188-472: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is a 2005 Japanese adult animated science fantasy action-adventure film directed by Tetsuya Nomura , written by Kazushige Nojima , and produced by Yoshinori Kitase and Shinji Hashimoto . Developed by Visual Works and Square Enix , Advent Children is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series of media, which is based in the world and continuity of
376-430: A Famitsu reader poll for Japan's favorite video game character. In a list of the best Final Fantasy characters made by Complex , characters from Final Fantasy VII occupied seven out of the twenty places, with Sephiroth and Cloud coming third and first respectively. The character of Cloud has also influenced character design in the series, having had a profound influence on the design and portrayal of Lightning ,
564-464: A Japanese voice track in Japan, and an English voice track elsewhere. Advent Children began as a short film by Visual Works , a company used by Square to develop CGI scenes for their video games, based on Final Fantasy VII . Kazushige Nojima , who had written the script for the game, was brought on to write a 20-minute script. He decided to write "a story about Cloud and Tifa and the kids". The film
752-421: A Smile at the same time that Advent Children Complete was released. The DVD releases of Advent Children sold over 410,000 copies in Japan during their first week on sale, with roughly half of the sales coming from the limited edition. The DVD and UMD releases combined sold over 700,000 units in Japan in the first three weeks and over one million copies by January 2006. In a 2005 Oricon Japanese sales report,
940-720: A Smile novella "Case of Denzel" and its OVA adaptation On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel . He is voiced in English by Jamieson Price in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus and by Jon Root in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series and in Japanese by Banjō Ginga . Marlene ( マリン , Marin ) is the young daughter of Barret's friends, Dyne and Eleanor, and the adopted daughter of Barret. Eleanor
1128-450: A bias towards live-action and raunchy animated sitcoms, compared to early pioneers. However, the result is a new audience that is ready for narratively-sophisticated adult animated works and a new crop of creators exploring the adult animation space. This development allows creators to continue challenging the perceived limitations of animation. Many animators and adult animation fans, both international and non-Disney respectively, boycotted
1316-493: A blast by an explosive planted by Reno and Rude. Cloud chases Kadaj down and engages him in battle, ultimately subduing him. Outmatched, Kadaj opens Jenova's box and fuses with its contents, transforming into Sephiroth. He tells Cloud he will use the souls of Geostigma's deceased victims to dominate the Planet. He and Cloud then fight; throughout the encounter, Sephiroth appears to have the upper hand and ultimately impales him through
1504-665: A change of heart, he decides to help the group, even risking his life by destroying a version of himself to extract the Black Materia Sephiroth needs to summon the Meteor spell. He appears briefly in Advent Children and Final Fantasy VII Remake and as a supporting character throughout Dirge of Cerberus . Cait Sith is voiced in English by Greg Ellis in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus and by Paul Tinto in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth . He
1692-438: A façade to mask his insecurities. Nojima wanted to convey that his standoffishness could be seen as lame, and worked hard to make the interactions between the three natural. In addition to returning characters, the team decided to expand the role of minor characters and write new characters. Teruaki Sugawara, the voice director behind Kingdom Hearts , recommended Takahiro Sakurai , Cloud's Japanese voice actor, to Nomura for
1880-455: A final duel between Cloud and Sephiroth, Kadaj dies in his arms, while Loz and Yazoo die in a final attack on Cloud. The Remnants were created to represent different aspects of Sephiroth's personality: Kadaj represented his cruelty, Loz represented his strength , and Yazoo represented his allure . To fit in with the film's theme of the "next generation", they were made younger than Cloud and Sephiroth. Kadaj's original moniker during production
2068-444: A game. Still, Nomura decided against it, partially because Visual Works had no experience making a full game. The creators had no prior experience working on films, so they fell back on their knowledge of in-game movies . The film was planned to focus on the characters of Cloud and Tifa in a similar way to how other titles from Compilation of Final Fantasy VII centered on certain characters; for example, Before Crisis focuses on
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#17327768621492256-440: A general Native American motif; his tail having a flame at its the tip was to add more color. Red XIII's limited appearance in Advent Children was due to difficulties with accurately animating his hair realistically. For his action scenes, four separate CGI layers had to be created and overlapped. Red XIII is voiced in English by Liam O'Brien in Advent Children and Max Mittelman in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. He
2444-554: A group of covert operatives who work for Shinra throughout VII and later become an independent force. While part of Shinra, they were officially known as the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department. In Final Fantasy VII , several Turks serve as recurring antagonists, although they are not above forming temporary alliances with the game's group of central characters. They are also
2632-589: A guest column in Variety criticizing the Academy for the remark and how Hollywood has been treating animation. The column commented that "no one set out to diminish animated films, but it's high time we set out to elevate them." Alberto Mielgo , director of The Windshield Wiper , later gave an acceptance speech for the Oscar: "Animation is an art that includes every single art that you can imagine. Animation for adults
2820-428: A guide to how the character sounds. Following Advent Children , Cook thanked Nomura for the film he created, as she enjoyed it. Mena Suvari explained that Aerith was given a mothering feel with an ephemeral presence. For the English dub of Remake , Cody Christian (Cloud) commented on him being Burton's replacement, stating, "Steve, you paved the way. You made this character what it is and have contributed in shaping
3008-400: A guidebook entitled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Reunion Files , which contains interviews with the film's staff and information regarding the development of the film. A limited edition of the film titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Pieces was released in Japan simultaneously as Advent Children ; only 77,777 sets were produced. The edition contains various pieces of merchandise, a copy of
3196-413: A hard time dealing with straight talk. Nomura wanted Cloud and Vincent's voices to contrast with each other due to their similar personalities. He felt Vincent was older and more mature than Cloud, and as a result, he cast Shōgo Suzuki , who has a very low voice. Nomura had wanted Zack to have a "nice, upbeat voice", which influenced his decision to cast Kenichi Suzumura . In English adaptations, Cloud
3384-604: A higher visual quality than the original release, is 26 minutes longer than the film's original cut, and contains roughly one thousand revised scenes. Themes expanded in Advent Children Complete include Cloud's development, Denzel's background, and a more in-depth view of the Turks and Rufus Shinra. The film's staff wanted to add links to the other titles in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII released since
3572-401: A legacy" and that he did not want to let Burton down with his take on the character. For the next installment, Christian said that that the character differed from Remake as he aimed to explore more his sensitive side like his past or intimate relationships he is often involved. John Eric Bentley voiced Barret and did research in order to properly voice him. He was aided by the translators for
