Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

[Sakura]

[color=Navy]I've seen Advent Children too and I loved it, along with my friends, all are fans of the Final Fantasy series and it is slowly spreading around.

[spoiler]The ringtone thing was funny, I laughed when he got up and whipped out his phone.[/spoiler]

The remixed themes were nice, brought back memories, and I've started to play VII again since I saw the movie.

I thought the graphics were excellent throughout, especially the fight scenes, though I agree the story could have been better than it turned out to be.

I enjoyed the more badass Cloud, that was fun to watch, and the fact that he used two swords and then to make one was interesting.

The other party members' return was a bit of a let down. I expected more, but it still served its purpose I think. They returned to help out.

Though there were a few things I was left wondering about.

[spoiler]Like how the party members got up so high to help Cloud rise higher. I know some can jump high, some climb walls, but what of the others?

I was also wondering about that red ribbon tied around both Tifa's and Cloud's left arm. It symbolises something between them, but I'm not sure.

I don't see the meaning of Denzel being there? If one of the kids had to be made to have Geostigma, couldn't they have just given it to Marlene?

I'm also left with what happened between Kadaj and Jenova's head. I understand that it was the reunion they were all after, but I don't get how it brough Sephiroth back.

And the last thing is about the Wolf that appeared when Cloud and Tifa were sleeping amongst the flowers in the church. Where did it come from?[/spoiler]

But besides those things, I really did enjoy it, I'd say it was worth the wait.
[/color]

[Osaka]

you know, heard on G4 that on the Tokyo game show that they were gunna show some clips from the movie. It comes on next Tuesday.

And yesterday that showed that demo of FFVII for the Ps3 on cinematech.

you know I've tryed to find out when the movie comes out in the US but everytime I do it always gives me the Japan release date.

[Guest Hidetsugu]

Wow,Advent children looks great. It is more than awsome to see Cid.Any other cid fans out there?! :D

[Lindus]

[quote name='Hidetsugu']Wow,Advent children looks great. It is more than awsome to see Cid.Any other cid fans out there?! :D[/quote]
That would be me. Cid's my favorite character from ff7 X3 It reminds me of the biggest thing that I was disappointed with though, concerning advent children. And that's the severe lack of a lot of the original group from the game- cid,yuffie, red XIII, and Barret. The parts they played were really cool, but they were in the movie so little.

I still reallly enjoyed the film though. It's just so nice and fun to watch. Even my older brother, who hates this sort of thing, couldn't help but stand in the living room and watch the tv while the movie was playing (the Bahamut fight).

[Rachael]

[quote name='Desbreko][color=#4b0082']Right, so I went and downloaded Advent Children. (I know, it's less than legal, but I'm going to be getting it on DVD when it comes stateside anyway. Seeing it early has only confirmed that even more.) [/color][/quote]Whoa Whoa Whoa you have it downloaded?!?!?!?!! how'd you do that? What site did you go to?? was their subtitles or was it all japanese!??!!?!! please tell me I am sick and tired of waiting! Pm me if you won't post it on the forum. please!!

[Stuart]

[FONT=Trebuchet MS]
[B][U]Best part[/U] :[/B] [spoiler]When a 800 pound billboard comes crashing down on Rude's head. Yeah![/spoiler]

One of my friends has the complete movie uploaded to his PSP, so I've viewed it off there in school. He also burned it to a DVD format, along with subtitles, and we were watching it the other day. Of course it isn't ilegal, and if one would go about obtaining it it would also be ilegal. The only way to offical get your hands on it is to download it from a peer sharing program. But I don't encourage, or suggest it. Wait for it to come out on DVD, definitely .

I personaly didn't care for the movie too much. It was exciting to be able to relate everything back to the game, and to see my favorite characters play in thrilling fight scenes. The fight scenes were like DBZ sideways, on speed, and throw 100 swords in the mix. I thought that the story was majorly lacking something; Not quite sure what. The fight scences completely made the movie worth it. Simply incredible. You'll find yourself wide eyed, jaw dropped, and on the edge of your seat. Spectacular.

[B]Edit :[/B] P.S. [B]Sephiroth [COLOR=Red]<3[/COLOR][/B][/FONT]

[Dagger]

[QUOTE=Sakura][color=Navy][spoiler]I was also wondering about that red ribbon tied around both Tifa's and Cloud's left arm. It symbolises something between them, but I'm not sure.[/spoiler]
[/color][/QUOTE]

They weren't the only characters [spoiler]wearing that. Didn't everyone (well, the party members, that is) have something similar tied to one part of his/her body or another? I was under the impression that they were pieces of Aeris's hair ribbon...[/spoiler]

I'm not really a Cloud/Tifa fan, but if you're looking for evidence in that direction, [spoiler]Tifa's ring[/spoiler] is pretty close to being genuine proof.

