Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (2009)

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete

Two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, the inhabits of Gaia are slowly beginning to rebuild their lives. The world seems peaceful but the appearance of a disease called Geostigma is infecting the people, many of whom are children. Afflicted with the fatal disease himself, Cloud has cut himself off from the rest of the team. Working as a courier, he is merely counting the days until he dies. Even going through what he believes will be his final days, he finds that there is little escape from the battlefield.  The coming of Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo signal the beginning of the Reunion and the return of Sephiroth himself.  Faced with three new enemies and the eventual return of his most powerful foe, Cloud must take sword in hand one last time.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete provides a much different experience from the games in the FFVII Compilation as it places an audience which would normally be participants in this story, as something of an observer. It's quite a change of pace from the games because we have no control over the events that are taking place but it's still effective nonetheless for several reasons. First and foremost, unlike in the games the characters are given a voice in Advent Children which really adds to their autonomy. The viewer never has to wonder how an event is affecting a character nor is there any ambiguity with regards to their emotions, motivations, or intentions. Secondly, we're provided with the unique opportunity to see how these characters operate when they have autonomy which makes them feel more lifelike and also gives each scene a more organic feel.

Yazoo, Kadaj, and Loz - Les Efants Terribles

From computer modelling to motion capture to voice work, a lot of effort went into making these characters seem as human as possible and it shows. The way the characters move, interact with one another, and simple motions from answering a phone to holding another persons hand are all realistic but to the film's credit, never crosses over into the area of the uncanny valley. The characters are all well-designed, realistically proportioned, and the environments have a spectacular level of detail not seen anywhere else in a film of this kind.

The voice acting is a mixed bag and perhaps the only area where Advent Children stumbles, but this largely depends on if you're watching it subbed or dubbed. I imported the Japanese version before the American version was released and I admit that at the time I was worried about the Japanese voice acting, but after watching the film I was thoroughly impressed. This is due to two factors: the Japanese seiyu actually took the time to learn about their characters and the game as they were unfamiliar with the source material, they also tried to express the nature of the characters' relationships through their performance rather than read words from a script. The time and attention the seiyu put into their performances shows.

Redefining the girl next door.

Tifa was voiced by Ayumi Ito who did a phenomenal job showing the emotional diversity of this fan favorite female. Tifa has a very large and nurturing side and cares deeply for those closest to her, and a sizable amount of pain has grown within her due to Cloud’s departure from her life. She tries to keep up a brave face despite everything that is happening around her and she more than succeeds. Tifa has this quiet strength about her but she is by no means subdued. Ayumi Ito not only brought out these traits in Tifa but she also provided the character with an emotional context, a weight to all of her actions that really made me appreciate the character even more than I already did.

Oh yes. Things are about to get real.

Takahiro Sakurai did an excellent job conveying Cloud’s moods and personality. Sakurai brought an interesting take on Cloud by portraying him as a character whose weaknesses are every bit a part of him as his strengths. The highs and lows of Cloud's life and the emotional context of those events shaped Cloud into the character he is, a character who has found himself alone and unhappy despite saving the world. Of course we learn that Cloud has a very good reason for his slump. Cloud has dealt with neglect, PTSD, and he's still carrying the weight of Aeris' death. Sakurai really shows his understanding of Cloud's character because despite everything he is going through, he doesn't open up to his friends or even complain about the fact that he's dying. He's a private character who expresses his emotions in a very subtle way and we see this time and again throughout the film.

Correction. THIS is the abyss starting back at you.

Shotaro Morikubo was simply amazing as Kadaj.  He had that whole tortured, confused, destructive youth thing going on and had this unique ability to go from one emotional extreme to the other in one line of dialogue. Interesting to note that Kadaj's lines were written and performed before the character was finished, and was largely based off Morikubo's own appearance and the image of the character he conveyed through his dialogue.

The nightmare returns.

Toshiyuki Morikawa  almost steals the show as Sephiroth. His take on the character is equally as cold and calculated as Sephiroth is himself. Morikawa's performance gives the sense that there is something unsettling about Sephiroth's perpetual control of any given situation. On top of that, he has the perfect cadence for a character who has so much depth yet remains enigmatic.

Even with little or no knowledge of the game, the Japanese cast put in a lot of hard work and effort for the fans, themselves, and the characters and they shined beautifully. On the contrary, the English voice actors did a horrendously half-assed job.  It was clear that most of, if not the entire cast had absolutely no knowledge of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, or its characters. Not only did the cast not have a handle of the characters' personalities, but they even went so far as to distort them. Rachel Leigh Cook as Tifa and Dakota Fanning as Marlene were among the myriad of casting debacles. Cook's performance doesn't make Tifa sound the least bit patient or understanding of Cloud's situation and it is so devoid of emotional weight that when Tifa interacts with Cloud they seem more like acquaintances than childhood friends who have loved each other for a very long time. Fanning portrays Marlene as a "type" - i.e. the bratty child character who sort of just tags along, rather than the young girl whose heart is something that holds everyone together.

The Turks - Stylin and Profilin. WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

There are a few bright spots in the English voice acting.  Reno and Rude were actually voiced better here than in the Japanese version. In the Japanese version, Reno sounded a bit too comical and Rude was a bit too rigid. The English voice actors did a better job in this respect, but what else would you expect from Crispin Freeman (Rude) and Quinton Flynn (Reno). Rude sounded tough but flexible and Reno was a bit more laid-back than hot headed. Steven Jay Blum lent his voice to Vincent, as a result Vincent’s voice is a bit too deep but it will grow on you. Though these are a few bright spots, I prefer the Japanese as it was more effective as a whole.