3760-470: A massive explosion that engulfs the three. Cloud has visions of his deceased friends Aerith and Zack Fair , who say that his time to join them has not yet come. He then awakens in the church, healed of his injuries and surrounded by his friends. Behind them, he sees the spirits of Aerith and Zack, smiling at him before departing to the afterlife. Aerith says to Cloud, "You see, everything's all right". He agrees: "I know. I'm not alone... not anymore". Cloud and
3948-410: A minor character, Hideki Imaizumi, the producer of Crisis Core , found such a passing use of a character to be a waste and asked Gackt whether he was interested in further involvement. Gackt was eager to continue with the character, and ended up being one of the key creative minds behind Genesis' manners and personality. Genesis' outfit became one of Gackt's commonly worn outfits during concerts. Genesis
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#17327768621494136-652: A minor role in Before Crisis , as the architect responsible for designing Mako reactors and aiding the Turks through Cait Sith. He is not seen in Advent Children , but is heard leaving a message on Cloud's cell phone. He plays a significant role in Dirge of Cerberus , where he establishes the World Regenesis Organization, which is dedicated to restoring the Planet. He also appears in the On the Way to
4324-764: A mysterious and incurable disease known as "Geostigma". Cloud is contacted through Tifa and summoned to a meeting with the Shinra Company's former president Rufus Shinra , who was presumed dead in Final Fantasy VII . Rufus asks for Cloud's help to stop Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo , who are the physical manifestation of Sephiroth's surviving spirit and seek to resurrect him using the remains of the extraterrestrial villain Jenova . Cloud refuses to help and leaves. Meanwhile, Kadaj and his colleagues are recruiting children infected with Geostigma, and Denzel falls in with
4512-459: A reaction to a shocking event on the first disc. Final Fantasy VII evokes that kind of emotional response". Steve Bauman of Computer Games Magazine called the characters "funky", saying that the characters "worked wonders" on some of the poorer dialogue. Simon Parkin of Eurogamer praised the characters' "clear motivations, desires and flaws". RPGFan generally praised the characters, especially Cloud, Tifa and Sephiroth, and said that "while on
4700-460: A sharply negative review, described the plot as "soulless" and "utterly impenetrable" to anyone who had not played the game, and Anime News Network's Santos agreed that people who had not played Final Fantasy VII would not understand the story. Mania Entertainment's John Eriani also found the plot confusing to non-players, though he liked how the characters were further explored in the film. Todd Douglass Jr. from DVD Talk , while "highly recommending"
4888-553: A similar fashion to Final Fantasy VII gamers since the story ended with Cloud saving Midgar from Sephiroth's resurrection which would threaten it again especially when the spirit of Zack Fair reminds him that he has already defeated him already. Kotaku saw the focus on the Midgar's ruins as a parallelism with psychological trauma due to how all of its survivors suffer a disease that cannot be fought with Cloud's striking weaponry on its own. The director's cut, Advent Children Complete ,
5076-477: A time. As he begins suffering from the same degradation as Genesis, he begins seeing himself as a monster and leaves Genesis, temporarily allying with Zack. Zack is eventually forced to fight and kill him, but Angeal lives on for some time through Lazard Deusericus, the former director of SOLDIER who is made a copy of him, and an animal-like copy; both die after protecting Cloud from a Shinra attack in Banora. Angeal
5264-512: Is a 2-disc set that contains several bonus features, including Last Order . Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (Limited Edition Collector's Set) was released in North America on February 20, 2007. The set included more bonus material than the previous DVD releases, including a copy of the script, several postcards with imagery from the film, and the first three stories from the On the Way to a Smile short story series. A director's cut of
5452-412: Is a fact. It's happening. Let's call it cinema. I'm very honored because this is just the beginning of what we can do with animation." They also suggested to the Academy that the category should be presented by filmmakers who respect the art of animation as cinema. Another factor is that numerous feature-length animated films have been made for older audiences or with ranges of PG-13 or more, starting in
5640-452: Is a robotic talking cat . In Final Fantasy VII , he rides atop an unnamed robotic Moogle ; in later installments in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII , he either walks by himself or rides Red XIII. As a robot, he can be rebuilt and replaced and is controlled by Reeve Tuesti, whose original intent during Final Fantasy VII was to infiltrate Cloud's group and sabotage their resistance efforts on behalf of his Shinra employers. After having
5828-536: Is a young boy who resides with Cloud, Tifa, and Marlene in the city of Edge. He first appears in Advent Children as one of many people who contracted Geostigma. He and many other sick children are lured to the Ancient City of the Cetra, where they are brought under Kadaj's control. Denzel regains his senses after Tifa protects him from Bahamut SIN during the final conflict. He is later healed of his Geostigma through
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - Misplaced Pages Continue
6016-790: Is any type of animated motion media that is catered specifically to adult interests and is mainly targeted and marketed towards adults and adolescents, as opposed to children or all-ages audiences. Animated media (includes animated films , television series , and web series ) in this medium could be considered adult for any number of reasons, which include the incorporation of toilet humour , nudity , sexual content (either explicit or suggestive), graphic violence , profanity , dark comedy , political themes, or other thematic elements inappropriate for children and/or younger viewers. Works may explore philosophical, political, or social issues. Some animated productions are noted for their complex and/or experimental storytelling and animation techniques,
6204-535: Is defeated by Cloud and his allies while trying to aid Sephiroth's plans. In Dirge of Cerberus he survived long enough to store a digital copy of himself in the worldwide network; he subsequently takes control of Weiss' body and attempts to summon Omega WEAPON to drain the Lifestream from the Planet and launch into space in search of a new world. He is stopped by Vincent with the help of Nero, who merges with Weiss and frees him from Hojo's control, destroying Hojo in
6392-570: Is destroyed, with her fate being unknown. Shalua is voiced in English by Kim Mai Guest and in Japanese by Yuu Asakawa. Angeal Hewley ( アンジール・ヒューレー , Anjīru Hyūrē ) is a SOLDIER 1st Class who is Zack Fair's friend and mentor and a close friend of Genesis and Sephiroth; he is also the original owner of the Buster Sword, and passed down the sword to him. He was produced by the same project that birthed Genesis, and after learning of his origins, he turns against Shinra and works with Genesis for
6580-467: Is explored in Dirge of Cerberus and other Compilation of Final Fantasy VII titles. Vincent is voiced in English by Steve Blum in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus and Matthew Mercer in Rebirth , and in Japanese by Shōgo Suzuki . Cid Highwind ( シド・ハイウインド , Shido Haiuindo ) is an airship pilot. He is first encountered trying to restart a rocket program which Shinra cancelled due to
6768-427: Is one of the lead members of AVALANCHE, and initially convinces Cloud to join them in their rebellion against Shinra. She helps to unlock Cloud's missing memories when they fall into the Lifestream together, and she is the only one who knows of Cloud's past. Tifa appears in all the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII titles alongside Cloud. Tifa is voiced in English by Rachael Leigh Cook in most media and Britt Baron in
