Final Fantasy VII Advent Children

is a 2005 CGI film directed by Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue and produced by Yoshinori Kitase and Shinji Hashimoto. It was written by Kazushige Nojima and the music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Advent Children was the first announced title in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series.

The film is based on the highly successful console role-playing game Final Fantasy VII from 1997. It is set two years after the game, and follows Cloud Strife as he unravels the cause of the mysterious plague "geostigma" that has beset the population.

Advent Children received relatively positive reviews from critics. It attained an approval rating of 40% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, while the UMD release of the film got an 88% score at Metacritic. In 2005, it received the "Maria Award" at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya. As of 2006, the DVD and UMD releases of Advent Children have sold over 2.4 million copies worldwide.

Plot

Two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, while the Planet is still recovering from the devastating Meteor attack, the survivors of Midgar have begun to build a new city, aptly named "Edge", on the outskirts of the old metropolis. In the wake of Sephiroth's death and Shinra's demise, a strange disease known as "geostigma" has arisen. After his showdown with Sephiroth, Cloud Strife established the "Strife Delivery Service" with the aid of Tifa Lockhart, whom he has been living with in Edge. Marlene Wallace and an orphaned boy named Denzel have been entrusted to their care.

After receiving a message from Tifa, Cloud is attacked by three mysterious men who believe that he has hidden their missing "mother". They also refer to him as "Big Brother", alluding to some sort of tie between the trio and Cloud. Kadaj, the leader of the group, cuts the battle short as he discovers that Cloud does not have their "mother". Hoping to gain information on the mysterious attackers, Cloud responds to a message from Tifa, who tells him that the Turks have a job for him. At the meeting place, a remote lodge, Cloud discovers that Rufus Shinra, the leader of the seemingly defunct Shinra Company, is still alive, having escaped the destruction of the Shinra building two years prior. Cloud is uninterested in the details and demands to know about his assailants. Rufus tells Cloud what he knows and attempts to enlist Cloud's help to stop the trio, but fails. After their meeting, Kadaj, leader of the men who attacked Cloud, breaks into Rufus' lodge and demands that Rufus tell him where to find his "mother". It is revealed by Kadaj that his "mother" is the head of Jenova, and is somehow connected to the cause of the geostigma. Kadaj also announces that he and his "brothers", Yazoo and Loz, are planning a new "reunion" that will culminate in an assault on the Planet itself.

Loz arrives at Aerith Gainsborough's church in an attempt to find Jenova's remains, and is confronted by Tifa. A short battle ensues with Tifa holding the upper hand, burying Loz in a pile of rubble. The battle turns when he receives instructions on his cell phone to capture Marlene; after distracting Tifa, he uses his lightning-speed powers and delivers a powerful blow that incapacitates her. As Loz moves in for the killing blow, Marlene distracts Loz by throwing materia at him from Cloud's storage chest. Loz closes in on Marlene and Tifa tells her to run.

Kadaj and his "brothers" begin collecting children infected with geostigma, including Denzel and the uninfected Marlene, and take them to the Forgotten City. Cloud attempts to rescue them but fails and must be rescued himself by Vincent Valentine. Vincent reveals to Cloud what the trio are seeking and that it could result in the return of Sephiroth. He also tells him that geostigma is the result of one's body working excessively to fight off an infection brought on by Jenova's lingering presence within the Lifestream. Cloud agrees to return to Edge and face Kadaj in direct battle.

In Edge, the villainous trio call forth several monsters to attack the populace, including the dragon summon "Bahamut SIN". While the other former members of AVALANCHE deal with Bahamut SIN, Reno and Rude attempt to take care of Yazoo and Loz until Cloud arrives. Through their teamwork, Cloud and his friends soon dispatch the monsters and Bahamut SIN. In a nearby building, Rufus reveals to Kadaj that he has been in possession of the remains of Jenova all along, tossing the box containing it from the edge of the building. Kadaj dives after the box and recovers it, although Rufus manages to shoot the box, damaging it and spilling some of the contents. Kadaj spots Cloud in hot pursuit of him, and a motorcycle chase carries them into the ruins of Midgar.

After dispatching Yazoo and Loz, Cloud catches up to Kadaj and they slide off of the end of the unfinished highway. They then go into Aerith's church where they confront each other. Cloud comes off worse for it until a magical blast from Kadaj destroys the flowerbed and releases an outflow of seemingly Lifestream-infused water which cures Cloud's geostigma and proves to be harmful to Kadaj. Cloud pursues Kadaj, who has fled to the ruins of Shinra Headquarters in the center of Midgar. The two fight and as Cloud has Kadaj in the brink of defeat, Kadaj distracts Cloud with the box containing Jenova's remains, which Kadaj then jumps after and absorbs into his body. Cloud attempts to land a deathblow to Kadaj but is stopped and parried in midair when Kadaj transforms into Sephiroth at a blink of an eye. He reveals that once those who die from the geostigma return to the Lifestream, he will be able to control it and use the Planet as a vessel to travel space in search of a new planet for him to rule.