Soldier. Hero. Dad.

Advent Children's characterization is fairly rich given its format and this is in part because of its focus on Cloud. Normally when a film focuses on a single character it can often hinder character development as a whole but this isn't the case here because as the story centers on Cloud, we learn a lot about the other characters through their interaction with him. We see the exploration of Tifa's compassionate nature partially through the lens of the family she and Cloud have built since Final Fantasy VII. This also gives us a different view of Cloud who despite his messed up childhood and even worse teenage years, has grown into a mostly well-adjusted adult who is not only capable of providing for Marlene in Barrett's absence, but also taking care of the emotional needs of Denzel, a child who but recently experienced trauma in his own right.

Rufus Shinra wishes to make up for his past mistakes and believes Cloud to be influential in doing that, and even the Turks have begun to look out for Cloud's best interests from time-to-time. We also get snippets of Cloud and Vincent's relationship as the two have a bond built on privacy and understanding. Cloud and Vincent have had similar pasts and both of them often deal with their emotions in the least healthy manner i.e. burying it within themselves. However, there is an empathetic bond here as Vincent and Cloud know themselves well enough to know each other, and not pry into each others affairs when that kind of attention is neither wanted nor welcome.

The two meet one final time.

Despite being a sci-fi fantasy movie based on a game, Advent Children briefly explores several issues including trauma, environmental degradation, and using children as a means to an end. Kadaj's gang for example is planning to sacrifice children to bring about the Reunion. From lying to children, kidnapping them, and poisoning them, and using them as human shields, Kadaj and his gang clearly have little regard for their well-being. This is also where Cloud serves as something similar to an inverse of Kadaj. In addition to having opened something of an orphanage, Cloud places the well-being of the children before his own and even sets off to save them while knowing he wouldn't stand a chance against Kadaj's group. Advent Children reminds us that our children are important because the future depends on them.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is one of the finest cinematic spectacles I've ever seen and it is easily the best CG film ever made. The settings are extremely detailed and Square-Enix did not cut a single corner. The environments and the characters look so real, it's easy to forget that you’re watching a movie. The action scenes are refreshingly over the top, the soundtrack is solid, and while the original movie was already a testament to Japanese CG films, the additions that were made to this "complete" version made it even better. I highly recommend this film even if you've already seen the original Advent Children.

DMC: Devil May Cry (2013)

"This will make you Ultranumb."

Many years ago, Mundus the demon lord waged a war for control over hell's dark domain until he was betrayed by the dark knight Sparda. After betraying Mundus, Sparda fled to the human world where he courted an angel named Eva and the two conceived twin sons; Vergil and Dante. Not longer after, Mundus attacked Dante and Vergil's family, imprisoning their father and slaying their mother. The two brothers must reunite to take their revenge on Mundus and save the human race from their indentured servitude to hell's legions.

It's difficult to review a game like DMC because the game has a disproportionate share of good and bad components which while not entirely crippling, does make it hard to derive much entertainment value from the game. This review may at times seems contradictory because there are so many contrasts of extremes at play.

TRON: DMC

The first thing we'll cover is presentation. This particular entry feels more grounded in the real world as it addresses social and political issues in society. There is a Glenn Beck type news correspondence named Bob Barnabas and a very Fox News like program referred to as Raptor News. The game addresses the use of propaganda, drugs, including those mickies slipped into our Mountain Dew, and other methods the System uses to control the masses. Except in DMC the System is a demonic power structure rather than a human one. This is interesting on one level because it shows that the demons have conquered the world without resorting to a "winner take all" war because controlling the mind through the media is more efficient. This also places Dante and company in a unique position because they are seen as deviants in the best light and terrorists in the worst which places the leads in a moral conundrum as they have to fight to save a world that sees them as the enemy.

Conversely, it is here that DMC asserts itself as the Anita Sarkeesian of video games because it tackles issues bigger than its ability to discuss them intelligently. The game clearly has a "We are the 99%" feel which - even in its year of inception was well-passed the point of being socially and politically relevant. So when DMC is released two years later, the war it's trying to convey seems largely unimportant. Of course given the length of development for games DMC cannot be blamed for not being topical, but this does point to an issue that Ninja Theory was more interested in riding what was at the time, a trend, rather than tell a unique or compelling narrative that would do this fiction proud. There is also an "Us vs Them"/"Power to the People" tone of the game which feels equally ham-fisted because not only is it out of place but its coming from a development team that isn't actually passionate about telling that kind of story. I say this because if the reverse were true, the narrative would be much stronger and these elements of the plot wouldn't feel so crow barred in.

Someday we're going to look back on this and laugh.

Part of rebooting a series is taking liberties with your source material and DMC does this liberally, sometimes to great success and sometimes not. In the original series, Dante and Vergil were half-human half-demon twins. In DMC they are Nephilim i.e. offspring of angels and demons. It's here that the liberties taken with the original lore become a problem and if this sounds familiar it's because THQ did the exact same thing with Darksiders which was released an entire three years before DMC. In Darksiders, the Horsemen come from a race called Nephilim which being the offspring of angels and demons - are more powerful than both. DMC says this outright in explaining why Dante and Vergil are the only ones who can kill Mundus. So either Ninja Theory is copying the Nephilim lore used in Darksiders almost word-for-word, or this is one sizeble coincidence. Alternatively, one could argue that Ninja Theory is copying Biblical lore of the Nephilim but if that were the case they'd be even further off base where the origin of said race is concerned.