6956-506: Is portrayed in multiple titles in the Compilation as a female humanoid. When Jenova originally crashed, she began infecting the Cetra with a virus, causing them to almost be wiped out. However, a small group managed to seal Jenova in a tomb, which was later excavated by Shinra. Jenova was mistaken for a Cetra, and samples from her remains were used in the experiments that created SOLDIER and Sephiroth. In both Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children , Sephiroth and Jenova aim to take control of
7144-471: Is referred to as "the Planet" in most games, and was retroactively named "Gaia" in some Square Enix promotional material. VII follows Cloud Strife , a mercenary with a troubled past who joins eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE to stop Shinra from draining the life of the Planet and using it as an energy source. As the story progresses, conflicts escalate and the group fights for the world's safety as new forces emerge. Cloud and his team eventually face off against
7332-449: Is saved by the arrival of his old comrade Vincent Valentine . Cloud then returns to the city, where Kadaj has summoned Bahamut SIN and other monsters to terrorize the population. With the help of his companions, Cloud engages and defeats the monsters. Kadaj confronts Rufus Shinra, who reveals he possesses Jenova's remains. He attempts to destroy it, but Kadaj saves it and flees the city with his companions, with Yazoo and Loz being caught in
7520-466: Is searching for a new power source for the Planet. She is instrumental in helping Cloud return to his friends and fight against Sephiroth's Remnants. Marlene is voiced in English by Grace Rolek in Advent Children , Ariel Winter in Advent Children Complete , and Brielle Milla in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. In Japanese, she is voiced by Miyū Tsuzurahara in Advent Children , Sumire Morohoshi in Advent Children Complete , and Otoha Umezaki in
7708-435: Is seen resting with Shelke during the ending. In Final Fantasy VII Lateral Biography Turks -The Kids Are Alright- , he saves a young girl from drowning and briefly encounters Tseng. Red XIII was the fourth character to be created by Nomura, who wanted a four-legged playable character in the cast despite the graphical difficulties it would pose. He was originally conceived as a member of SOLDIER. His standard name, "Red XIII",
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - Misplaced Pages Continue
7896-465: Is the former leader of the eco-terrorist group AVALANCHE, who is opposed to Shinra's use of Mako technology since he believes it to be killing Gaia. He is also the adoptive father of Marlene, the daughter of his deceased friend, Dyne. Initially, he distrusts and dislikes Cloud, believing him to be nothing more than a heartless mercenary-for-hire, but eventually changes his opinion of him. After AVALANCHE disbands, Barret chooses to continue his mission to save
8084-788: Is the last of the Cetra, also known as the Ancients, and Shinra believes she is the key to finding the fabled Promised Land. She meets Cloud during the first reactor mission, and later on he became her bodyguard. Despite Sephiroth killing her during the events of VII , Aerith's spirit retains her cognitive powers and individuality within the Lifestream. Aerith is voiced in English by Mandy Moore in Kingdom Hearts , Mena Suvari in Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts II , Andrea Bowen in Crisis Core , Dissida 012 , Mobius Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind , and Briana White in
8272-504: Is the protagonist of its prequel, Crisis Core . He also appears in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII titles Before Crisis , Last Order and Advent Children . He is the romantic hero to Aerith's heroine, and part of the mystery of Cloud's true identity. Zack is voiced in English by Rick Gomez in most appearances and by Caleb Pierce in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. The Turks ( タークス , Tākusu ) are
8460-421: Is voiced by Steve Burton . Burton was first hired to voice Cloud once a man behind Square saw his work in the 2001 film The Last Castle . Rachael Leigh Cook stated in an interview for Kingdom Hearts II that she enjoys playing Tifa and described her as "very strong physical and emotionally, but also very sensitive" and as "very multi-dimensional". In voicing the character, Cook listened to Ito's recording as
8648-474: Is voiced in English by Lance Bass in the first Kingdom Hearts , George Newbern in most media, and Tyler Hoechlin in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. He is voiced in Japanese by Toshiyuki Morikawa in most appearances and Shin-ichiro Miki in Ehrgeiz . Jenova ( ジェノバ , Jenoba ) is an extraterrestrial lifeform who crash-landed on the planet two thousand years prior to the events of VII , and
8836-574: Is voiced in English by Robin Atkin Downes in Dirge of Cerberus , Oliver Quinn in Crisis Core , and Shaun Conde in Crisis Core Reunion . AVALANCHE ( アバランチ , Abaranchi ) is an eco-terrorist organization in the world of Final Fantasy VII . It is introduced as the main rebel force against Shinra, being openly opposed to the company's Mako-based energy production, which is draining the planet of its Lifestream. Two versions of
9024-514: Is voiced in English by Josh Gilman in Crisis Core and Bill Millsap in Crisis Core Reunion , and in Japanese by Kazuhiko Inoue . Lucrecia Crescent ( ルクレツィア・クレシェント , Rukuretsia Kureshento ) is a Shinra scientist introduced in VII and an important character in Dirge of Cerberus . She worked in Nibelheim under Hojo and worked on the research into Chaos, which she injected into Vincent while he
9212-532: Is voiced in Japanese by Hideo Ishikawa . Vincent Valentine ( ヴィンセント・ヴァレンタイン , Vinsento Varentain ) is an optional party member in Final Fantasy VII , and the protagonist of Dirge of Cerberus and its mobile spin-off . Cloud and the others discover him sleeping inside a coffin in the basement of the Shinra Mansion, where he joins them in their quest to hunt down Sephiroth. Vincent reveals little about himself after his introduction, and his backstory
9400-514: Is voiced in Japanese by Masachika Ichimura in Advent Children and Kappei Yamaguchi in Remake . Yuffie Kisaragi ( ユフィ・キサラギ , Yufi Kisaragi ) is the daughter of the leader of Wutai, who feels her country has lost its former glory in the aftermath of a war with Shinra and has become a resort town. Yuffie is introduced when she ambushes Cloud and his allies in either the Gongaga jungle or
9588-529: The Final Fantasy VII Remake series, and by Tōru Ōkawa in Japanese. Professor Hojo ( 宝条 , Hōjō ) is the biological father of Sephiroth and was the head of Shinra's "Department of Science and Research" until he resigned after being attacked by Red XIII at Shinra headquarters. While studying Jenova, he infused his unborn child with its cells; the result of this was Sephiroth, who grew up to have some control over Jenova. His experiments were responsible for making Vincent immortal. In Final Fantasy VII , Hojo
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#17327768621499776-406: The Compilation . In Before Crisis , he defends a female of his species named Deneh and is subsequently captured by the Turks. In the On the Way to a Smile novella "Case of Nanaki", Red XIII struggles with the knowledge that he will outlive his friends. He also appears briefly in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus ; in the former, he aids in the fight against Bahamut SIN, and in the latter he
9964-464: The Compilation . In Final Fantasy VII , he is a mercenary employed by the eco-terrorist organization AVALANCHE. He claims to be a former member of SOLDIER, but over the course of the plot he rediscovers lost memories of his true self. Cloud is voiced in English by Steve Burton in most media and Cody Christian in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. He is voiced in Japanese by Takahiro Sakurai . Barret Wallace ( バレット・ウォーレス , Baretto Wōresu )
10152-412: The Final Fantasy VII Remake series. Shalua Rui ( シャルア・ルーイ , Sharua Rūi ) is a minor character in Before Crisis and a supporting character in Dirge of Cerberus . When her sister Shelke was taken by Shinra for their Deepground unit, she went in search of Shelke and joined AVALANCHE in hopes that they would lead her to her sister. During her time there, she received grave injuries, resulting in