~Dagger~

[Mitch]

I recently watched AC. It was a let-down.

I'm just giving a brief summation since I don't care to make this a full-fledged review.

In summation, it was aesthetically pleasing, no doubt. But its story was. . .non-existent? And I couldn't care less about aesthetic when it comes to a movie based from an RPG; I care for story, a good one, one that continues FF7's and explains more of it and makes something else at the same time.

Don't waste your time, or if you must, prepare to be disappointed.

Go play FF7 again instead. It's a far greater experience in every way.

Sorry Square, having Matrix-esque, near-awe-inspiring action scenes doesn't do it.

[GTK]

[QUOTE=Dagger]They weren't the only characters [spoiler]wearing that. Didn't everyone (well, the party members, that is) have something similar tied to one part of his/her body or another? I was under the impression that they were pieces of Aeris's hair ribbon...[/spoiler]

I'm not really a Cloud/Tifa fan, but if you're looking for evidence in that direction, [spoiler]Tifa's ring[/spoiler] is pretty close to being genuine proof.

~Dagger~[/QUOTE]


[spoiler]Cid was wearing one as well. I'm not sure about the others specifically though. I also thought it had to do with Aeris[/spoiler]


Somewhat unrelated, but still sort of related anyway [spoiler] I liked Last Order as well... though it wasn't like if really provided any info I didn't know already... mostly I just did a lot of angsting at Zack... though the scene where Cloud comes to Tifa and she's all "you kept your promise" was pretty cute. It was fun to watch overall ^___^ and Squee Hojo! [/spoiler]

[Guest vesperXmouse]

Went over a friend's house the other day and watched it subbed (she downloaded it from somewhere :-/). Anywho, the action is great, the animation is breathtaking, but the plot is somewhat... incoherent. The movie's more about the sweet action scenes than the actual story. Still, Reno and Rude are adorable. (Reno: *runs to the action* *pulls his weapon out and hits Rude in the face*) (Reno: *steps on Rude's glasses* Rude: *frowns* *takes out a new pair*)

[TailTactics]

[size=2][b][spoiler]I ENJOYED HOW CLOUD USES OMNISLASH AT THE END WHEN HE DESTROYED SEPHIROTH. THE ONE-WINGED ANGEL THEN WRAPPED HIS WING AROUND HIMSELF AND DISAPPATED, LEAVING KADAJ IN HIS INNOCENT FORM[/b][/size][b].[/spoiler][/b]!!! :p :p :p !!!

[Deranged Kikyo]

Like the masses I admit having downloaded it in impatience since most of us have been waiting for this since... last year? A few thoughts nyo~

THe fightscenes were just, wow. You literally could not even BLINK as to miss something, the the details were precise and accurate [well as accurate as a VG character's moves could get :P] But the fights don't quite override the movie itself, personally I think it's more graphically driven. The CG was literally perfect, which is what made the fights so good. CGI has alot of potential, you couldn't do these kind of choreography or battles with real actors [quite obviously :P]

People like to gripe about the story, but I mean, I wasn't quite paying a whole lot of attention to it as much as watching the characters themselves >_> but i got this great nostalgic feeling whenever someone mentioned jenova XD; On the other hand, it seems cloud, tifa, and the bad guys got all the screentime compared to the old gang :( I mean, yeah he is the main character but I wish the others got to participate more [like everyone else :P] But the voiceacting for all the characters were superb. I loved Cloud's voice the best XD; [spoiler] It's too bad, sephiroth, the evil psycophant baddy had to be a mumbler. *mumble*[/spoiler]

And the music, of course was over the top and beyond good :) [spoiler]Lol I fell out of my seat laughing at the "fanfare/victory" ringtone... T_T;;; Really, really funny ~[/spoiler] For a supposedly weak story, the ending was nice [spoiler] aeris and zack both "moved on" ....? Touching all the same :) [/spoiler]

[spoiler] last order was great too. Zack needed more screentime and here we go! pity cloud was merely zombified through the entire trip (save the flashbacks)[/spoiler]

I could fangirl about this all day but I'll spare everyone that XD

[spoiler] The red ribbon thing, yeah everyone in the old gang had it on somewhere, I don't think they shredded Aeri's ribbon, but since a red ribbon symbolizes, love/friendship/comradship (it's a really loose meaning) I suppose that's why they all have one, to show they're all still friends :)

Don't you guys wish vincent would ditch th drill shoes? >_>[/spoiler]

[Hevn]

I got a pirated DVD copy and saw it yesterday. w00t! I'm definitely buying the original when it is released.

