hontou ni
20Sep/0527

Final Fantasy 7 ~Advent Children~

I grew up with a sword in my hand. From the plastic one that I brought to school for show and tell to the fantastical 2-handed sword my AD&D fighter wielded during my teenage years, the sword has always been my way of ninja guided my path to manhood. (I used to think I must have been a swordman in my previous life and from the way I role-played in rpgs, I died young.) I have since progressed to idolising virtual swords in World of Warcraft. (Boy have I matured indeed. :P ) As such, I'm fascinated by all things affliated to The Weapon and ingested movies/animes series that had well choreographed swordfights with rabid voraocity (eg Tsui Hark movies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Jubei chan 2, Samurai Champloo just to name a few). But nothing I have seen, NOTHING, comes close to heart-stopping, breathtaking swordfights in Advent Children.

The battle choreography of Advent Children blew me away.The sheer ingenuity of every fight, the graceful yet deadly poise of every sword swing/parry and the many superb aerial dances of death were flawlessly integrated to deliver a most potent concentration of visual ecstasy that brought rapturous tears to my eyes. (I have to admit my last joyeous tears of such intensity were shed for Kotori in MEGAMI :P ) The fights are beautifully complemented with marvelous music and FF fans will find the variations of the familiar in-game themes nostalgic yet refreshing.

On the story front, I know many had found the story to be weak or bewildering. While I disagree with that the claims of a feeble plot, I admit that the tale was rather confusing even to one who is somewhat familiar with FF7 lore, having played the game to its full (Yeah, I accidentally killed the final Sephiroth cos I forgot to unequip my counterattack materia :P ). Let me just say that Advent Children IS a sequel to FF7 and knowing the game predecessor's story would greatly enhance the understanding hence enjoyment of the animation's plot. (I took a refresher on the story and found my 2nd sitting through Advent Children even more entertaining.) I'm particularly impressed by the intiutive but subtle dialogue that is instrumental in Cloud's credible character development and effective in adding texture to the FF7 world. The wolf and handphone symbolism were also intriguing and injects flavour to Cloud's character even though I'm still postulating their true representations. There has also been some disappointment expressed over the mere cameos of the remaining FF7 cast. However, given the limited screentime, I'm just contended to have the characters faithfully portrayed as Square Enix had so done.

No amount of screencaps will do justice to the melee action in Advent Children. Like the pain of childbirth, the exhilarating action of Advent Children cannot be conveyed in words or pictures but is to be experienced first hand. An awesome production that truly captured the spirit of Final Fantasy.

Related posts:

  1. Final SHUFFLE! Episode (24) Airs 2006-01-05
  2. Final Approach
  3. Bakemonogatari 15 (Final)

Posted by

Filed under: Series Review Leave a comment
Comments (27) Trackbacks (0)
  1. crimson
    September 21st, 2005 - 06:50

    OMG STRIPEY!
    i’m so glad u included this in!
    Here’s my comments next!

    ( REPLY )
  2. crimson
    September 21st, 2005 - 07:25

    Short history of my FF encounters.
    I’ve played FF3 us (aka FF6 in jap) in SNES.
    It was the pinnacle of the RPG realms.

    Next, I bought a PS just to play FF7.
    FF7 brought RPG into a new era of excitement and possibilities.

    Subsequently, i’ve played FF1 (us aka FF2 jap), FF2 (us aka FF4 jap) FF8 (never complete), FF9 (never complete).
    For some reason, the “feel” factor didnt match up to my experience with FF6 and FF7.

    So yeah, i downloaded FF7 Advent Children last week. I just skimmed thru it at first and found the human physics to be out of this world. I think i’ll give the human physics (all of them are record jumpers) about 0 marks.

    A few days back, i formally watched Advent Children from start to end. I WAS BLOWN AWAY.

    Cloud, Vincent and Sepiroth and the 3 sentimental bad dudes (lol, they cry) isnt exactly human, so, i can forgive them for doing the unworldly. But, the hyper jump by tifa was disturbing.

    There’s a number of factors that make this a great show and it made me forget about the human physics.

    First, the CG is ABSOLUTELY solid. I believe this whole show, like FF Spirits Within (i didnt watch) was purely made from CGs. The characters and even the whole world itself. The criticism i heard about FF Spirits is that the characters lack some ‘soul’ in their eyes and that the plot is…too mystical.