10340-433: The Final Fantasy VII Remake series. She is voiced in Japanese by Ayumi Ito in most appearances, Yōko Asada in Ehrgeiz (arcade), and Yūko Minaguchi in Ehrgeiz (PlayStation). Aerith Gainsborough ( エアリス・ゲインズブール , Earisu Geinzubūru , originally romanized as "Aeris Gainsborough") is a resident of Midgar who works as a flower peddler on its streets. She is sought after by Shinra's research department because she
10528-493: The Final Fantasy VII Remake series. She is voiced in Japanese by Maaya Sakamoto . Red XIII ( レッドXIII , Reddo Sātīn , pronounced "Red Thirteen") , birth name Nanaki ( ナナキ ) , is a powerful and intelligent member of an unnamed feline species with the ability to speak. In Final Fantasy VII , he temporarily joins Cloud's team after they rescue him from Hojo at the Shinra building. Red XIII believed that his father, Seto,
10716-640: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System to the PlayStation console, the setting was altered. Elements from the original concept were later used in Final Fantasy VIII and Parasite Eve . The game's producer, Hironobu Sakaguchi , chose character designer Tetsuya Nomura , who had previously worked on monster designs for Final Fantasy VI , to design the main cast. Sakaguchi chose Nomura after being amused by
10904-407: The music video for the song "Sonata of Temptation" by Korean singer Ivy recreated the fight between Tifa and Loz. The director of the video, Hong Jung-ho, stated that it was just a parody of the film but could not get Square Enix's official permission. That December, Square Enix launched a lawsuit against Fantom Entertainment (Ivy's agency) and Hong, asking for ₩ 160,000,000 total. In April 2008,
11092-751: The "Best Anime Feature" at the 2007 American Anime Awards . The original release was one of the best-selling animated films in Japan and the United States in its release year. The Complete release was noted as driving a large increase in sales of the PlayStation 3 console in its release week. By May 2009, the DVD and Universal Media Disc releases had sold over 4.1 million copies worldwide. Advent Children (the Complete version) returned to Japanese theaters from January 19, 2024 to February 1, 2024, and returned to stateside theaters on February 21, 2024, to promote
11280-582: The 1997 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII . Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was released on DVD and Universal Media Disc with Japanese voice acting in Japan on September 14, 2005, and on April 25, 2006 with English voice acting in North America and the UK. Advent Children takes place two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII and focuses on the appearance of a trio that kidnaps children infected with an unexplained disease called Geostigma. Final Fantasy VII hero Cloud Strife , suffering from
11468-546: The Academy over remarking that animation was synonymous with "kids" during the 94th Academy Awards in 2022. The award for the Best Animated Feature was presented by three actresses who portrayed the Disney princess characters in live-action remakes of their respective animated films: Lily James ( Cinderella ), Naomi Scott ( Aladdin ), and Halle Bailey ( The Little Mermaid ) . While introducing
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#173277686214911656-633: The Blu-ray was #2 on the American Nielsen VideoScan Blu-ray bestseller list, with 274,774 units sold. During 2009, the regular version of Advent Children Complete sold 49,000 units in Japan according to Oricon, ranking second in their category "Animation/Special Effects Blu-ray Discs". It ranked eighth in the category "Overall Blu-ray Discs, by Yen" with 310 million yen (US$ 3.4 million) sold in 2009. Gaming sites Gamasutra and Kotaku cited Advent Children Complete as one of
11844-553: The DVD was at the tenth spot. As of June 2006, the DVD and UMD releases combined sold over 2.4 million units worldwide, with 1 million units sold in Japan, 1.3 million in North America, and 100,000 in Europe. By May 2009, just before the release of Advent Children Complete , the film had sold over 4.1 million copies across all versions. On its first day of release, over 100,000 Blu-ray copies of Advent Children Complete were sold in Japan across all three versions. During its initial week,
12032-591: The English version of the film took place on April 3, 2006, at the Arclight Theatre in Los Angeles . The event was promoted via email to those who subscribed to the Square Enix mailing list . The screening included trailers of the video games Kingdom Hearts II and Dirge of Cerberus , and featured appearances from the English language cast and the Japanese developers. The film's DVD release
12220-834: The Heron , officially rated PG-13 by the MPA . For the 22-year history since the inauguration , it became the first adult animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 96th Academy Awards ; all the previous winners were either rated G or PG. Characters of the Final Fantasy VII series#Rufus Shinra Final Fantasy VII , a role-playing video game developed by Square , now Square Enix , and originally released in 1997, features many fictional characters in both major and minor roles. VII has been followed by multiple sequels and prequels, grouped into
12408-426: The Japanese version, who gave him the context of the scenes he had to record. For him, one of the biggest challenges in his work was "representation", claiming that Barret was more than a one-dimensional character. Cloud Strife ( クラウド・ストライフ , Kuraudo Sutoraifu ) is the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII , Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children , the Final Fantasy VII Remake series, and a recurring character through
12596-563: The Lifestream. Genesis was taken in by Deepground, who gave him the codename "G" and used him to create the Tsviets. Refusing to follow along with the Tsviets' plans after their rebellion, he seals himself in a cave until he is needed. In the secret ending of Dirge of Cerberus , Genesis awakes, determined to defend the planet. Genesis was modeled on the character's Japanese voice actor, singer Gackt , who composed and performed " Redemption " for Dirge of Cerberus . While originally intended as
12784-399: The Midgar scenario, despite not being properly introduced until a flashback Cloud experiences. Vice noted that Cloud sees the future of Aerith in the original 1997 game, leaving her fate unknown to returning fans. The main characters were adjusted in various ways for Remake . Rather than the "cool and collected" portrayal of Cloud seen in other games, Remake depicts his apathetic attitude as
12972-410: The Planet by trying to find a new energy source to replace Mako. Barret is voiced in English by Beau Billingslea in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus and John Eric Bentley in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. He is voiced in Japanese by Masahiro Kobayashi . Tifa Lockhart ( ティファ・ロックハート , Tifa Rokkuhāto , originally romanized as "Tifa Lockheart") is a childhood friend of Cloud. She
13160-702: The Promised Land, as well as Shinra's military in battling the WEAPONs. Rufus was thought to have died when his office in Shinra Headquarters was hit by an energy blast from Diamond WEAPON, but Advent Children reveals that he survived but was greatly injured. The On the Way to a Smile novella "Case of Shinra" depicts his survival, as well as his plans for the future and how he contracts Geostigma. He appears in Advent Children in possession of Jenova's remains and claiming that he intends to repair
13348-506: The Seoul District Court ruled that the video was considered plagiarism and ordered Fantom Entertainment and Hong to pay the fine. The video was subsequently banned from airing on Korean television . OverClocked ReMix 's four-disc Final Fantasy VII unofficial tribute album , Voices of the Lifestream , contains one disc remixing music from the film. Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama has stated that he felt
