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“A L L T H E FA N
FAVOU R ITES
RETURNED, LOOKING
HOTTER THAN EVER.”
N
ota fanof2001’searly-eraCGmovie
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within?
Then Final Fantasy VII: Advent
Children was the answer to your
prayers. For starters, Advent Children
actually had something to do with the
videogames, its story being a direct sequel to the
events in the PS1 game, which certainly helped.It’s not like the visuals were the most important
aspect of the PS1 game, but in 1997 they were one of
its most striking and impressive features. The same
animation team, Visual Works, which was put
together specifically for that game, animated Advent
Children. And boy, CGI evolved a lot between ’97
and Advent Children’s ’05 release. Since this, the
team’s gone on to continue creating jaw-dropping
animation for Square Enix in both videogame and
movie form (FFXV’s tie-in movie, Kingsglaive, was
also its work, and of course it’s handling Final
Fantasy VII Remake’s cutscenes, which we can
confirm look amazing). Advent Children established
Visual Works as a powerhouse producing gorgeous,
stylised, fantastical animation, and perhaps SquareEnix’sownUltimateWeapon.It’sevenworkedon
the likes of Deus Ex and Tomb Raider.
Dripping in fan service, Advent Children is almost
utterly impenetrable to anyone not deeply familiar
with the lore of Final Fantasy VII, which meant that
while non-gamers could appreciate the beauty of the
animation, it bounced off a lot of people. But oh,
what fan service it was! All the fan favourites
returned, looking hotter than ever before, while also
being moodier. In some aspects it’s a bit cringey to
look back on now, as it’s just so 2005, but we can’t
help but have a grin on our faces when we rewatch
it, because of how great it is to see our Final Fantasy
looking so amazing in a full-length movie.So, who’s your favourite?
Sephiroth or Cloud? Let’s
face it, they both had to be
in this or there’d be riots.SPIN-OFFS
Our favourites returned, being just a little ‘noughties emo’