A battle between Cloud and Sephiroth follows across Midgar. Sephiroth taunts Cloud, asking what he cherishes most so that he can destroy it, but Cloud eventually gains strength and confidence from recalling his friends, telling Sephiroth that he does not understand; Cloud cherishes everything. The battle ends with Cloud defeating Sephiroth with an updated version of his Omnislash Limit Break. Sephiroth dissipates, leaving a severely weakened Kadaj at Cloud's mercy. Aerith's spirit begins to pour healing rain across Edge, curing everyone of their geostigma. Aerith tells Kadaj to be at rest, who believes Aerith's voice to be that of his "mother", and he is taken by the Lifestream. After that, Cloud is shot by surprise by Yazoo. He and Loz are now slowly succumbing to the healing rain as well. They both have an arm full of materia, and they prepare one final blast at Cloud, resulting in a large explosion that disintegrates them and engulfs Cloud. Cloud appears surrounded by a white light, and Aerith and Zack are heard. Zack tells Cloud that his place is not with them yet, and sends him back to Aerith's church through the Lifestream.

Cloud awakens in Aerith's old church with wounds healed, now surrounded by his friends and the citizens of Edge. He then demonstrates the healing powers of the water pooled in the church by curing the children still afflicted with the geostigma. Cloud looks in the direction of his friends, and his first smile is triggered as he looks at Tifa and the others. He then turns and sees Aerith crouching by some other children. As she stands and walks to the doorway, she turns back to assure Cloud that he's all right, and then steps into a white light with Zack.

Cast

Cloud Strife

A former mercenary, Cloud is now living with Tifa in Edge, working as a courier for the "Strife Delivery Service" that Tifa set up in her new bar. He is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai in the Japanese version and Steve Burton in the English version.Tifa Lockhart

Tifa acts as Cloud's emotional support, urging him to come to terms with the unwarranted guilt he has placed on himself. She is also looking after Barret's daughter Marlene and the orphaned boy Denzel. She is voiced by Ayumi Ito in the Japanese version and Rachael Leigh Cook in the English version.Aerith Gainsborough

Aerith makes brief appearances in Cloud's memories as his spiritual guide. She tries to make him get on with his life and explains that he was not the reason for her death. She is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto in the Japanese version and Mena Suvari in the English version.Vincent Valentine

Vincent reveals several plot elements to Cloud, such as the cause of the geostigma and Kadaj's intentions to bring back Sephiroth. He is voiced by Shōgo Suzuki in the Japanese version and Steven Blum in the English version.Sephiroth

After being resurrected by Kadaj, Sephiroth reveals that he has been using geostigma in a plan to corrupt the Lifestream and grant him control of the entire planet. He is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa in the Japanese version and George Newbern in the English version.Kadaj

He is voiced by Showtaro Morikubo in the Japanese version and Steve Staley in the English version.Loz

He is voiced by Kenji Nomura in the Japanese version and Fred Tatasciore in the English version.Yazoo

He is voiced by Yūji Kishi in the Japanese version and Dave Wittenberg in the English version.Barret Wallace

He is voiced by Masahiro Kobayashi in the Japanese version and Beau Billingslea in the English version.Yuffie Kisaragi

She is voiced by Yumi Kakazu in the Japanese version and Christy Carlson Romano in the English version.Cid Highwind

He is voiced by Kazuhiro Yamaji in the Japanese version and Chris Edgerly in the English version.Red XIII

He is voiced by Masachika Ichimura in the Japanese version and Liam O'Brien in the English version.Cait Sith

He is voiced by Hideo Ishikawa in the Japanese version and Greg Ellis in the English version.Rufus Shinra

He is voiced by Tōru Ōkawa in the Japanese version and Wally Wingert in the English version.Tseng

He is voiced by Junichi Suwabe in the Japanese version and Ryun Yu in the English version.Reno

He is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in the Japanese version and Quinton Flynn in the English version.Rude

He is voiced by Taiten Kusunoki in the Japanese version and Crispin Freeman in the English version.Elena

She is voiced by Megumi Toyoguchi in the Japanese version and Bettina Bush in the English version.Reeve Tuesti

He is voiced by Banjō Ginga in the Japanese version and Jamieson Price in the English version.Zack

He is voiced by Kenichi Suzumura in the Japanese version and Rick Gomez in the English version.Marlene Wallace

She is voiced by Miyū Tsuzurahara in the Japanese version and Grace Rolek in the English version.Denzel

He is voiced by Kyōsuke Ikeda in the Japanese version and Benjamin Bryan in the English version.