13536-442: The Shinra Company should be run causes his father to attempt to bar him from controlling the company. As shown in Before Crisis , Rufus was anonymously supplying information to AVALANCHE with the intent of having them kill his father, but this plan failed and he is placed under house arrest. However, following his father's death, he claims control over the company and begins running it his way. He later leads Shinra's efforts to find
13724-470: The Tsviets, an elite who were infused with genetic material from Genesis Rhapsodos. The Tsviets' original leaders, the Restrictors, were overthrown when the Tsviets used one of their own who had yet to be fully indoctrinated to kill their leader. During the events of Dirge of Cerberus , Hojo possesses their leader and manipulates them into attempting to awaken OMEGA, a means for the Lifestream to escape
13912-402: The Turks, Crisis Core on Zack Fair, and Dirge of Cerberus on Vincent. Nomura says the film was, in its first manifestation, only going to be 20 minutes long. The original story featured someone requesting a message to be sent to Cloud; the message is relayed to Cloud through several children. When the message finally reaches Cloud, it is revealed who the messenger is. Nomura very much liked
14100-404: The Way to a Smile story, "Case of Barrett", involves Barret and his struggles to find a new energy source for the world's people. To coincide with the release of Advent Children Complete in 2009, four more stories were written: "Case of Red XIII", "Case of Yuffie", "Case of Shinra", and "Case of Lifestream - Black & White". All the stories were released together as a book titled On the Way to
14288-406: The action sequences, and Felperin of Variety felt they were the only point to the film, which they felt focused entirely on the technical aspects of the action. The music received mixed reviews; Eriani of Mania Entertainment heavily praised it, as did Santos of Anime News Network, but 1UP.com's Mielke called it "a bit sappy". Douglass Jr. from DVD Talk concluded that Advent Children "is pretty much
14476-539: The actions his assistant Shera took out of concern for the safety of the rocket. He blames Shera for the incident as he does not believe her concerns were justified, and verbally abuses her. However, her concerns regarding the oxygen tanks are proven to be correct when an explosion temporarily traps Cid during a later successful attempt to launch the rocket against Meteor. As a result, Cid comes to forgive her. Cid also appears in Before Crisis , Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus . In Advent Children , he briefly rejoins
14664-472: The actual Sephiroth died five years before the game, manipulates and tortures Cloud over the course of Final Fantasy VII , and kills Aerith at the Forgotten City. Cloud ultimately destroys him at the end of the game, but he returns in Advent Children after being reborn, only to be defeated again by Cloud. Sephiroth also appears in almost every title in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII . Sephiroth
14852-425: The air, mirroring the scene in the game where he performs the same action. During the same year, Advent Children Complete was released in North America on June 2, and in the UK on July 27. The North American and European versions come with a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII rather than a demo. The releases in all regions also feature an animated piece entitled "On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel", as well as
15040-434: The antagonists of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children . Known as "Remnants", they are manifestations of Sephiroth's will, driven to find samples of their "mother" Jenova to trigger Sephiroth's resurrection and enact vengeance upon the world. The three frequently come into conflict with the remains of Shinra as well as Cloud. Eventually, Kadaj is successful in merging with Jenova's cells, triggering Sephiroth's resurrection. After
15228-480: The best characters in both the Final Fantasy series and video games in general by both critics and fans. Reader and critic lists on gaming site IGN have all placed them high, with one reader poll in 2014 having multiple VII characters dominating a list of the top ten characters in the series as a whole. Sephiroth remains one of the most popular villains in video game history, unanimously voted number one by
15416-410: The category, Bailey stated that animated films are "formative experiences as kids who watch them," as James put it, "So many kids watch these movies over and over, over and over again." Scott added: "I see some parents who know exactly what we're talking about." The remarks sparked controversy and with those working in the animation industry describing them as infantilizing the medium and perpetuating
15604-429: The character models and graphical style of Advent Children , which by that point had been developed using ten-year-old technology, the team decided to create new designs and models: Nomura wished to balance the realism of Advent Children with cartoon stylization. Nomura was in charge of the revamped main character designs, while designer Roberto Ferrari was in charge of designs for secondary characters. Character modeling
15792-498: The city of Midgar . Since the end of the game, the survivors of Midgar founded the new city of Edge, where Cloud and his childhood friend Tifa Lockhart now run a courier service and are the caretakers of an orphan Denzel and the adopted daughter of Barret Wallace , Marlene . Out of guilt for failing to save Aerith Gainsborough , Cloud has recently moved out and isolated himself from his friends. The story also portrays that many people, including Cloud and Denzel, are infected with
15980-491: The controller of the robotic cat Cait Sith. In Final Fantasy VII , Reeve originally worked against AVALANCHE until deciding to aid them in their quest against Sephiroth: feeling repentant about his role, he aids the group through Cait Sith. He is temporarily arrested after Rufus' apparent death, but is released in time to organize an evacuation of Midgar's population before the arrival of Meteor. He also informs Elmyra Gainsborough, Aerith's adoptive mother, of her death. Reeve plays
16168-445: The core narrative around which many of the series' stories are built. Other characters include the Turks, a covert group which originally worked for Shinra. The original characters were designed by Tetsuya Nomura , who had done monster designs for Final Fantasy VI and was chosen for the role after his designs impressed producer Hironobu Sakaguchi . Nomura was responsible for many of the characters and their stories. The scenario for
16356-574: The country. The DVD ranked a "surprise" #2 during its first week on the American Nielsen VideoScan sales charts after being released in North America. Nielsen's "Top Selling Anime Releases of 2006" report had Advent Children ranked first, and the 2006 report by the Japan External Trade Organization also ranked the film as the best-selling Japanese anime DVD in the United States. In the 2007 list,
16544-483: The damage Shinra had caused to Gaia. In Advent Children , Rufus uses a wheelchair and covers himself with a white sheet, but these are later shown to be a façade while he was holding Jenova's remains. While not seen in Dirge of Cerberus except in a flashback, it is hinted that he is secretly funding the WRO (World Regenesis Organization). Rufus is voiced in English by Wally Wingert in Advent Children and Josh Bowman in
16732-542: The death of his mother, which inspired him to create a realistic death for Aerith rather than a "Hollywood" sacrificial death. The "dark" theme described by Nomura is continued throughout the Compilation , with characters such as Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the Tsviets in Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII . Kitase stated that voice acting was one of
16920-432: The designs [he'd] tell people the character details [he'd] thought up, or write them down on a separate sheet of paper". Nomura also created Zack Fair, who was a late addition to the cast meant to add depth to Cloud and Aerith's relationship, and came up with the name for Red XIII, wanting an "interesting" name that combined a color and a number. Although the game was Nomura's favorite Final Fantasy project, he felt that it
