Gaming to Anime: Final Fantasy VI - IGN (original) (raw)

The Final Fantasy video game franchise is one of the most enduring, popular, and influential forces in the industry. But attempts to channel that success into a popular film or television series had failed until the release of Advent Children. What's left for the creators of the world's most popular RPG series to explore in anime?
Our feature explores the history of the franchise in animation and then moves into what we'd like to see from a Final Fantasy anime. Will we ever see something that is universally loved by fans? Should an original property or existing one be used? If one that exists, what is used and what is tossed out? Read on to see our approach!

The History of Final Fantasy Animation

There have already been some attempts at bringing some of the magic from the Final Fantasy games to the animated medium.

In 1994 an anime OVA called Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals was released. This short and fairly unknown anime spanned four 30 minute episodes. What's most notable about this anime was that it was a direct sequel to Final Fantasy V, taking place in the same world but two hundred years later. This is remarkable since most entries into the Final Fantasy franchise introduce completely new settings that don't directly refer to previous Final Fantasy titles.

Legend of the Crystals did not become a favorite addition to the Final Fantasy Legacy. The short four-episode format didn't allow for good story pacing, the animation wasn't anything special, and the series was rife with comedy and slapstick instead of the dramatic and emotional tales that made the franchise great.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was the next cinematic tale to bear the Final Fantasy name. While it was universally lauded for its amazing CG animation, the storyline was confusing and didn't deliver a good ending. As we all know, it flopped.

Final Fantasy: Unlimited was next in line, this time in the form of more traditional anime that ran for 25 episodes. When the series was originally announced it stirred up a lot of excitement in the Final Fantasy fan community. Like most titles in the franchise, the show offered up a new world and storyline but kept some familiar old elements (chocobos, moogles, and the ever present Cid). But the series itself was rather disappointing in most respects. It wasn't really a horrible show, but it didn't meet the high standards that the fanbase had come to expect from the franchise.

In 2006, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was released in Japan. For Advent Children, Square-Enix returned to the idea of making a short sequel storyline to one of the games. There's far too much back-story in FFVII to fit into 90-100 minutes. Square-Enix knew that, and simply didn't even make an attempt to catch up on the back-story in Advent Children. They just threw you in right where they left off in FFVII, leaving you to fill in the blanks on your own. That's fine for the many rabid fans of the game (who arguably, were the only real target audience), but the rest of the world was kind of left out. There were a lot of people who really wanted to love the movie for more than the beautiful CG work, but they couldn't because they just didn't understand what the hell was going on.

Advent Children included a 30-minute anime feature called Last Order that explored the events that lead up to the game's main storyline. While it revealed some previously unknown tidbits about the FFVII saga, for the most part it didn't do anything remarkable.

Fantasies of the Future

With the DVD sales of Advent Children still padding Square-Enix's pockets, it's pretty safe to assume that they'll take another stab at a movie or series in the future. Let's take a page from Marvel's book, and venture into the land of What If?

What if Square-Enix gave the green light for another full-fledged Final Fantasy anime series based on one of the games? Logically, that question leads to another question: What game would they base it on?

We think that there's one front-runner that has all the necessary elements for a hit anime series worthy of the Final Fantasy label: Final Fantasy VI.

Before Cloud, Sephiroth, and the gang ushered in a new era for the Final Fantasy franchise, FFVI was widely touted as one of the best games Square ever created. The game was groundbreaking in its use of symphonic music, story arcs with mature elements, and a manipulative villain that broke the mold for video game antagonists.

A Quick FF VI Recap

For the sake of those of you who aren't familiar with the game, or just haven't played it in years, let's go over the basic plot and characters. The official Final Fantasy VI site for the GameBoy Advance version of the game sums it up well:

"The Ancient War of the Magi. When its flames at least receded, only the charred husk of a world remained. Even the power of magic was lost. In the thousand years that followed, iron, gunpowder, and steam engines took the place of magic, and life slowly returned to the barren land. Yet now the Gestahlian Empire would reawaken the magic of ages past, and use its dread power as a means by which to conquer all the world…

But there remains one small hope. When an enslaved woman named Terra frees herself from the Empire's mind control, she joins a band of rebels who seek to enlist the aid of a mystical race, the espers, in their struggle to prevent the Empire from dominating the world."

The Characters

Locke
Locke is a thief, pickpocket, treasure hunter, and resistance fighter. He joined the anti-Empire rebel group called The Returners after the love his life died in an attack led by the Empire. He vows to keep Terra safe no matter what.