I liked the movie. The plot is a bit meh, yes, but I still found the movie awesome and I couldn't care less because the great action scenes totally made up for it. It's packed with cool fight scenes. I agree that you literally would want to stop blinking for a few minutes just to see every move and stuff. It's [I]that[/I] fast lol.

I love the animation IMMENSELY. It's actually one of the reasons why I love the recent Final Fantasy games. I actually had to pause on some part just to admire the graphics lol. I actually didn't want to read the subtitles because I want to look at the graphics.

Another thing I like about it is that you actually get to see a lot of stuff from the game like how they actually use materia, how they summon guardians, a close up of their Limit Breaks and stuff. It's just a good feeling to see and hear Final Fantasy VII again. ^_^

Anyway, I think I read it in this thread that the movie was not needed or the plot wasn't needed or something but I think otherwise. I think the movie at least gave the story of the game an ending.

[Red]

I adored it.

Barely 10 minutes into the movie and it's clear to see how much effort has been put into the aesthetic side alone - despite some of the shortcuts they seem to have (albeit deservedly) taken. The body movement alone is astonishing, I sit next to a team of 3D animators at work who spend days trying to get a hand to close correctly, a footstep just right, let alone oodles of hyperactive swordplay, running & jumping.

On the graphics side of things, it's a shame they weren't able to include HDR (high dynamic range lighting, where the computer determines the sun as the only constant light source and calculates reflections/brightness/refraction/reflection accordingly, see [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging]here[/url]), as it really would've made a heck of a lot of difference. In the end, though, it would've cost them too much time, a real shame but the final product is still incredible.

The sound effects were something I certainly wasn't expecting, and it's the first time I've really noticed them in an animation. Every creak of leather, flap of cloth, even when [spoiler]Tifa's in the church and slides backwards on her feet[/spoiler], the sounds seem perfectly placed and seems to add a great deal more to the whole experience.

What I didn't enjoy were the classic anime fallovers - camera shot of Tifa? Make sure it's from the midriff, looking up, and so on. I'm sure breasts with a bajillion polygons are all well and good, but once in a blue moon is enough. I don't know if this would be counted as nit picking a tad too much, but after seeing it in nigh on every anime movie so far it starts to drag a bit.

And despite the story being enough to carry the movie through for me, I thought it borrowed from that "new uber-enemy using small tie ins from previous uber enemy" pot anime seems to dip into all too often, again carried onto this. But as Hevn said, it's good to see some FFVII again & nice to see some sort of extra ending to the previous story.

[Deranged Kikyo]

well, i'm super glad they got tifa's proportions NORMAL at least in the movie, and personally i liked her fight the best in the church :) hand to hand combat yeah! ^___^ AND THEIR HAIR. XD;;; if anyone's played the original game, the characters [specially cloud's] hair is basically solid, sticks straight up, but obviously it has to be alittle bit different in a CGI movie like this, I noticed that they designed his hair the style that a proffessional cosplayer would, layered so you get the spikes but it looks natural :D *die* the music was gorgeous too! Can't get enough of nobuo nope :)

Isn't it crazy how squeenix [or square enix] had originally intended this "advent children" scheme to merely be a collection of short clips, yet the fan reaction was huge and i guess they just -had- to make a movie :)

[Ben Holiday]

Simply gorgeous that is the highest quality I have seen to date. I too would have liked to see more of the old group in action namely Vincent, Yuffie, Cait Sith and the Turks of course but was more then pleased with what was here. The Sephiroth theme playing certainly brought back great memories as did the ringtone in the church from an old fans perspective I don't think they did the game that much wrong doing here.

[Mitch]

I don't see how so many people just love this movie for being aesthetically pleasing alone. But maybe it's just me, I don't know. Well, I personally care what the deeper meanings of something are, or if its subject matter interests me. Making something look pretty doesn't do anything for me. Sure, it may look pretty on the outside, but when you pry this movie open and try to find something more it's the most vapid, empty expanse you can find. And basically, aside from looking beautiful, this movie offers nothing to me. I know I shouldn't compare this movie to the game, but it's an impossible thing for me. And the game is far more entertaining in every aspect other than being aesthetically pleasing.