    Secondly, the CG characters have their sense of humour and class. Reno and Rude are a fine example. They are always responding to the situation with their behaviour. Even the crying 3 bad dudes made me laugh, not becos that was lame, i was more impressed that the director decided to present this aspect of them to us :P
    All those actions seem so human. Yuffie exclaiming discrimination and her arrival with the parachute is another fine (lively) moment for me. The part where Sephiroth bounce Cloud’s assault off with a wide slash while in midair around the 1:16:33 min was a fine example of combat style with synchronisation to the music.
    Even when the citizens were amassed, all of them had their own set of actions and responses.

    Thirdly, the motions are SO fluid! They move and fight like the real thing! The instant where this lead of the 3 bad dude was swinging in hand to motion for the children to come down the trees to greet Cloud’s arrival was a fine instant of flawless motion.

    Fourth, the battle landscapes/playground seems pretty damn huge! All these, for our visual entertainment.

    Fifth, the music sounds newage or cyberpunk enough to meet the technological age setting of FF7.

    Sixth, i’m glad they didnt overuse projectiles.

    Seven! It has a nice conclusion where Cloud’s ex-comrades are somewhat accounted for nicely :P

    As for the storyline, it has an interesting start, “498 years ago”. Which was an excerpt from the ending of the FF7 game itself i think. Can someone share with me what it really means? :P
    Cos i still dont quite get it…did it mean 498 years hath passed and all it reminds is XIII and his family?
    Other than that, the storyline may not appeal to all becos it brings up some wild ideas like “lifestream”, “planets resisting an alien particle” stuffs like that. But, i’m glad they didnt do something like “8 streams in the world to ‘balance’ the world” as they did in FF Spirits. Plot with words like having a spectral pillar to “balance” (keyword balance being used) tend to throw movies (i guess CG movies are blurring lines..) in the wrong direction.

    *goes academic* In view of the pros outweighing the cons, i deem this to be an AWESOME movie.
    Actually, i feel that if they included better motion physics (in terms of jumping) for the human characters (like Tifa, not yuffie…since she’s the only ninja but she did used a parachute afterall!), this movie will be scoring years ahead of other animes or sfx infested movies i’ve watched so far.

    ( REPLY )
  3. crimson
    September 21st, 2005 - 07:28

    You guys should get FF7 Final Order soon.
    Best, watch it BEFORE you watch Advent Children becos FF7 Final Order sets up some background before the game of FF7 takes place.

    Timeline order:

    1. FF7 Final Order
    2. FF7 story
    3. (2 years later) FF7 Advent Children
    4. (498 years later??) XIII and his tribe/kids running around the forsaken land??

    ( REPLY )
  4. crimson
    September 21st, 2005 - 07:28

    I forgot to mention…FF7 Final Order is an anime. It’s animation is solid though. Nothing even close to xenosaga animation :P

    ( REPLY )
  5. Stripey
    September 22nd, 2005 - 18:37

    Woah Crimson! Nice commentaries here! Glad to have another rabid FF fan gushing about Advent Children. I think I have seen it 8 times now and still can’t get enough of the truly astounding action! :) Will get my paws on Final Order. Thanks for the heads up!

    I haven’t played FF9 and 10 but I did complete FF8. (That didn’t stop me from being a Rikku fanboy though :P ) 8 has a different feel from 7 but is still an excellent game by all accounts. :) FF7 has this grand Gaia concept with a complementary epic plot but FF8 is actually 2 intertwined love stories at heart. Very good ones at that. If you have a chance, try FF8. I don’t know if this would encourge you but there’s no hardcore chocobo rearing/racing there :)

    ( REPLY )
  6. crimson
    September 22nd, 2005 - 20:44

    i spent around 23 hrs on disc 1 of FF8.
    I’m those fanatics that want to ‘draw’ spells (stock items) to 99 (and to collect everything).
    I got the Punisher for squall at disc 1 (2nd best weapon) just before i reach the ‘Airship Academy’ (forgot the name…ballam garden?). Was playing the decks and lvling training like a mofo.

    In the end, i killed my interest in the game becos it seems so…long…so time-consuming. Mom lecturing everytime my gameplay extends helps alot in the negative sense.
    The loading time caused by my faulty PS lens was part of the problem. The randomised choppy FMV (due to the faulty PS lens) was certainly a turn off.

    Come to think of it…there’s no loading time in FF3 (us). In FF7, somehow, the loading time seems more bearable.

    I think all cd/dvd games will increase in a grade in score if they can somehow get rid of those noticeable loading times.

    ( REPLY )
  7. thenightsshadow
    October 3rd, 2005 - 09:00

    Uh, you automatically get a counter-attack materia when you face the final Sephy either way.

    Just to let you know.

