Marjan is an Indonesian brand of syrup owned by the company Suba Indah. The brand is best known for its three-part (later two-part) narrative-based advertisements that play annually during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. These types of advertisements began in 2010, telling the story of a restaurant that wants to attract more customers. As the years go on, the advertisements would play characters in different situations such as boat races, balloon festivals, and dance performances.
In 2019, they switched their advertisement formula to more fantasy-based stories and action scenes, starting with adaptations of famous Indonesian folk tales before transitioning into completely original stories with elements of Indonesian mythology and legends. These advertisements got the Fan Nickname of "Marjan Cinematic Universe", due to the quality of their advertisements being on par with Hollywood movies, especially its homonymic abbreviation the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A compilation of their ads up to 2023 can be seen here
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Tropes that feature in Marjan's advertisements include:
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the original "Timun Mas" story, Buto Ijo is portrayed as a greedy giant who wants Timun Mas all by himself despite the starving mother refusing to give her back to him. In the 2019 ads that adapt the story, Buto Ijo is played as much nicer that he was originally, with him apologizing to a barber after destroying his shop's walls and asking the locals for help. In the end of the story we can also see that he even becomes friends with Timun Mas later on.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In the 2025 ads, Calon Arang, an AI, takes control over the humans by brainwashing them with technology, turning their eyes black. By the beginning of Part 2, it has taken over most of JKTerra, to the point of Barada, the one who activated it, almost becoming a Hoist by His Own Petard.
- Artistic License – Music: The 2010 advertisement features a man playing the syrup bottle like a flute. Problem is, the pitches made from blowing into the bottle seem to be different despite the bottle being completely empty.
- Dance Party Ending: In the 2020 edition, the entire kingdom, including Lutung Kasarung, has one after the defeat of Purbararang.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Marjan used to air ads in the 2000s, but instead of being story-based, these advertisements play like normal syrup advertisements.
- Feed It a Bomb: Calon Arang in the 2025 edition is defeated by having a projectile fed into its mouth by the unnamed protagonist, making it explode.
- Fusion Dance: In the 2021 ads, Singabarong and Kelana fuse together as Reogman, who inherits both their superpowers, after they learned how to work together in Part 2.
- Genre Mashup: The 2016-2018 ads use the concept of "traditional meets modern".
- 2016 has a combination of rampak bedug, a drumming performance from Banten, and modern marching band drumming.
- 2017 has a combination of traditional Legong dance and in-line skating tricks.
- 2018 mixes traditional Indonesian puppetry ("wayang") with motion capture technology and mechas.
- Gentle Giant: Played with Buto Ijo in the 2019 ads. The teasers of the advertisements initially portray him as a threatening and menacing giant as in the original "Timun Mas" story. However, Part 2 notes that he also has some Nice Guy capabilities such as apologizing after breaking into a barber shop and asking the locals for directions to Timun Mas. Eventually, Part 3 plays this in full circle after Timun Mas and her friends rescue him from sinking into shrimp paste quicksand (that she herself set up), and all of them have a feast together.
- Green Aesop: Their advertisement in 2023 concerns the issue of trash in the ocean, and the 2024 edition likely concerns deforestation.
- Headbutting Heroes: Singabarong and Kelana seem to be these at first in the 2021 ads, but since the arrival of a greater evil in their village they began to team up, especially in trying to save some kids from being experimented on in Part 2.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Seen in the slingshot boy in the 2014 ads. Although Part 1 seems to avert this since one of his shots ends up ricocheting and causing a hot air balloon to rip, the other parts play this straight as the boy hits his targets spot-on. In fact, Part 2 seems to set up that the boy is about to cause some trouble again like in part 1, but it turns out that he's actually trying to save the balloon from ripping again using his slingshot. As for part 3, the boy manages to make some holes into the already-flying balloon to unleash an "explosion" of smaller balloons using only his slingshot and some small stones.
- Motion Capture: An in-universe example. In the 2018 version, a group of puppeteers team up with a Japanese inventor to make mocap-based lifesize mecha-puppets that they would use for their next performance.
- Once per Episode: Their ads always play during Ramadan, and no other time of the year.
- Quicksand Sucks: 2019 contains one that is made of shrimp paste, which stays true to the original "Timun Mas" story. It is used to trap Buto Ijo, though since Timun Mas didn't really want him to die she ended up saving him from being completely sucked in.
- Save the Villain: The ending of the 2019 advertisement has Timun Mas and her friends rescue Buto Ijo from being completely sunk in quicksand.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: In the end of the 2020 ad, we see Purbararang escaping by herself after she was defeated by Purbasari and Lutung Kasarung as well as having all the curses that she has sent to multiple people undone by them.
- Sea Serpents: In the 2023 advertisement, the trash in the ocean awakens a sea serpent that attacks a village.
- Slice of Life: The concept of the 2010-2018 ads that feature real-world events and the problems and solutions that the characters have to go throughout them.
- What Were They Selling Again?: It's often easy to miss that they are trying to sell syrup because their advertisements are primarily narrative based, and especially in the 2020s where the advertisements are more cinematic than ever with intricate action scenes and stunning visual effects. Still, there are some shots of people drinking syrup-based desserts so the point of these ads aren't missed at all.
- You Go, Girl!: The premise of the 2015 advertisements is that a girl who has a natural talent in "sepak takraw" (an Indonesian sport that fuses football and volleyball). During one match, when she was called in to substitute a male teammate, the other team laughs at her, but she used her competence to prove them wrong, which ends up in a victory for her team.