A more positive aspect of this re-imagining of the original series is in its portrayal of Vergil who, in addition to serving as the Spock to Dante's Kirk, is also seen in a more heroic light in this entry. Throughout the game, Vergil shows that he is dedicated to overthrowing Mundus in order to free the humans from his control. Of note is that the dichotomy between Vergil and Dante actually shows Vergil to be far more altruistic. Vergil is fully aware that Mundus killed their mother but unlike Dante who agrees to work with Vergil solely for revenge, Vergil's motivation is the liberation of the human race. In addition, when Dante wants to save Kat, the female lead who gets captured to the surprise of no one, Dante wants to trade himself for her safety but Vergil outright forbids it because given that Dante is the key to saving the world, Vergil isn't going to sacrifice the well-being of the human race for one person while Dante seems more than willing to. The similarities and differences between the twins has always been riveting and this is somewhat true in this entry as well. However, once again DMC takes one step forward and two steps back with Vergil's heel turn at the end and I'll explain why.

"We are brothers after all."

Throughout the development of DMC, Ninja Theory took potshots at the original series and the fans for enjoying it. As they got more bad PR than pre-orders they took strides to make the game more similar to the original series contrary to their initial position that they were confident enough the game could stand on its own. This becomes a problem with the narrative because the lack of the commitment to one particular direction causes the character development to negate a large component of its own plot. Anyone who has played the original series is aware that whether you see Vergil as a villain or a well-intentioned extremist he is one of the primary antagonists, true. However, in DMC Vergil's decisions and conduct throughout the game are almost unanimously virtuous and this isn't an act. So this is why it comes out of nowhere when at the end of the game Vergil comes out and says "Haha yes now I can rule the world." 

This is the issue. Ninja Theory portrayed Vergil as being a truly genuine, heroic character and based on the script it seemed like the game would take the relationship between Dante and Vergil in a less antagonistic direction than the original. However, they clearly reached a point where the development team lost confidence in their own story and had to throw in a call back to the previous games or they were afraid it would tank. If you play this game, the final battle between the twins even feels tacked on. I'm not saying that Vergil shouldn't have been the final enemy. What I am saying is that based on the narrative structure within this entry, Vergil's heel turn is not justified by the plot or the character development. It's just there because it had to be. This doesn't ruin Vergil's character, but it does make one question the narrative integrity of the game. What about Dante?

Son of Sparda

The less said of Dante is perhaps best. This isn't because Dante is not the same character as in the original series, not at all. The reboot Dante is unlikable simply because he is. While in the original Devil May Cry, Dante was stylish, well-dressed, educated, sophisticated, and while he had a cavalier personality he knew how to get serious when the situation called for it and he usually saw the bigger picture. The reboot Dante is a slob, he literally grabs the nearest clothes he has lying around and wears them, he isn't exactly the fastest horse in the stable, and his personality isn't cavalier so much as it is completely irresponsible. And this is what people need to understand when examining the issues that some gamers have with the new Dante. People don't like the rebooted character "not" because he isn't the original Dante, but because he does not have any qualities that endear you to him. That's the issue here. I didn't dislike the new Dante because he didn't look or act like the original. I disliked him because he's an irresponsible burnout. That's the difference. Dante does start to grow out of his off-putting personality 3/4 of the way through the game but by then it was too late to win me over. So the story is run of the mill, the presentation isn't great, and the characters are hit and miss, what about the gameplay?

SAVAGE!!!

Like other areas, gameplay in DMC is a mixed bag. The combat is very stylish thanks to the number of moves Dante can learn and the ability to switch between swords, gauntlets, axes, scythes, and guns on the fly. For experienced Devil May Cry players, it's easy to rack up an SS or even SSS ranking and I found myself doing this regularly, sometimes switching up four to five different weapons in one combo. There's also a nice touch presentation wise where the camera always zooms in on Dante when he strikes the last blow in slow motion. There are hiccups though. You can't cancel out of a combo so when an enemy is about to strike you don't have much choice other than to try and stagger them or eat their attack. In a genre where cancelling out of your combos to be able to dodge and retreat is pretty much standard, I'm surprised that DMC doesn't allow you to do this while titles like God of War, Metal Gear Rising, Bayonetta, Lords of Shadow, and so many others have this feature. Even the original Devil May Cry series always allowed you to cancel out of a combo, dodge an attack, and then get right back into the action without missing a beat, but this entry does not. So you run into a situation where when you take on larger, more powerful enemies, your combat is less stylish and more stop and start. It's hard to get into a flow because you constantly have to land three or four hits, stop so Dante's animation frames will allow you to dodge, land three or four hits and repeat. You lose a lot of fluidity even if you're highly skilled.

Hope you like this stage because you'll be seeing it a lot.

Level designs are also hit and miss. There are some very nice touches when Dante enters limbo and the environment literally turns against him. Bold letters will display words of discouragement such as "DIE" or "FALL" when you're platforming. It's also really appropriate because sometimes the messages will be orders for your enemies reading "STOP HIM" or "DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE." Some levels will have buildings that try to close in on you, floors will break apart, and some levels even stretch as you're platforming to make timing difficult. This is very fun and exciting. However, this too becomes a problem because DMC has to load during the worst times - i.e. during the actual jumps you need to make to get from one platform to the other. During those areas where I have to jump, glide, or grapple onto a certain ledge, the game will actually stop, load, but it wouldn't complete the animation because it was loading at the precise moment I input said commands. During DMC I regularly found myself falling into pits because the game would pause right as I'm platforming. This happened more times than I could even keep track of and it made level progression very frustrating. Also, while reused assets has been par for the course since the NES era, you usually catch that sort of thing between games. However, there are some levels which are repeated no fewer than three times which detracts from the variety. Within the levels themselves, so many of the textures were the same and I found myself running in circles more than once.

