions on this issue. If you'd like to comment, drop me a line and I'll add your opinion to this page.

The Enemy suggested something:

Hey, I've got a view on the "SQUER" part. If you pronounce SQUER in Dutch, you say the English word "Square". Maybe it's someting. Greetings from The Enemy.