17108-447: The director of Before Crisis , to create a game focusing on the Turks. With Advent Children following works, the cast was redesigned. While designing the characters, the staff discovered that it was impossible to translate the Final Fantasy VII designs into the film. Therefore, some identifying characteristics had to be discarded. Cloud's redesign was a combination of eight different designs, from his super deformed appearance in
17296-620: The end of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII , as the staff still had more ideas, it marked "the end of the Advent Children saga" as there would be no more re-releases or extended versions. Later, Advent Children Complete was released in Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 8, 2021 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment . Last Order: Final Fantasy VII is an original video animation directed by Morio Asaka , written by Kazuhiko Inukai, and animated by Madhouse . It depicts an alternate rendition of two flashbacks found within Final Fantasy VII . It
17484-408: The end of the narrative has Cloud appreciating the victory thanks to his "pillars". While Cloud is never addressed as a God, he instead has to protect God's peace as Sephiroth instead plays the role of Satan as well as his own Shadow with Cloud having to surpass him in the narrative. The characters of Final Fantasy VII and the Compilation have remained highly popular, often being cited as some of
17672-457: The evening, but they are not generally pornographic or obscene. AdWeek called adult animation "animated projects aimed at grown-ups, not kids." They also focus on issues that adults handle, and have cheeky, and occasionally crass, humor "that has no limits—bouncing between funny and offensive," while evoking a "balance of reality and fantasy". They may also contain violence or sexual themes. International animators and filmmakers were among
17860-498: The events leading up to his becoming afflicted with Geostigma, and how he came under the care of Tifa and Cloud. "Case of Denzel" was adapted into On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel , a short OVA animated by A-1 Pictures and directed by Shinji Ishihara , that was released with Advent Children Complete . The second short story, "Case of Tifa", is Tifa's account of the events following Meteor's destruction and her life with Cloud, overlapping in part with Denzel's story. A third On
18048-435: The expansion of Cloud's battle against Sephiroth. Douglass also found the addition of On the Way to a Smile - Episode: Denzel to be a welcome edition, though he felt that the bonus features as a whole were underwhelming, belying the "Complete" title. Yoon of Joystiq thought that the new scenes helped give more depth to Cloud's development, to the point of "humanizing" him, though he felt the change in pacing for some scenes made
18236-489: The film an "A−", said the quality and clarity of the CG visuals were "genuinely amazing". Anime News Network writer Carlo Santos praised the animation while awarding the film a "B", calling it "outstanding". About.com 's Roger Altizer, while giving the film overall 2 and a half stars out of 5, cited the visuals as one of its few positive points. The film's plot was generally criticized as confusing; Leslie Felperin of Variety , in
18424-450: The film arrangements cover a variety of musical styles, including orchestral , choral , classical piano , and rock music ; Variety noted that the styles vary between "sparse piano noodlings, pop-metal thrashings, and cloying power ballads". The 2005 soundtrack album Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Original Soundtrack collects 26 tracks of music from the film on two discs. Square Enix published it on September 28, 2005. In addition to
18612-587: The film showed "battles that have not been achievable in FF so far", and so tried to design the battle system for Final Fantasy XIII to create cinematic battles like the film. Cloud's design from the film is available as an alternate costume for Cloud in the crossover fighting games Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate . The reveal trailer for Sephiroth as downloadable content in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate recreates
18800-417: The film that fans all over the world have been waiting for"; RPGamer's Beckett said that "the film feels very much like a love letter to the fans of Final Fantasy VII "; and IGN's Carle summed up the film as "glorious, beautiful, well-executed fan service". Destructoid noted there was a message within the writing of the film regarding the characters' lives in Midgar, leading them to move on with their lives in
18988-411: The film's children, as they represent the "next generation". The music of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was composed by Nobuo Uematsu , Keiji Kawamori, Kenichiro Fukui , and Tsuyoshi Sekito , and arranged by Fukui, Sekito, Kawamori, Shirō Hamaguchi , and Kazuhiko Toyama . Nomura would make some changes and have the composers re-record the piece upon hearing each track. The end theme, "Calling",
19176-492: The film's pace and context, viewers were not given enough time to get to know the characters. These sentiments were echoed by John Eriani of Mania Entertainment, who particularly faulted the lack of character names or explanations of the villains' motives. Chris Carle of IGN was critical of the lack of motivation for those who were not familiar with the series, but praised both the English and Japanese voice acting. Michael Beckett of RPGamer, while generally less than impressed by
19364-685: The film's release, Square Enix serialized the web novel "On the Way to a Smile" written by Kazushige Nojima on the Japanese Advent Children website on September 5, 2005, which was later released with "Episode: Tifa" by Shueisha in a 118-page book about the film's story titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Prologue Book on September 14, 2005. On September 8, 2005, Square Enix premiered the movie in Japan at Virgin Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Tokyo. Following
19552-417: The film, entitled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete was released on the Blu-ray format. The new edition of the film was released in Japan on April 16, 2009. A separate version was sold that included a demo of Final Fantasy XIII . Both editions included the first HD trailers of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII , though the third edition without the extra videos or demos
19740-449: The film, praised Cloud's character development in particular. About.com 's Altizer summarized the plot and dialogue as "weak", and IGN 's Chris Carle, in their 9 out of 10 reviews, felt that the plot was just an excuse to get to the next action sequence. The story digest "Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII ", included with the DVD to explain the plot of Final Fantasy VII , was described by Anime News Network's Santos as "just as confusing as
19928-425: The film. This version of the film included a new ending theme, "Safe and Sound", by Kyosuke Himuro and My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way . "Water" was replaced with a new song—"Anxious Heart". Tracks on the album included new versions of "The Chase of Highway", "Fight On!", "Sign", "Advent: One-Winged Angel", and "On the Way to a Smile". A larger album, Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete: Reunion Tracks ,
20116-709: The final battle between him and Cloud from the film, and several songs from the film appear as part of the Sephiroth DLC pack. As part of the update, the Final Smash of Cloud's Advent Children costume was changed to Omnislash Ver. 5. The film's storyline was recreated as part of the 2023 mobile game Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis . Nia DaCosta, director of The Marvels (2023), said that she cited Advent Children in her pitch for her film. Adult animation Adult animation , also known as mature animation , and infrequently as adult-oriented animation ,
20304-451: The finest role-playing experience available on the PSP, but also one of the best Japanese RPGs in years". Ryan Clements, writing for IGN, was pleased by the story's focus on Zack and his interactions with other characters rather than a grand narrative. Gerard Villorria of GameSpy was also positive, saying that exploring the relationships between old characters was "a key element", while finding