This is actually one of the better designs. 

The boss designs are uninspired which makes sense as with the exception of perhaps two battles they're all equally run of the mill. Attack the head and dodge using glide or the grapple points in your environment will get you through most of the battles, and the fight against Mundus is pretty similar to the fight with Blackheart at the end of the Ghost Rider video game. None of the battles in this game are exactly epic and I've run into one or two regular enemies that are actually tougher than some of the bosses. The only real high-point is the final fight against Vergil which - while not entirely justified by this entry's narrative - was quite fun. The final battle is also the only aspect of this game that actually "feels" like Devil May Cry is supposed to feel. The presentation during the Vergil fight doesn't knock it out of the park like say Devil May Cry 3, but it's definitely the highlight of the games battles given the speed, ferocity, and calculated attacks that Vergil is known for are all on display. This is also the only part of the game where the music is appropriate for the action. Compare the metal played during Vergil's battle with the dubstep during the fight against Mundus.

"That was one hell of a party."

It goes without saying that DMC is the most polarizing game in recent years as it has been contentious since its inception. Heated feelings aside, sometimes a game is lacking and it has nothing to do with fan reception. I went into DMC without any baggage and I took the game as it was. It was flawed, buggy, dull, and even though there are some high points such as Dante unlocking his Devil Trigger and the final battle against Vergil, there are so many things wrong with this game that it's frustrating to trek through all that to get to the good stuff. I didn't feel angry when I finished DMC, I just felt letdown and thought of how much time I wasted instead of doing something constructive. If you absolutely must play this game you can rent it on PSN or buy it on Amazon for less than $15 but unless you're that hardcore I can't recommend it. It's probably not "as" bad as you think, but it's definitely not as good as you'd hope.

El Hazard (1998)

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

Mokoto Mizuhara is a student at Shininome High School.  During an altercation with his rival Katsuhiko Jinnai, Mokoto stumbles upon a ancient ruin under Shininome High. A mysterious woman appears before Mokoto and refers to him as her lost love. Baffled and confused to say the least, Mokoto hasn't the slightest idea as to what to make of this. Without warning the mysterious woman transports Mokoto to the land of El Hazard.  Awakening to this new world, Mokoto finds himself caught in the middle of a war between Roshtaria and the Bugrum Forces.  Before long, Mokoto discovers that not only was Jinnai transported there as well, but he is also leading the Bugrum forces in their invasion of Roshtaria.  Not only that, but in seeking to destroy his rival once and for all, Jinnai awakens an ancient demon named Infurita - who much to Mokoto’s dismay, looks exactly like the woman who transported him to El Hazard in the first place. Now Makoto must contend with a desperate rival and an ancient demon standing between him and his way back home.

Cliche anime protagonist #3,967.

The story of El Hazard sounds fine on paper. It has the typical fish out of water story in Makoto being transported to another world. It also places the protagonist in the middle of a war and does a commendable job in using the war to raise to the stakes in the rivalry between Makoto and Jinnai. However, it doesn't take too much dissecting to see how and why El Hazard falls apart.

The war between the Roshtarians and the Bugrum loses all sense of urgency and tension when - in the first or second episode - you find the Bugrum are indeed giant bugs. Let me be clear that we aren't talking Starship Trooper sized insects or the nightmarish bugs seen in Blue Gender. With the exception of the larger beetles which operate as drop ships, the vast majority of the Bugrum are bipedal insects about the size of an average human. Not only that but the Bugrum have the intelligence of a paperweight and only half the attention span and this is not played up for laughs either. The anime really tries to drive home the point that the Bugrum are bad news but it's almost impossible to take them seriously until Jinnai gets involved and even then it's only by proxy of a combination of the collective stupidity of our heroes, and Jinnai getting his hands on the demon Infurita can the viewer look at the Bugrum as a threat.

THIS^ is the abyss staring back at you.

Let it be said that the anime does get a point in its favor because the animosity between Makoto and Jinnai is not based on good contra evil, rather the two characters have vastly different ideologies with regards to interpersonal relationships and life in general. By nature, Makoto is laissez faire while Jinnai is more authoritarian in nature. The problem with this dichotomy arises on two fronts around the time the anime shoots itself in the foot.

At its core, the antagonism between Makoto and Jinnai simply stem from opposing views - but neither these views nor the past interactions between the two characters warrant the vengeful spirit of the conflict when they get to El Hazard. Suddenly, Jinnai is leading an army to conquer the world and kill his rival Makoto. This level of animosity was not present within the relationship between these two characters until Jinnai gets his hands on the Bugrum army. Further still, while Jinnai did advocate authoritarianism, he was not by nature a megalomaniac until he got his hands on Infurita. One might argue that this attitude was always beneath the surface but that is questionable in and of itself as Jinnai's violent streak didn't even exist until it was made necessary by the contrivance of the plot. In essence, Jinnai was not a villainous character by nature and was instead - made into one because the anime does not have a true antagonist or rather - Jinnai by default was only an antagonist because the story had to revolve around Makoto. While this a big problem it's far from being the only one.