Production

Development

The idea for Advent Children came about when script writer Kazushige Nojima wrote a script that was "just a story about Cloud and Tifa and the kids". Visual Works, a company that has developed CG films for Square, picked Final Fantasy VII as the theme for a presentation that they were going to create. Square's research and development department worked with them on its launch, and director Tetsuya Nomura joined the crew after producer Yoshinori Kitase called him. Advent Children was originally going to be a game sequel, but Nomura stated that it was not possible due to a number of factors. However, the development team decided to stick with the original plan and work on it as a movie production.

After Square and Enix merged into Square Enix in 2003, the production of the film started. As there was little time, Nomura began by developing a textual storyboard instead of a visual storyboard. He made a timeline of the story and wrote down all the elements of the story from the beginning to the end as keywords. The creators of the film had no prior knowledge of how to make a movie, so it was based on their knowledge of in-game movies. They used motion capture in the film's battle scenes, but the parts that were not humanly possible had to be done by hand.

According to Nomura in the DVD commentary, the original movie was only supposed to be twenty minutes. The details of the original story, as Nomura has said about it, is that it featured someone requesting a message to be sent to Cloud. The message is then relayed to Cloud through several children and, when the message finally reaches Cloud, it is revealed who the messenger is. Although Nomura insisted that he very much liked the original script, as it became the foundation for the theme of the final result of the movie, he decided to make the project more grand in scope because early word of this movie generated so much interest that a demand for the film to be feature length eventually became so great that Nomura complied.

Music

The soundtrack of Advent Children was composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

Promotion and release

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was originally scheduled for a September 14, 2005 release in Japan and a September 13, 2005 release in North America, with Japan obtaining a special release of the DVD with more bonus material and collectible offers than the US release. The official website for the English version of Advent Children had a countdown clock, displaying the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until this release date.

However, days before the release, Square Enix changed the US release date to a tentative November 2005, a move many felt indicated an attempt by Square Enix to release the film during the lucrative holiday sales times. The estimate for release was changed once again in early November to a January release, and due to the release date being pushed back several times, the timer was removed from the official North American site. When fans noted that the E3 2005 trailer had confirmed the simultaneous September release, Square Enix stated that the trailer was not the real E3 trailer and possibly a fake trailer.

In an article for the website The Digital Bits, it was eventually mentioned that the delays were due to the extra time required to complete the bonus supplements. Finally, in an IGN article on February 13, 2006, it was revealed that April 25, 2006 was the new official North American release date. Later the same day, on an article on 1UP.com, the release date was confirmed yet again, along with the entire English voice cast. Square Enix confirmed the info on their US website, indicating that the film was on track for a certain US release. The official film website was updated with the info and a new countdown timer was implemented.

A special one-time only theatrical screening of the English version of the film took place on April 3, 2006 at the ArcLight movie theatre in Los Angeles. The event was promoted via e-mail to those who subscribed to the Square Enix mailing list. The screening featured trailers of Kingdom Hearts II and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and was highlighted by appearances of the English language cast and the Japanese developers.

Special editions

The European, Australian, and North American DVD is a 2-disc set that includes several bonus features. Certain retailers offered a bonus disc to go with the DVD set. The disc contains a featurette on the English voice-over process, including interviews with Steve Burton (Cloud), Rachael Leigh Cook (Tifa) and Mena Suvari (Aerith). Sony later announced Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (Limited Edition Collector's Set) for release on February 20, 2007 for an MSRP of $49.95. The set included more bonus material than the previous DVD releases.

At the Tokyo Game Show 2006, Square Enix showed a trailer of a director's cut of the film, titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete for release on the Blu-ray Disc format. New scenes will be added to the film, including one where Sephiroth impales Cloud with his sword and then lifts his body up into the air. The film will also benefit from high-definition video and audio that the Blu-ray format offers. It will also come with a playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII. As of now, only a Japanese release has been confirmed. The cut had formerly been expected to be released in mid 2007, but Square Enix announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 that they would postpone the product until 2008.

At the 2008 SquareEnix DKΣ3713 Party, it was announced that Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete will be released on March of 2009 in Japan and will be bundled with a demo version of Final Fantasy XIII along with the first HD released trailers of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII, making them the first released trailers of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series.

