Final Fantasy Unlimited
Story: 7
I’ve been a long time fan of the Final Fantasy franchise, a series of roleplaying games in a fantasy setting, and perhaps one of the most famous roleplaying games out there. Of course which such a popular item, it would be only a matter of time before Final Fantasy would move beyond a game franchise, and so it did, with an anime OAV based on Final Fantasy V, and a valiant effort of introducing Final Fantasy to a broader, worldwide audience with a feature (computer animated) film. The anime failed hopelessly, and the movie had only moderate success. Having seen both these attempts, I was somewhat skeptical about Final Fantasy Unlimited, and worried that it would indeed turn out to be another fluke.
When the anime started in our own world (
Unfortunately a quick pace isn’t always kept as the story progresses; fortunately the story lacks fillers, but especially in the beginning there are some “monster of the day” episodes, and later on several episodes are spent on the good guys escaping a complex enemy puzzle which offers them many challenges.
On the other hand, the final episodes feel a bit rushed and could’ve drawn out a bit more, but this is no surprise, given the series was supposed to last for about 52 episodes, but was reduced to 26 due to poor ratings in Japan.
Because of this a continuation of this series is probably out of the picture as well, which is a pity, because while some import issues are concluded at the end of the show, there are quite a few loose ends that need to be wrapped up, and could fill at least another season.
Graphics: 7.5
Character design has always played an important part in the Final Fantasy games, especially the later ones, with characters which can either look completely human, yet with odd spiky hairdo’s, or completely beyond that, odd creatures and mad villains. The anime is no exception, with a generous host of different characters and designs; standing out most in this aspect are perhaps the “Summoned Beasts”, creatures conjured forth by Kaze’s Demon Gun, and the special bullets it’s equipped with: each of these creatures is computer animated, though some of these Summons still lack some detail.
As I stated earlier, Final Fantasy Unlimited was initially planned to last 52 episodes, to be aired on Japanese, even though this was cut back later; still, a lot of episodes means a lot of screentime and thus a lot of animation, and that usually means certain tricks are used to cut back on costs. A well known method is the use of stills, especially when dialogue is used, ie. By focusing on a certain bodypart which doesn’t move when talking (eyes) or by showing an image of a landscape; FFU is guilty of this one, though not by extremes. Another method is by re-using key animations, and FFU does this richly: Summon animations are re-used, and when Kaze powers his Demon Gun, the same method is shown (in one episode even at least four times!). Pity, because it tends to get annoying…
The action sequences are good though, and they make up for a lot where graphics are concerned.
Audio: 8
One of the better aspects of pretty much every Final Fantasy game out there has been the beautiful orchestral soundtrack which carries each game, a soundtrack with some familiar tracks which return with every new game, yet also always renewing itself with a brand new soundtrack. The Final Fantasy Unlimited anime is no different from that, carrying a fairly large soundtrack of different themes, personal themes, battle music, cute innocent themes – enough to set a certain atmosphere for every major scene.
Characters: 7
As I already mentioned earlier the characters in FFU are as diverse as some of the characters in the game series, and no doubt the artists have enjoyed that little bit of freedom. Some characters are fairly stereotypical: the powerful villain warrior, the seductive femme fatale villain, the genius Cid (in most final fantasy games there is a character named Cid, who usually takes on this role). However there is also room for some unexpected roles, for instance the evil Count, main villain of the show, takes the appearance of a seven year old boy.
Unfortunately that’s about all there is for most characters, they tend to stick to their clichés with no major character development. Sure, the grouchy loner becomes a bit more… socially acceptable, the innocent children become a bit more independent, and some of the villains turn out to be more than meets the eye, but don’t expect any major developments like you see in some of the games (then again, in some of the games the characters stick to their pre-determined clichés as well.. )
Overall: 7.5
Final Fantasy was a fun anime to watch. Fans of the games will not be disappointed when it comes to reference material from a good host of Final Fantasy games, however might find the storyline a bit lacking in the end. Still, it has enough action, comedy and stuff going on to keep you entertained for the full 26 episodes.
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