Infurita wondering how to be more bland.

El Hazard provides us with a romance tale between Makoto and the demon Infurita and in anime this can work. In fact it's so cliche it's been a trope long before El Hazard did it which is why it's baffling that something this basic wasn't handled better. As stated earlier, Infurita actually meets Makoto early on, identifies Makoto as her love, and then teleports him to El Hazard where the anime starts proper. Of course, as the cliche demands Infurita doesn't recognize Makoto when they meet. So we're left with a romance tale that largely sees Makoto expressing his heartache and angst while Infurita dances between indifferent and confused.

Seeing as how Makoto only had one conversation with Infurita before she teleported him to El Hazard, his emotional performance about how much she means to him seems out of place. On top of that, things become even more absurd when we see that Infurita is a machine. While I'm aware that anime has this ridiculous hangup that machines are alive and can fall in love that doesn't it cut it. Especially when the machine in question is a life-size windup doll. Jinnai activated Infurita by literally, sticking a key in her back and turning it until she started up. I am not even kidding about this. Yet we're supposed to believe that she, that is to say it, somehow falls in love with Makoto. This is not even the worst contrivance in the anime because somehow the writers felt a need to introduce a love triangle between Makoto and two other characters when they couldn't even get this one right.

Even in drag the ladies still want him.

There is a love triangle between Makoto, his childhood friend Asami, and warrior priestess Shalya. This love triangle stems from the fact that Makoto saw Shayla naked and in anime logic that means a girl automatically falls in love with you. And of course Asami is here because she's a trope herself rather than an actual character. By the end of this series no less than three women want Makoto but he's one the blandest characters I've ever seen. He somehow, somehow has even less charisma than Tenchi Muyo. Worse yet, despite the seriousness of the war the characters have time to get into petty arguments about who is shipping with who. Infurita just leveled a country but Shalya and Asami have time to fight over Makoto. Not only is this insulting to women but it's insulting to viewers in general because we're supposed to believe the characters are in a dire situation but it's hard to do that when they're acting out an episode of Dawson's Creek.

Arabian Days

Animation is a mixed bag. Some of the landscapes are beautifully drawn and the architecture has an Arabian style which is very elegant and unique. El Hazard also showcases brilliant colors which gives the anime a nice look. However, the characters themselves have the worst designs and color palette I've seen outside Naruto. This is also true of the fight scenes and thank animation budget there aren't many of those, because when fights break out in this anime characters bend with such unnatural flexibility you'll wonder what happened to their joints. Not only that, but the animators actually made wind, water, and fire behave in the same way and they all have the same colors to boot.

The music and the voice acting are both woefully sub-par with the only notable soundbite being Jinnai's laugh and that's only because it's so bad it has to be heard to be believed.

These are the DVDs. Not sure why you'd want them.

I tried to enjoy this anime but it shows poor quality at every turn. Unlikable characters, bad animation, and a story that begs to be given more credit than it actually warrants has presented me with an anime that I can't even recommend for a session of MST. True, there are worse anime out there but it's a short list.

Final Fantasy X (2001)

This is where Final Fantasy died.

Final Fantasy X centers around the exploits of seventeen year old Tidus. A popular young man and the best Blitzball (an underwater cross between football and soccer) player in his home city of Zanarkand. All is well until the city is attacked by a colossal monster known as Sin. This terrible creature ravages Zanarkand reducing the entire city to rubble in minutes. Fighting alongside his mentor Auron, Tidus does his best to fight off the monsters Sin unleashed but to no avail. After getting too close to the beast, Tidus finds that he has been transported one-thousand years into the future and the land he inhabits is not Zanarkand, but the land of Spira. The scars of battle fresh on his body, and baffling questions fresh in his mind. What is Sin? What is it’s purpose?  How has Tidus traversed time and why?  Alone and confused, Tidus begins his journey to find a way back home. But will he have a home to return to?

Tidus and Yuna

At its core we have what could have been a great adventure and coming of age story. However, the presentation suffers due to three major factors: a poor plot, bad pacing, and a cast of characters that can best be described as cringe-worthy. These three missteps create scenarios so fantastical that at times it is difficult to give the game the kind of seriousness the drama is so desperate to command. There are a few examples of what I mean. When Tidus meets Yuna, he barges into the Cloister of Trials because according to the onlookers Yuna has been in there for days and they fear she might have died. Since no one sees any need to check on her - not even her guardians - Tidus exercises his heroism and runs off to save her. Yuna is fine but this doesn't stop the characters from criticizing Tidus for disturbing their ritual, casually ignoring the fact that not only did he have good intentions but he had their best interests in mind.

Not long after that we see Sin wipe an island off the map but because there is a Blitzball championship in Luca, that somehow takes precedence. The fact that one of your teammates wants to delay Yuna's pilgrimage i.e. that thing that will save the world, to play sports removes all sense of urgency the game is trying so desperately to convey. In addition to amateur writing that makes the tenth outing of the Final Fantasy series seem like an experiment gone awry, the game also has numerous issues with pacing that stem from this same brand of amateur writing and more than a few plot contrivances to boot.