I don't know. I grew up with the NES and SNES and its lackluster graphics (by today's standards), and the older systems have some of the best games in existence. Same with movies: there's a lot of better movies (aesthetically) that have appeared that actually had a nice story to boot, as well. I'd like to go, "OMG FF7!2111" about this, but I can't love it for just being an FF 7 byproduct alone. Because as a product it fails other than being aesthetically pleasing which doesn't offer any thing to me.

It's nice seeing FF 7's characters again, but I honestly found how they looked to not be how I imagined they'd look just by their pixelated selves in FF 7. But oh well. Cloud's hair wasn't spikey enough, Tifa's breasts weren't big enough, and the story wasn't even there.

[Semjaza]

Am I the only one that finds it odd that this thread has remained open when it's extremely obvious that a good majority of the people who have watched this film (and will in the near future) have pirated it through Bittorrent or other means? There's a reason why posts about Bittorrent on theOtaku get the highest amounts of comments. This is like indirectly condoning that obviously illegal action, which isn't exactly smart on a site of this size that obviously wants to be something important to the world of anime. Most other major forums I go to would have shut this down by now.

[Petie]

[quote name='Generic NPC #3']Am I the only one that finds it odd that this thread has remained open when it's extremely obvious that a good majority of the people who have watched this film (and will in the near future) have pirated it through Bittorrent or other means?[/quote][font=Verdana][color=blue]This thread remains open because there really isn't anyone directly supporting anything illegal. Also, there have been no links to illegal files provided so there really isn't any harm done. Finally, I'm sure almost everyone knows that they can download it online if they really want to [b](though the OtakuBoards staff in no way supports this)[/b]. In my opinion, there really is no reason to close this thread, especially since there is some pretty good discussion going on here.[/color][/font]
[font=Verdana][color=#0000ff][/color][/font]
[b][font=Verdana][color=#0000ff]Edit:[/color][/font][/b]
[font=Verdana][color=#0000ff]The bold part was added in for clarity purposes.[/color][/font]

[After*Glow]

[quote name='Mitch'] But oh well. Cloud's hair wasn't spikey enough, Tifa's breasts weren't big enough, and the story wasn't even there.[/quote]
[COLOR=Teal]I read an article in Newtype about this and the creators said they wanted the characters to look like real people but still wanted them to have some of there cartoonish qualities to them. Thats why Clouds hair is so over the top spiky like in the game.[/COLOR]

[Deranged Kikyo]

ooh contrasting opinions! yay! ^___^ le sigh, I guess this is alot like those large shiny globes you can buy for your lawn as an ornament. Some people just think it's a -slightly- tacky lawn ornament interesting in it's own way, and then there are others who just [b] can't take their eyes of it's shinyness.[/b]

okay so maybe that's just me in particular ( i always stared at those XD)

True, the game had more interactivity and story to it, that's why it's a game. The movie I suppose was to rally a huge wave of nostalgia but show the fans something new, namely upped graphics and characters who for the most part, look very real [or more realistic than the game]

It goes back to the age old question of whether the visuels make the game, which no one can really answer, and everyone is really entitled to their own opinion.

~_~ I thought the movie was really shiny~ and the game was really fun!

[James]

[quote name='Generic NPC #3']I don't exactly know what kind of respect that OB and theOtaku can gain by supporting something like this, from good members or actual anime creators and domestic distributors. "Anime done right" is theOtaku's slogan, but this isn't right at all. [/quote]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Whoa, hold your horses there. Let's just clear a few things up here.

First of all, the presence of this thread should not in any way be considered to be a sign of some kind of official support for piracy. That's just ridiculously off-base. By that standard, we should never have any discussions that relate to products outside the United States (whether it's music or film or any other medium), because there's a chance that people may be pirating the product.

In the case of music, I am quite sure that a variety of the music discussed here is discussed by people who may have downloaded it without paying. No staff member here would condone music piracy and certainly, there's no official support for anything like that.

It is important to draw a distinction between people discussing something and our network actively allowing people to download stuff illegally - or turning a blind eye toward piracy. We do not allow people to link to illegally-acquired material from here, nor do we allow anyone to product instructions or information on how to obtain content illegally.

At the same time, I'm not so sure that we should just kill off every single thread that might be discussing a film or a TV series that hasn't yet aired in the United States. I regard that as a little short-sighted and casting a net that is just a little too general.

It is unfair and inaccurate to take this one thread and extrapolate that into some kind of larger meaning/policy for the entire network. You know very well that we don't allow discussion about acquiring game ROMs for example, yet we won't block people from discussing games that have never been released in the US.