Terra
Terra is the daughter of a normal human mother and an Esper, a magical being. She has great magical powers that Emperor Gestahl tried to control against her will. After her escape she joins Locke and his band of Returners to fight the Empire's menace.

Kefka
The main villain of the story, Kefka began as Emperor Gestahl's Court mage. After volunteering for an experimental procedure that went slightly awry, Kefka gained the ability to use magic. Oh yeah, he went crazy too.

Kefka was the one responsible for Terra's enslavement and a number of other dastardly schemes on behalf of the Empire. Although he's quite powerful, manipulative, and into hands-on villainy, Kefka's quite a coward and avoids fights with The Returners - until the end of the game at least, when he finally achieves the awesome power he's been looking for.

Cyan
A heroic knight and bit of a technophobe, Cyan has a personal vendetta against Kefka, who poisoned his kingdom's water supply and left him as the only survivor. His greatest skill is his unparalleled sword technique.

Shadow
A ninja for hire with a faithful dog named Interceptor, Shadow's motivations are very mysterious. He offers his help to both the Empire and The Returners, but always for a price.

Edgar Figaro
Born into royalty, Edgar and his twin brother Sabin were forced to choose which one of them would take the crown when their father died. Neither of them wanted to inherit the troubles of kingship, so they decided to toss a coin, the winner chooses the future he likes. Edgar, however, used a double-sided coin to ensure that Sabin would win the toss and thus be free to pursue the life he wanted. The Figaro Kingdom is publicly allied with Emperor Gestahl, but Edgar secretly supports The Returners. Edgar has a penchant for all things mechanical.

Sabin Figaro
After the coin toss, Sabin left the Figaro kingdom and pursued a life in martial arts. Although they're twins, Sabin and Edgar are pretty much polar opposites.

Setzer
A notorious gambler and owner of a casino/airship, Setzer is the lovable rogue in the story. He's a free spirit that loves to travel the world, which is getting harder and harder to do with the Empire around. Setzer also made an appearance in Kingdom Hearts II.

Celes
Celes was once one of the top generals in the Empire, but after being unjustly imprisoned and tortured by Gestahl's forces she was rescued by Locke and joins his efforts to destroy the Empire.

Strago Magus
Strago is an elderly mage and descendant of the ancient Mage Warriors who fought in the War of the Magi. He's one of the few people around that has true knowledge of the Espers and magic. Strago joins The Returners after they save the life of his "granddaughter", Relm.

Gau
A thirteen year old boy that was abandoned to the wilderness while he was young, Gau has learned to survive amongst the wild monsters of the world. In the game, Gau's specialty was the ability to learn the attacks of the various monsters the player encountered. Gau would essentially merge into their group like a wild animal and learn their ways, eventually returning to the party with his new skills.

Mog
Mog's a cute little member of the moogle race, one of the trademarks of the Final Fantasy series. Unlike most moogles, he can actually speak the human language. He joins The Returners after they save him from a hostage situation.

Now that we've gone over the past attempts at Final Fantasy movies and series, learned from the mistakes, and picked a good starting point for a new animated tale. Let's talk about what this new series would have to incorporate to avoid abysmal failure.

Adapting Final Fantasy VI

Must Haves

The Whole Story

Hopefully, the past works in the franchise have clearly shown the perils of trying to cram tons of RPG story into a couple of hours. A new Final Fantasy VI anime would have to take the form of either a full series of no less than 25 episodes, an extended OVA, or a trilogy of movies.

The Engaging Villain

Kefka. Although he's not as pretty or as revered as Sephiroth, Kefka was definitely a very interesting Final Fantasy villain. He has many obvious parallels with Batman's Joker. Besides the obvious penchant for clown apparel that they both share, they're also both created by the very forces they will later seek to destroy.

Kefka was really an extraordinary bad guy. He was a scheming, manipulative, and very proactive character whose actions affected nearly all of the main characters in some way. This personal touch does a great deal to make the story more captivating. Unlike the confusing Sorceresses in FFVIII (the villain is Edea, no wait it's Adel, no wait it's Ultimecia!) or the amorphous blob known as Sin in FFX, Kefka acts as a very clear focal point for the viewer to despise and root against. He's one of the best villains to ever appear in an RPG.