When the cast gets to the Mi'hen Highroad they stumble upon a military operation where the Crusaders are gearing up for an assault against Sin under the supervision of Maester Kinoc, one of the most powerful officials in the world. Being a maester, Kinoc has the power to stop the operation at any-time but not only does he not stop the operation, he openly admits to our heroes that he knows the operation will be a disaster. One could argue that these developments are being used to show that Kinoc can't be trusted, but one must wonder how does this matter to the overall narrative and why. This further falls apart when we look at the fact that Maester Kinoc is a minor character while Maester Seymour is one of the primary antagonists. Yet this event is used to portray Kinoc's villainous nature when he only has a small handful of scenes in the game and outside of this operation he's mostly window dressing in those. What this all means is that an entire three-to-four hour section of the game wasn't even needed. The game is filled with occurrences like this where events and even elements of the narrative drag simply to make the game longer than it needs to be.

Seymour Guado, President of the East Spira Kefka Fanclub

True, there is nothing wrong with a long RPG but the crux of the matter is that the narrative structure has to warrant the gameplay which is being used to carry it and that isn't the case here. A prime example is when Seymour asks Yuna to marry him. Rather than give Seymour her answer right away, she agrees to meet with him at Macalania temple and tell him there. From here we have five to six hours of fighting monsters, level grinding, and characters not talking about much of anything just so the game can give you a reason to travel to Macalania so Yuna can give Seymour a yes or no answer, when the two of them were just in Guadosalam together. RPGs are known to have contrived reasons to go from point A to point B just as they are known to have good reasons to get you to go from point A to point B. Then you have RPGs like Final Fantasy X where most of the events that occur are just padding.

Off to rescue Yuna a third time.

The many issues with Final Fantasy X's plot is due in part to the fact that the creators couldn't decide if it wants to be story driven or character driven and so abandons commitment to just one, opting to try and do both and failing in the attempt. The plot is largely seen from the standpoint of a main character who spends the majority of the game working out his daddy issues. Even when the stakes are raised and Tidus becomes aware of Spira's fate, the danger of Sin, and Yuna's unfortunate predicament, one never gets the sense that Tidus really understands just how dire their situation is especially when 30+ hours in the game he's still talking about how much he hates his father Jecht.

While it is true that previous protagonists (Cloud, Final Fantasy VII, Squall, Final Fantasy VIII) were dark and brooding, they also had hidden depths and a number of complex issues that they were dealing with which justified their emotional and mental condition and the decisions which stemmed from them. Tidus on the other hand is truly a one note character who is defined entirely by how much he hates his dad. This comparison is not made to allege one character is better than another, but to illustrate the importance of character depth which Tidus does not have. If Tidus had a perfectly rational excuse to hate his father and if we as gamers are fellow-recipients of whatever trauma Tidus claims to have endured then he would be more authentic as a character. However, from what we've seen of Jecht it's clear that while he was by no means the best father, he certainly wasn't the monster Tidus makes him out to be. The game even shows this when our heroes find video diaries of Jecht and in most of them he's thinking about Tidus and how he wants to return home to his family. Even when other characters like Yuna talk about how kind Jecht is, Tidus refuses to believe it - not because Jecht was somehow not kind - but because Tidus needs to hate his father. This becomes even more incredulous when a plot-unraveling secret is revealed after the halfway point. Of course the other issue with Final Fantasy X is our heroine Yuna.

Setting women back since 2001.

Despite the fact that the game came out in 2001, Yuna is a throwback to the antiquated idea of what makes an ideal woman: she's docile, she does what other people tell her to do, she is complacent, in essence she plays into Japan's obsession with the nadeshiko woman. In addition to the numerous levels on which this is offensive to women, Yuna's character detracts from the integrity of the plot due in large part to how these traits lead her to make decisions that betray the most basic common sense.

Yuna gets kidnapped. A lot - despite the fact that her Aeons make her quite possibly your most powerful party member. From the standpoint of the plot, Yuna is canonically the strongest character in the game because only a summoner can defeat Sin. Yet Yuna gets kidnapped by the Al Bhed not even an hour after the gang gets to Luca and she literally waited on her guardians to come to her rescue because despite the fact she had two powerful Aeons the thought to use either of them to escape on her own never even came to her. Yuna apologists might say "Well she didn't want to hurt anyone because she's a pacifist." Well that argument doesn't hold water because given the fact that Yuna's guardians had no problems killing Al Bhed left and right in order to save her, Yuna's refusal to save herself actually put more people in danger. And for arguments sake, suppose the gang never found out about Yuna's kidnapping until after the perpetrators have fled Luca. In essence Yuna wouldn't be able to complete her pilgrimage, therefore she wouldn't be able to defeat Sin, thus Spira would fall into further destruction so you see, any argument that anyone can make in defense of Yuna's character actually ends up compromising either the plot or Yuna herself, because the character is illogical by design.

This is how Yuna saves the world.

When Yuna finds out that Seymour murdered his own father to usurp his position she tries to convince him to turn himself in and face the justice of the high court. She does this by agreeing to his marriage proposal. Bear in mind Seymour never agrees to turn himself in just because Yuna marries him. However, she believes she can convince him to expose his darkest secret, surrender his political and religious power, and face a very likely execution, despite the fact that Seymour has not given any indication that he'd go through with it. The only thing that can be said in Yuna's defense is that she isn't even the worst part of the game. That's what the rest of the cast is here for.

Our heroes. God help us.

Apart from Tidus and Yuna, Final Fantasy X's motley crew consists of Kimahri our resident wookie. Lulu whose most memorable trait is the size of her bust, and also later marrying Wakka our lovable racist.

Not going anywhere for awhile? Grab a Blitzball.