Also, just as a quick side-note...you also know that there are times when I will disagree with a Moderator's decision and I will reverse it or change it. It is wrong to suggest that a single Moderator's judgement about a thread is somehow representative of a final say on the entire issue as far as the network is concerned.

I think it is worth reinforcing the above points, because I am 100% against piracy, but I do not want to be overzealous in moderating discussions related to movie/music/game content.

I should also mention that if you really feel this thread shouldn't be here, I am open to discussion on that - I'm open to discussion on how we can improve things in this area. I'm very eager to make sure that we have the best policy we can have on something like this.

But there are ways to go about that without making generalizations and stuff. You know that. ;) [/font]

[Dagger]

Well, speaking of major sites... one thing to note here is that Anime on DVD--easily among the most anti-bootleg & anti-piracy of the big anime communities out there--allows threads about shows realistically available only via fansub (i.e. even the R2s have yet to be released). What they don't allow is so much as the mention of the word "fansub": essentially they try to divorce fansub-related content discussions from any reference to how said content was actually acquired/viewed. Even company reps occasionally poke their heads into such discussions, though usually in their capacity as fans.

I've always thought our policy was akin to a looser version of this (though it developed on its own and not because we're trying to emulate anyone else's stance, if that wasn't clear). At least, speaking personally, I don't come totally down on people's heads for casually saying something about downloading (as long as they don't reveal specifics or whatnot), but the focus should remain on the actual show/OVA/whatever.

The way I see it, Advent Children was definitely an anamoly when it first "came out," because it was widely known to have been distributed illegally before its real Japanese street date. Plus, it's a really huge thing in the fandom, and it's been pre-licensed since forever. In retrospect it might not have been a bad idea to do the creators the courtesy of at least waiting for the Japanese street date to pass. Yet when this is a title that's been discussed/anticipated on these boards for months and months, how do you control that kind of thing? Split & lock posts from people who appear to have actually seen it? I don't know.

But by this point there are far fewer differences between Advent Children and any other licensed but not yet released OVA. That's my take on it, anyway.

~Dagger~

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Well, nobody has said that we should not allow people to talk about anime TV series that haven't yet been released in the United States. That has never been an issue. As far as I know, it's always been acknowledged that we should not - and do not - provide any resources or support for people who want to download copyrighted material without paying for it. But by the same token, fansubbing is obviously huge and we obviously allow people to talk about any anime series - whether they have watched it or not and regardless of how they have acquired it.

The situation Advent Children is no different to any Japanese TV series that people have acquired through fansubbing. Yet I never heard anyone saying that we should block all discussion about anime series that have not yet appeared in the United States (where people may have watched the series via fansubbing). This does not mean that we support fansubbing, it simply means that we are allowing people to discuss a particular TV show or movie.

I do not know how we can accurately police something like this, without being overzealous and unreasonable. What if we were to block discussions of upcoming albums, even if people have already heard leaked tracks on the Internet? What if we block discussions about anime TV series that haven't come out in the US so far (which would be a large amount of stuff discussed here and everywhere else)? What if we block discussions based on games that have never come out in the United States? How far do you take that? How do you test whether or not people acquired the property legally in the first place? When do you make the assumption that they downloaded it? And even if you make that assumption, do you then block people from discussing it at all?

And if you don't, do you then block those who have downloaded it, versus those who are just talking about it without having seen it?

It's not that I entirely disagree with the idea in principle, but I think it is possible for us to allow discussion on any TV show or movie or album, regardless of when/where it was released. If people acquire it illegally, that is not our responsibility. It only becomes our responsibility when we are actually offering it for download, or providing resources for people to download it illegally. We are only providing a forum for discussion about the material itself - we are not condoning or aiding piracy in any sense.

This is the only reason that I feel it is important to step in and make a comment, because I am completely opposed to piracy and I do not really accept the suggestion that we are somehow lax on that issue, simply because we do allow people to discuss the material itself. [/font]

[Petie]

[quote name='James][font=franklin gothic medium']Also, just as a quick side-note...you also know that there are times when I will disagree with a Moderator's decision and I will reverse it or change it. It is wrong to suggest that a single Moderator's judgement about a thread is somehow representative of a final say on the entire issue as far as the network is concerned.[/quote][/font][font=Verdana][color=blue]I'd just like to point out that I was only offering my opinion on why the thread remained open. I did not mean to speak for the entire staff and I'm sorry if my post came off like I was. I agree with what both James and Dagger have said. They just explained it much better than I did. I apologize if I caused any confusion with what I said.[/color][/font]