Tie-ins

Last Order: Final Fantasy VII

Last Order: Final Fantasy VII is an original video animation from 2005 directed by Morio Asaka, written by Kazuhiko Inukai, and animated by Madhouse. It was released with the "Ultimate Edition" of Advent Pieces: Limited in Japan and was included in the collector's edition of Advent Children in North America. There is no English dub, and the OVA is subtitled.

The OVA is an anime rendition of two flashbacks that took place in the game. One details events from four years before Final Fantasy VII, revolving around the Nibelheim scenario that focused on Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, and Sephiroth. The other involves Zack and Cloud on the run from Shinra. The anime cuts back and forth between these two flashbacks, linked by the Turk commander Tseng's reflection on the Nibelheim events.

Last Order also forms the basis of the PlayStation Portable game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and serves as a tie-in with the mobile phone game Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, as several of the game's playable Turk characters appear as minor characters, with some getting spoken lines.

Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII

Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII is a story digest of Final Fantasy VII, as recalled by Cloud at a time set shortly after the events of Advent Children. It consists of edited scenes from the original PlayStation game and live-action shots of locations seen in the bonus ending. Between flashbacks to the original game's sequences, it relates a short story about Cloud making deliveries while taking phone calls from other members of AVALANCHE.

The basic premise is that Yuffie wants Cloud to take a day off from work, and as a way of telling him she sends a "closed for business" sign to him through Barret. Cloud then calls Tifa and asks her if she can close the bar the next day while he takes a day off from running deliveries. Only the voices of Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, Vincent, and Barret can be heard during the story digest, as there are no actual animated renderings of them featured in Reminiscence. The only CGI in Reminisence is of Cloud's motorcycle parked on the side of the road as Barret gives him Yuffie's package.

On the Way to a Smile

On the Way to a Smile is a small series of stories taking place between the time of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Written by Kazushige Nojima, half of this novella (Case of Denzel) was released in episodes on the official Japanese Advent Children website, while the novella was released in its entirety in V-Jumps Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Prologue book.

The first four chapters are told indirectly through the perspective of Denzel, the young orphan featured in Advent Children. Johnny, the bumbling regular of Tifa's 7th Heaven bar from the original game, has opened up his own bar in the newly built city of Edge. One day Denzel shows up in Johnny's store to have a private meeting with Reeve Tuesti. He has requested an interview with him in the hopes that he may become part of Reeve's newly formed World Restoration Order, an army devoted to rebuilding the planet. Denzel then goes on to tell his life story, including how he became an orphan, the events leading up to his becoming afflicted with Geostigma, and how he came into the care of Tifa and Cloud. He also offers a firsthand account of the events of the fateful day when the Lifestream emerged to save the planet from Meteor. This third of the novella consists of Tifa's account of the events following Meteor's destruction, overlapping in part with Denzel's story. This half of On the Way to a Smile helps to uncover some of the mysteries surrounding the beginning of the film, including identifying its setting and offering further insight into Cloud and Tifa's respective feelings for themselves and one another. A third On the Way to a Smile story was released with the North American limited edition box set of Advent Children. It involves Barret and his struggle with having a weapon for an arm, and trying to find a new energy source for the people of the world, the story also gives insights for the rest of the Avalanche members' lives after the events of Final Fantasy VII.

Reception

The DVD release of Advent Children sold over 420,000 copies in Japan in its first week, which was 93% of all published copies at the time. In 2006, Square Enix and Sony announced that the English language DVD and UMD releases combined had sold over 1.4 million units worldwide. Only 100,000 of these sales were in Europe, while the rest was sold in North America and Australia. Combined with the Japanese sales, Advent Children had sold over 2.4 million copies. The film achieved number one on Amazon.com's "Top Sellers" page days before the North American DVD release.

Advent Children has generally been well-received by the media. Many critics praised the visuals, but criticized the film for its main focus on the action rather than plot and character development. Chris Carle of IGN praised the sound and the English voice acting, but criticized the lack of commentary in the DVDs extras. He gave the film an overall score of nine out of ten. 1UP.com's James Mielke commented on the quality and clarity of the CG visuals as "genuinely amazing". He did however criticize the film's music, and called it "a bit sappy". Advent Children attained a 40% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while the PlayStation Portable UMD release of the film got an 88% score at Metacritic, based on five reviews. The film received the Honorary Maria Award at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya on October 15, 2005. The film was also awarded for "best anime feature" at the 2007 American Anime Awards.

References

External links

• Official English website
• Official Japanese website