While Final Fantasy is no stranger to exploiting ethnic and religious stereotypes, and racial and gender inequality, to Final Fantasy X's credit it does aim to keep racism within its own universe as the target of Wakka's prejudice is the Al Bhed. However, the type of mindset Wakka has isn't any less offensive nor does the fact that he's a fictional character in any way, shape, or form lessen the ugliness of his character traits. I'm not sure if Squaresoft was trying to be progressive with this character but it only served to make the cast even more unbearable than they already were. Wakka hates the Al Bhed because his brother Chappu used a gun which is an Al Bhed weapon at the time he was killed by Sin. Keep in mind that if Chappu used a sword his corpse wouldn't have been anymore recognizable anyway, but Wakka also seems to think that the Al Bhed are evil because they don't follow the teachings of Yu Yevon.

There could be a moral lesson here i.e. don't hate people just because they're different from you but the game continually makes the Al Bhed the punching bags of Final Fantasy X. While the game could have used this as a way to promote a message of peace and understanding among all people and all religions, it almost goes out of its way to show that if a minority group doesn't run with the pack they get eaten. Being a Japanese RPG this may have actually been what the creators were trying to argue, but even that does not excuse the type of character Wakka is. Wakka actually makes a joke when the Al Bhed lose their city and comments that the explosions look like fireworks. Never mind the fact that the few surviving Al Bhed helped him and his friends escape, and the Al Bhed were also doing a better job of protecting Yuna than her guardians, but when the Al Bhed are on the receiving end of a veritable genocide, Wakka still has time to joke about it. This joke was made right in front of the teams token Al Bhed Rikku, who mostly serves up an unsettling amount of the games fanservice.

I'm not even going there.

Rikku, much like Lulu is one of our sexualized female party members. That's par for the course with most JRPGs but the thing is Rikku is only 15. And actually, even sexualizing a 15-year-old is not off limits for some JRPGs and clearly Final Fantasy X doesn't have any hang-ups about it either. When she's not wearing skin tight costumes that show off her, personality, she doesn't really do much else but serve as a connection to Yuna's half-Al Bhed heritage. Yuna and Rikku are cousins as Yuna's Al Bhed mother was Rikku's aunt. This could have provided some interesting narrative elements because Yuna's father was a follower of Yu Yevon, and Yu Yevon forbids marriage to Al Bhed. However, the game doesn't do anything with the familial relationship between Rikku and Yuna because it's too busy placing Yuna in scenarios to get kidnapped while Rikku dishes out her best valley girl impression.

Auron and his jug of Whoop Ass

The only bright spot in Final Fantasy X's cast is Auron who seems to be the only member of the team who has his priorities in order. Sin poses a global threat so Auron feels destroying it should be the primary objective. It's a shame that despite how cool Auron is I have to give him points simply for exercising the common sense the rest of the team doesn't seem to have. Auron's seriousness and even his intellect almost makes him feel completely out of place with the rest of the cast. There is a plot specific reason why Auron is an outsider true, but even without that narrative element Auron seems so different because he's the only one who seems to know how to react to what's going on around him.

The music is acceptable for the type of game that it is but this is far from Nobuo Uematsu's best work. To its credit the boss themes do provide a sense of tension and urgency while Seymour's themes do a good job at driving home the fact that he can't be trusted, although that's something the average gamer would be able to see immediately.

You'll need most of the team for this one.

Final Fantasy X abandons the ATB system and returns to turn based battles with the added benefit of being able to swap your characters on the fly. While this is fairly common today, back in 2001 you wouldn't see this feature outside of the Tales of... series. Certain characters are skilled against certain monster types and recognizing that is the key to winning most battles in the early going. For example, Tidus is the best character to use against monsters that have high agility and speed stats, but he's not good against monsters that have heavy armor. For those types you'd need Auron, but while he can deal heavy damage to those enemies, he isn't the best party member to use against flans that must instead be killed via Lulu's black magic. So there's a little bit of strategy that goes into random encounters and boss fights. Of course you can also negate that depending on how you traverse the sphere grid. For example, by the last ten or so hours of the game I had leveled Tidus and Auron to the point where they bodied enemies and even most bosses in one-hit, regardless of type.

Sphere Grid

Leveling is done via the sphere grid system whereby characters use points acquired through battle to move about the grid. Said character will come across nodes that have various skills and status upgrades which can be unlocked if you have the appropriate sphere. While spheres are hard to come by early on, about twenty hours in you'll typically have more than enough. The game does lose just a few points here though, because with the exception of Yuna's summons, every character can learn every technique in the game, thus eliminating any need to switch characters in battles which would normally require strategy. In my playthrough, not only did I unlock the appropriate spheres to have Tidus use Lulu's black magic, but he was every bit as competent in using them as she was.

Bahamut

The summons (Aeons) in Final Fantasy X were truly at their peak because to the games credit, no other title in the series has driven home how effective these powerhouses are. Unlike in earlier titles where summons just showed up and used an attack, or in later titles where they were more or less useless, in Final Fantasy X the Aeons are party members in their own right. Sure in Final Fantasy VIII they learned support skills, but here they actually acquire attack spells, status buffs, support spells, and new attacks. When Yuna summons an Aeon all the party members clear out and the Aeon in question takes over. If the Aeon dies it can always be revived and over the course of the game Yuna acquires a wide variety thereof from classics such as Shiva and Ifrit to new faces like Yojimbo and Anima. While the Aeons aren't impressive early on, you can make them stronger over-time. The Aeons are game changers and once you unlock the means to remove the damage cap it'll be bad news for your enemies when they hit the field.