    You have your Sword, Counter-attack materia, a counter chained to that, and that’s it. You automatically have Omnislash even if you never had it (I proved it, since I think I’m the only one to face Sephiroth with Cloud’s limit at CrossSlash only.)

    It’s fun to expose all these little things…

    ( REPLY )
  9. Stripey
    October 11th, 2005 - 09:40

    thenightssshadow: oh haha I didn’t know that. thx for the heads-up… man I’m itching to play it again… *suddenly remembers chocobo rearing…..*

    claudy: yeah words fail me too when it comes to Advent children… :)

    ( REPLY )
  10. crimson
    October 12th, 2005 - 02:21

    OMG chocobo!!!

    there’s a moogle doll in FF7 AC!

    They forgot about the chocobo!
    One of the main mascot in FF series too!

    ( REPLY )
  11. no1important
    October 12th, 2005 - 12:58

    i need a copy of advent children. been looking all over but i cant find a file that is not corrupted or a shit long time download anyone got a link to a good dl?

    ( REPLY )
  12. Andrea
    October 13th, 2005 - 08:11

    Hi i’m a big sephiroth fan! I’ve seen advent children 15 times and i’m still going!! it’ll never get old! i have a sephiroth figurine its cool! nay questions about anything e-mail me i know all!!!

    ( REPLY )
  13. crimson
    October 13th, 2005 - 10:22

    i hope u watch FF7 Last Order too :P
    zack is pretty cool in there too.

    ( REPLY )
  14. Stripey
    October 16th, 2005 - 05:11

    no1important: Mine was a HS sub which I can’t find at tokyotoshokan anymore. Perhaps you can try the other subbers like Shinsen/Aone? :)

    Andrea: Sephiroth is way cool!! :) I rem idolising him in FF7 even though he was the baddie.. Love especially his elegantly slender yet deadly sword…. :) What’s the name of his sword again? :P

    Crimson: haven’t gotta my paws on that… :P will get it soon and hope to rant a little about it. :)

    ( REPLY )
  15. crimson
    October 16th, 2005 - 19:24

    try getting it at baka-updates.
    It’s the ultimate source..

    ( REPLY )
  16. crimson
    October 16th, 2005 - 19:24

    yeah, both mine were the done by the Hiro Sub group too.

    ( REPLY )
  17. Dervish ibn Candela
    October 17th, 2005 - 21:11

    Doumo minna-san…
    ZOMG STRIPEY Now you’ve really done it!
    Your blog’s becoming too sweet really… “Oh, that’s so good!” Lacks some criticism, I’d say.
    Here I am to provide that :D
    (At least I’ll try hard)

    I also was stunned by FF7:AC’s beautifully built fighting horeography but man I was deeply insulted as an angineer: no matter how good you are in sword fighting you cannot ignore Euler’s system of equations for a moving mass… boy what am I saying… Basical laws of physics, where the hell have they gone?… F=ma aka F=dp/dt; N=R; etc…
    Well. Let it be. Let us consider Lifestream as a rplacement for physics and common sense, but apart from fights all animation was horrendous. Motion capture was invented not really yesterday, and if you remember such games as Onimusha, and some others, they had much more realistic animation – than this MOVIE, featuring “videogame style” gests and moves.
    Well, let it be. Let us consider they all suffer from geostigma so much so they can’t move in normal way XD But still why 90% of the movie is fighting? I expected something more entertaining.

    Well. To sum it all up it really WAS a fanservice project. From fans to fans.
    It’s hard to expect normal, not FF7-loving people to even watch FF7:AC till the end. And all the psychological/philosophical component seemed absolutely irrelevant to me. There were some interesting moments, but the rest seemed to me as there was reallynothing more than pretentious rants in “I will nnot run away” style Who knows…

    ( REPLY )
  18. Dervish ibn Candela
    October 17th, 2005 - 21:20

    Well sorry if that sounded harsh or stupid. It takes years to master the language to that degree which allows you to say harsh things like that in more subtle and sensible fashion without insulting anyone =) Regard that as a raw opinion from countryside… (but you people probably don’t have such thing as countryside at all anyway =)

    ( REPLY )
  19. Stripey
    October 20th, 2005 - 00:47

    Dervish: LOL!!! *wipes tears from eye* Brother Dervish, it’s always wonderful to have your insights since it’s always a joy to read them even though we might not agree on everything. :) Personally, I thought the lack of physical laws governing the fight scenes is one of the strengths of FF7AC. Even the might Hollywood or HongKong martial arts maestros wouldn’t be able to replicate the battle choreography w/o killing their stuntmans. :) Their movement is considered unnatural because they are extraordinary for top-notched FF warriors who can slice up rocks when the world is ending and deliver pizzas during peacetime :) *Warning: FF fanboy alert* FF7AC is mostly fighting since that’s wat square-enix do best at :) A look at their dismal “FF Spirits within” and we will realise why CG should not be used to make Kiminozo-esque stories but rather grand/epic battles involving mega-explosions and impossible fighting maneuvers.