The Soundtrack

The music in FFVI was written by long-time Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, the John Williams of video game music. Many consider this soundtrack even better than the heralded Final Fantasy VII soundtrack. Of course, the anime would absolutely require a whole orchestral soundtrack instead of the tinny MIDI sounds we had to put up with in the original game. There have been orchestral and piano versions of the songs released on CD, and many of the songs have been performed by symphonies across the world for various events. The soundtrack, in its entirety, would be an amazing element in a full anime series.

What to Avoid

Rewrites

The story here is fine as it is, actually it's fantastic. Screenwriters might be tempted to fiddle with things here and there to make things more watchable, but that would no doubt lead to a lot of problems. The original script should be left alone as much as possible, including the classic one liners like the delicious homage to Star Wars when Locke rescues Celes from an Imperial dungeon while dressed in Imperial armor and Celes says, "You're awfully short for a soldier."

The Voice Actor Trap

You would think this one would be obvious, but with the plethora of badly dubbed anime out there it's apparently not on the producers' radar screens. So much of the Final Fantasy storyline is based on making the viewer feel for the characters, and it's hard to do that if they all sound like frightened high schoolers in a bad production of Romeo and Juliet.

It would also be good to avoid the good voice actors that have become overexposed. Steve Blum (Spike in Cowboy Bebop and countless other dubs) is a great voice actor, but the anime fans can only stand hearing his voice so long. The same goes for Crispin Freeman (who actually voiced Setzer in Kingdom Hearts), Kirby Morrow, and all the other token anime voice actors. A new Final Fantasy series would have to be fresh and give some new blood a shot, or use voice actors that have a wide vocal range; Mark Hamill and Billy West (of Futurama fame) come to mind. Hamill did fantastic work as the voice of the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series so he could definitely do justice to Kefka, who's another scheming, crazy killer clown.

Cheap Animation

Advent Children spared no expense on the eye candy, and the results paid off. Many people were interested in the movie just to see the great CG work. By contrast, Final Fantasy Unlimited skimped on the artwork sometimes and that definitely had an impact on the overall feel of the series. The Final Fantasy franchise has enough clout behind it to warrant the upfront cost of high-quality animation if another series should be planned.

Things to Eliminate

As good as FF6 was, it was not without some flaws. There were some things that felt kind of silly in the game, and would probably be near disastrous in an anime.

Mog's Dance Skills

You can't have a Final Fantasy title without Moogles in there somewhere, and Mog represented his race well. Besides being quite adorable, he also was a valuable team member in the many battles of FF6. Mog would have to be a big presence in any anime based on the game.

However, in the game the character Mog's special ability was to do a "dance" that would unlock one of his special abilities. Mog's dance skill, even back when the game first came out, was kinda stupid. While the concept was ok in a 16 bit game with pixel art, it would be difficult for anime fans to enjoy seeing a battle where the heroes face a huge, menacing boss, with the storyline about to hit its climax, and then a two foot tall walking marshmellow busts out the Soulja Boy in the middle of the fight to unlock his Superman powers.

Relm

Strago's granddaughter is a playable character in the game. But unlike Gau who actually kicked ass, Relm was an underage member of the team that never quite made sense in the grand scheme of things. Relm was a somewhat useful character, sporting the highest magic power of all the playable characters and capable of controlling enemy monsters. But she just didn't fit logically. Besides being only ten, her special ability involved "sketching" the enemy monsters on her canvas in order to make copies of them that could magically come to life and fight for her. Later on, with the addition of a fake-mustache accessory, she can get even gain control of the feral dangerous beasts. Yes, that's right…a fake mustache that gives a ten-year-old girl the ability of animal mind control.

It's true that Final Fantasy is, well…fantasy. But there are limits to "suspension of disbelief". Relm would need to be nixed in the anime, or perhaps relegated to a brief cameo.

Umaro

Another strange addition to the list of playable characters was Umaro, the yeti-like optional playable character that you could never even really control in battle. He was an odd character to begin with, and certainly not a fan favorite, so it would probably be best to leave him out and let others get that screen time.

Of course this is all just conjecture and wishing, but Advent Children would never have gotten produced if it hadn't been for the fans demanding more from the Final Fantasy VII world. The folks behind Final Fantasy definitely listen to what their incredibly loyal fanbase has to say.

What do you think? Did you love Advent Children and only want CG Final Fantasy shows? Would you rather Square ditch its graphical eye candy for an intelligible storyline? Original content or adapted? Agree with what has to stay and what has to go? Let us know in our comments section, which is located directly below this article!