20492-436: The first story, "Case of Denzel", was released in a serialized form on the official Japanese Advent Children website. "Case of Denzel" is told indirectly from the perspective of Denzel, who has requested an interview with Reeve Tuesti in the hopes that he may become part of Reeve's newly formed World Regenesis Organization, an army devoted to rebuilding the Planet. Denzel tells his life story, including how he became an orphan,
20680-462: The forests south of Junon, where she is known as "Mystery Ninja". If the player defeats her in combat and then chooses the correct series of dialogue choices, she introduces herself and joins the player's party. However, once in Wutai Village, Yuffie steals the party's Materia and hides, but is kidnapped by the lecherous Don Corneo, a Midgar crime lord. When the group rescues Yuffie, she returns
20868-525: The former as a direct-to-DVD film. The first trailer for the film was featured in the international version of the video game Final Fantasy X-2 , released in February 2004. The trailer used a motion capture that was altered in the final film. Advent Children was initially scheduled for a September 13, 2005 release in North America and a September 14 in Japan, but the North American release date
21056-483: The game to his more realistic appearance in the film. The difficulties in making Sephiroth led the staff to reduce his appearances in the film. It took them two years to develop and refine his look. Nozue also had difficulty developing a framework for Tifa's body that was "balanced, yet showed off her feminine qualities". Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo were designed to be a manifestations of Sephiroth's spirit—his cruelty, strength , and allure respectively. In contrast to Sephiroth,
21244-420: The game to his more realistic appearance in the film. The difficulties in making Sephiroth led the staff to reduce his appearances in the film; it took them two years to develop and refine his look. Nozue also strugled to develop a framework for Tifa's body that was "balanced, yet showed off her feminine qualities". For Dirge of Cerberus , the Tsviets were designed with the idea of creating a sense of balance for
21432-451: The game's antagonist, Sephiroth , to stop him from destroying the Planet. Other important characters include Aerith Gainsborough , a flower seller who becomes a good friend to Cloud; Zack Fair , Cloud's friend, a former soldier of Shinra and the protagonist of Crisis Core ; and Vincent Valentine , a man made immortal as a result of Shinra's experiments and the protagonist of Dirge of Cerberus . The conflict between Cloud and Sephiroth forms
21620-472: The group after being attracted by their promises of a cure. Loz follows Tifa and Marlene to Aerith's church, where they are searching for Cloud, and attacks them. Tifa is knocked unconscious in the fight, and Loz kidnaps Marlene. The abducted children are taken to the ruins of the Forgotten City, where Kadaj embraces them as brethren and announces his intention for them to be reunited with Jenova. When Cloud arrives to rescue them, Kadaj's gang overpowers him, but he
21808-497: The large number of new characters a little confusing. Crisis Core ' s characters were generally praised. GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd said that, despite new and familiar characters appearing, it was the further-explored characters of Zack and Sephiroth that he found himself sympathising with: "The way their personal stories weave in and out of each other—and set the stage for the events in Final Fantasy VII —makes Crisis Core not just
21996-456: The late-1990s with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut , and for those future adult animated films including The Triplets of Belleville , Persepolis , Waltz with Bashir , Chico and Rita , The Wind Rises , Anomalisa , My Life as a Courgette , The Breadwinner , Loving Vincent , Isle of Dogs , I Lost My Body , and Flee . Most of them were nominated in various categories , though none have won until The Boy and
22184-601: The latter with many distinct styles have defined such unique artistry. Adult animation is typically defined as animation that is aimed at an adult audience. It is also described as something that "formative youths should stay far, far away from" or has adult humor and comes in various styles, but especially sitcoms and comedies. Some have stated that it refers to animations with "adult themes and situations", which uses "explicit language" and make jokes that adults, and occasionally teens, are "more likely to understand" than others. On television, such animations often run in
22372-416: The launch of the video game Final Fantasy VII Rebirth . Advent Children takes place two years following the events of the 1997 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII , during which the antagonist Sephiroth attempted to absorb the Lifestream, the lifeblood and soul of the Planet, and be reborn as a god. He was defeated by Cloud Strife and his companions , but his final spell, Meteor, destroyed
22560-481: The live broadcast; some speculations suggested that the speech played a role in the decision to not broadcast the award. The winner for the Best Animated Short award was The Windshield Wiper , a multilingual Spanish-American film which is considered adult animated, while another nominee in three categories: Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature Film , and Best International Feature Film ,
22748-409: The loss of her right eye and arm and massive internal damage. This incident prompted her to leave AVALANCHE for good. In Dirge of Cerberus , she is part of the World Regenesis Organization, and is responsible for saving Vincent after he is overcome by the power of Chaos. She is eventually sent into a coma while she is helping Vincent and Shelke escape and her life support mechanism, her artificial arm,
22936-478: The main reasons why sales of the PlayStation 3 video game console radically increased during the film's first week of release. Advent Children has received mixed reviews. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , the film received an approval rating of 50% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The computer-animated graphics were generally praised; 1UP.com 's James Mielke, who awarded
23124-437: The movie" and of no help in explaining the plot to anyone who had not already played the game, though Carle of IGN felt it was helpful to those who had not played the game in a while. The action scenes were generally praised. RPGamer's Michael Beckett, while giving the film a 4 out of 5, lauded the film's fighting scenes, calling them "mesmerizing" and the primary focus of the film. Anime News Network's Santos also heavily praised
23312-470: The multimedia series Compilation of Final Fantasy VII . These include the 2004 mobile game prequel Before Crisis , the 2005 movie sequel Advent Children , the 2006 shooter spin-off sequel Dirge of Cerberus , and the 2007 action game prequel Crisis Core . Other media include spin-off books and the original video animation Last Order . The setting of Final Fantasy VII has been described as industrial or post-industrial science fiction . It
23500-433: The new characters and their backstories "equally interesting". In regards to remake, IGN called its "emotional arcs". Despite noting his antisocial attitudes in the remake, IGN and GameSpot commented that Cloud is the character who has the most notable arc in Remake , with Cody Christian 's performance helping to improve his appeal. The idea that there are four characters with Sephiroth's name led VG247 to note
23688-753: The notables of adult animation works: Some television channels and their segments or blocks that focused on broadcasting adult animation: Several highly-acclaimed adult animated films and television series have received substantial recognition from critics. Thanks to Bakshi's Fritz the Cat , the film influenced animators and filmmakers over the course of the late-20th century and into the 21st century, catering such important artistic and narrative structures with mature subject matter. Conversely, several works have been largely ignored by many detractors for their depiction of graphic subject matter and sensitive topics, such as violence, race, gender, and sexuality. They still show