    I have to agree that it’s a production for fan. For it to retain its story/character depth, it would have to sacrifice trying to initiate fresh blood into the world of FF7 and assume some viewer knowledge of the FF7 world. That is both its weakness and strength I guess. :)

    On another note, yeah, we don’t have a countryside.. lol! In fact, Singapore is sooo small, we could barely make it into the ‘country’ category… having the “side” would indeed be a nice bonus and only possible if we could reclaim more land fast enough :P (Not all Singaporean agree on this though so don’t quote me on this :P )

    Looking forward to more your comments for a more balanced reporting of anime! :)

    ( REPLY )
  20. crimson
    October 24th, 2005 - 03:30

    i disagree with Stripey!
    Their fighting motions are natural!
    Even cloud manuervering his huge sword seems to do so effortless and with certain grace. But we all know cloud is really human..

    The lack of physics in certain human motions makes it a downside. The main problem for me will be (as usual! jap standard flaw! let’s just call is JSF) the height that the more human characters can jump to or land from. I think their air physics has some problems since long ago…

    Other than that, most other actions are pretty natural.

    ( REPLY )
  21. Glacier
    November 7th, 2005 - 00:24

    I’ve googled ” advent children physics”, and found this web page. Realising it has nothing to do with my inqurey, I were about to hit RETURN when the layout caught my eyes. The one behind this page is briliant I have to admit.
    Anyway, Stripey thanks for the good read. Yeah and crimson thank you for leading me to this page cuz of all your physics talk. Dervish ibn Candela thank you, too, for the opposite view you’ve provided.
    Apparently, I am thanking-alot sort of guy, but actually I’m FF-Freak at heart. Yeah! that why I feel so at home here. Isn’t that correct!?
    HOME-SWEET-HOME

    ( REPLY )
  22. Crimson
    November 7th, 2005 - 10:20

    Nice to meet you Glacier.
    Blogs do give interesting infos sometimes ;)

    ( REPLY )
  23. jane
    November 23rd, 2005 - 14:25

    Can somebody tell me who wrote that great song at the end of FF7 AC?
    I don’t know if somebody understands what I mean, it’s a japanese Song from (maybe) a band
    i would like to know who sings it!!!

    By the way ; I’m watching the movie the 5th time in this moment and it’s still great
    although i had only played 2 hours of the game bevore I had to give it back I understand the story …ok I already knew some facts but I had to use my whole intelligence to understand it completely!

    now I think I begin to understand why everybody tells me that FF7 has the best story from all FFs
    but I like them all ^^

    ( REPLY )
  24. Crimson
    November 25th, 2005 - 05:34

    hi jane, i suppose you mean the song where cloud is riding his bike.
    It’s called “Calling” (sang) by Himuro Kyosuke. But, i’m not sure who wrote that song though.

    I find FF7 to have an excellent gameplay and a somewhat intriguing plot too.
    But if you cant finish FF7 and still want to know the plot, check back on top of here where stripey mentioned “refresher on the story”.

    ( REPLY )
  25. Stripey
    November 25th, 2005 - 21:23

    Glacier: Thanks for dropping by :) Yeah we are FF fans here. Man I hear they gonna remake FF7 for the PS3 with the same graphics in Advent children? If it’s true, I gonna owe a PS3 :)

    Jane: Yeah! I watched it nth time already and I’m still very much intrigued by the fight scenes. :) To be honest, I was really confused by the story when I played the game years ago. The plot was too intriicate and the story, convoluted. But once it’s been explained to you (I read a walkthru :P ), the realisation of how grand and the epic the whole tale is just hit you like a ton of rocks :) Fantastic game/movie :)

    ( REPLY )
  26. ashley
    November 29th, 2005 - 14:57

    dude i want to see final fantasy advent children so bad

    ( REPLY )
  27. baka005
    December 16th, 2005 - 03:18

    i already seen ff7AC…hehehe!!! Its cool…seen ff7 last order?

    ( REPLY )

Leave a comment

(required)

No trackbacks yet.

» «

Search Hontou Ni

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Series & Themes

Maki Maki Blogroll

RSS Danny Choo

@ZylZaku

Meta