The sun sets on what Final Fantasy once was.

Final Fantasy X is a game encased in hype and fanfare. Having played every game in the series I'm more than convinced that the only reason this game has been so well-received is because many gamers today just got started with the series during the PS2 era. Add on the fact that casual market believes graphics make a game good and it's easy to see why some think this is a good game. The gameplay makes Final Fantasy X a passable RPG true, but the characters, story, and one particular plot twist which actually makes the games own narrative structure fall apart proves that this game is an absolute disgrace to the Final Fantasy series. Some blame Squaresoft's merger with Enix or Final Fantasy XIII for the downturn of the series but I can assure you that it was Final Fantasy X that put a bullet in this franchise a long time ago. And the reality is that an HD remake doesn't turn a crime scene into a work of art.

Crows Zero (2007)

Alma Mater of Badasses

Directed by Takeshi Miike, Crows Zero is an adaptation of the manga Crows by Hiroshi Takahasi. Crows is the original delinquent manga surrounding a group of high schoolers attending Suzuran, the School of Crows. Suzuran "achieved" this moniker as only the worst of the worst students attend this school. In addition to battling it out to see who will be the best, the students of Suzuran also run afoul of gangs, other schools, and even yakuza trying to move in on their turf. Crows Zero is a faithful adaptation of the manga but it also has its own unique qualities which helps it stand on its own original story.

The King of Suzuran has a nice ring to it.

Crows Zero follows Genji Takaya, the son of a yakuza boss who enters Suzuran on a bet with his father. Genji's father will hand him control of the organization if Genji can do what no one has ever done before; dominate Suzuran. The school is filled to the brim with badass guys from all over the prefecture, including a third year named Tamao Serizawa who very nearly has the entire school under his fist. In his quest to dominate Suzuran, Genji is going to have to learn how to cooperate with others, contend with deadly rivals, and steer clear of Tamao's traps and dirty tactics, but all that is only half the battle. If Genji wants to take Suzuran he'll need an entire army.

Chasing the elusive mayfly of love.

Crows Zero is one of those rare films that does a brilliant job of exploring all those cinematic mainstays: plot, acting, music, character development, and action. The actors in this movie all do a spectacular job at portraying their characters and conveying both the verbal and nonverbal emotional atmosphere of any given scene. This is a school of badasses and sure you'll have the cliche nonverbals such as characters posturing, walking around with their hands in their pockets, and so forth, but the actors here have such range that they're able to emote with their eyes and facial expressions as well.

GPS

While Genji is the main character, there are also other major players in this film with whom he shares the spotlight. However, it never feels like someone is getting too much or too little screen-time. Also, the pacing of Crows Zero is very well-done. The film uses its two hour run time (give or take) to provide enough character development and help the viewer grasp how these characters relate to one another and the world around them.

Class is in session.

The relationship between Genji and Ken is one of heart and writing brilliance. Being a high school delinquent, Genji is a kid who doesn't respect authority of any kind and he certainly isn't on good terms with his father. Oddly enough, Genji finds in Ken a mentor and perhaps a father figure, in part because Ken understands Genji's dream as he once reached for a similar goal. Ken sees Genji not only a young man who needs guidance, but he sees that Genji has a certain quality few leaders have and he really wants the kid to succeed. The two have a believable, at times hilarious, and in some way heartwarming student-teacher relationship that is tested throughout the film.

The Armored Front AKA Things Got Real

Genji also builds relationships with other characters and it's interesting how he changes some of them. Some of Genji's allies want to see what he's capable of while others just want to crush Tamao Serizawa. Then there are those who truly believe in Genji and want to help him achieve his goals.

Music is done courtesy of The Street Beats who some have called Japan's answer to The Rolling Stones. Crows Zero was my first encounter with this band and the theme song for the movie "I Wanna Change" had me blasting my surround sound and dusting off my air guitar. "I Wanna Change" is the perfect theme song because it sets up every characters motivation for the entire film. It also speaks of the burden and the uncertainty in the lives of these young men, young men whose wings have been burned yet they still want to fly and they'll never stop aiming for the top. Even if society gives up on them they fight and they struggle because they can't afford to give up on themselves.

The Challenger

And this is a key part of the direction as well because when you compare to Crows Zero to the original work Crows, on the surface it would appear that Suzuran is the only thing connecting the two. However, all the themes in Crows are here. The drive to get to the top, the passion of youths who choose to go down the road of life at full speed, and how a person can be driven to fly even after their wings have been broken. We're looking at an adaptation that is faithful not only to the small details of the original work, but the spirit of the original work as well.

The Champ

Whether we're dealing with manga or film, works of this genre are about drama, manly tears, comedy, and lots of people getting their asses beat. Crows Zero delivers in dividends. These are either very coordinated actors or very good stuntmen because you see people getting kicked through doors, thrown out of windows, tossed in fire, and whatever else a street fight might demand. While the sound effects clearly exaggerate the impact of the punches, it's not done in an overly intrusive kind of way, but merely drives home the point these characters are in some brutal fights.

The Boss of Japan sounds so much better.

What's great is that while there is a lot of fighting in this movie, it's never graphic and it never takes precedence over the plot or character development. Everything in this movie is just so balanced. There are also several reveals and plot-twists and some took even me by surprise. I've been watching movies a long time and it's always refreshing when you see a film that shows you something different. I highly recommend Crows Zero to anyone looking for a great movie you can watch over and over again.