23876-429: The old ones have a chance to shine". He was also pleased with Vincent's portrayal and development in the title. Rob Fahey of Eurogamer felt that the focus on characters that were secondary or optional in the original was a weak point of the game, and that those not familiar with the original game would possibly feel lost. GameSpot's Greg Mueller praised the game's focus on Vincent's origins and development, despite finding
24064-462: The organization existed: the first acted as the antagonists of Before Crisis , while the second featured many of the protagonists of VII . While the first version was indirectly destroyed by the actions of their leader, Shinra eventually crushed the movement completely and destroyed Sector 7 of Midgar. Among its notable members were: Reeve Tuesti ( リーブ・トゥエスティ , Rību Tuesuti ) is the former head of Shinra's "Department of Urban Development", and
24252-435: The original Jenova was a hostile region of the brain that would awaken in people possessing certain genes. The name "Jenova" was to have been inherited by a book written by the Cetra on the subject. While Jenova's remains in Advent Children are called a "head", this is not technically accurate, as the term was used because developers couldn't think of a more suitable name. One of the ideas discussed for Sephiroth's resurrection
24440-401: The original film. This version has more violence, specifically blood during the fights, as the staff wanted to bring a "dirtier" look to the film, with characters' faces and clothes getting darker and dirtier throughout the battles. Additionally, the fight between Cloud and Sephiroth was expanded by several minutes and included a scene in which Sephiroth impales Cloud on his sword and holds him in
24628-502: The original game was written by Sakaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima . Nomura, Kitase and Nojima have been involved in other titles in the Compilation . The characters of VII have met with positive reception in contemporary and modern reviews, while their portrayal in the Compilation titles has been mixed: while Crisis Core was generally praised, the focus on secondary characters in Dirge of Cerberus drew mixed opinions from some, while their appearance in Advent Children
24816-414: The original script, and it became the foundation of the final version. He decided to make the project longer and grander in scope when the early word of the film generated great interest among Final Fantasy VII fans, most of whom wanted something feature-length. The film's length was expanded to 100 minutes. Takeshi Nozue and Nomura, who had first worked together on the video game Kingdom Hearts , split
25004-420: The overall story, said that it "[provides] some interesting insights into a few of the less-developed characters of the game, though Cloud receives most of the attention and development as the story unfolds". Opinions on the characters of Dirge of Cerberus were again mixed to positive. IGN's Jeremy Dunham was fairly positive, saying that the new characters "go through quite a bit of development and even some of
25192-446: The party to fight against Bahamut SIN. In Dirge of Cerberus , he aids the World Regenesis Organization in launching an attack on Deepground headquarters, and later in fighting Omega WEAPON. Cid is voiced in English by Chris Edgerly in most media and J. Michael Tatum in Rebirth , and in Japanese by Kazuhiro Yamaji . Zack Fair ( ザックス・フェア , Zakkusu Fea ) is a minor character in Final Fantasy VII who appears in flashbacks ; he
25380-520: The planet and use it to roam through space until they find another world to build on. In Advent Children , Jenova's remains are acquired by Rufus, which the Remnants hope to use to resurrect Sephiroth. Jenova is also responsible for the disease Geostigma, which infects those who came into contact with the tainted Lifestream after Sephiroth was defeated. Jenova's original forms during VII ' s development were very different from her final incarnation;
25568-434: The planet during times of catastrophe. Although one of the members, Shelke, is rescued from the group, the others are killed, although Weiss' body is rescued by Genesis and transported somewhere. The Tsviets are: Genesis Rhapsodos ( ジェネシス ・ラプソードス , Jeneshisu Rapusōdosu ) is first seen in Dirge of Cerberus and acts as the main antagonist of Crisis Core . He was a product of the same program that created Sephiroth, but
25756-405: The playable characters and protagonists of the Final Fantasy VII prequel, Before Crisis , which focuses on their actions in the years leading up to the events of the original game. The player chooses from eleven unnamed Turks, each with his or her own backstory, personality, strengths and weaknesses. With one exception, each Turk is identified based on their weapon and sex. Among important Turks in
25944-649: The plot hard to follow. Kotaku writer AJ Glasser, however, summed up the director's cut as "26 extra minutes and it still doesn't make any sense", saying that the new scenes did little to improve the plot of the film itself. Advent Children received the Honorary Maria Award at the Sitges Film Festival on October 15, 2005. The film was also awarded "best anime feature" at the 2007 American Anime Awards . IGN placed it second in their "Top 10 Straight-to-DVD Animated Movies" list. In 2007,
26132-568: The premiere, from September 10 to September 16, Square Enix screened the movie at Virgin Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Toho Cinemas Nagoya Bay City in Nagoya, and Toho Cinemas Nijou in Kyoto. The movie screened once per day at 6:30 p.m.. In order to view the movie, fans had to receive an invite from Square Enix by already being registered to the official "Shinra Company" online fan club on Square Enix's website. In 2006, SoftBank Creative published
26320-407: The premise not being unique, it was "Cloud's interactions with other characters, especially between him and [Sephiroth] which make the story so special". Thierry Nguyen of Computer Gaming World found that both the story and character development were strong, saying that as the players progressed through the game, "these characters intrigue you, and you get so attached to them that you might jump as
26508-461: The process. Hojo also briefly appears in Before Crisis , Last Order , and Crisis Core . He is voiced in English by Paul Eiding in Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core and James Sie in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series. He is voiced in Japanese by Nachi Nozawa in Dirge of Cerberus , Last Order and Crisis Core , and Shigeru Chiba in Remake . Kadaj ( カダージュ , Kadāju ) , Loz ( ロッズ , Rozzu ) and Yazoo ( ヤズー , Yazū ) are
26696-491: The regular edition of the DVD ranked twelfth on the bestseller list in Japan for the entire year after one week of sales, and the limited edition ranked fifteenth. The two editions ranked third and fourth on the animated feature sublist. The English language DVD sold over 960,000 units, which translated to almost US$ 15 million in revenue by the fifth week of release. In the United States, it sold over 832,000 copies by May 2006, and eventually grossed over US$ 58 million in DVD sales in
26884-610: The regular release, a limited edition was produced containing alternative cover art and a booklet of credits and lyrics. The soundtrack album reached position #15 on the Japanese Oricon music charts and stayed on the charts for ten weeks. A mini-album entitled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete Mini Album was released on April 10, 2009, to coincide with the release of the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete version of
27072-535: The remake still had its own mysteries that original players would not understand while the title. Siliconera described this incarnation of the antagonist as haunting, due to how he often appears within Cloud's hallucinations across the plot. Still, the site noticed that despite being a remake, the game explored different situations of the narrative similar to the films known as Rebuild of Evangelion that also retold an anime but with multiple changes. The portrayal of
27260-408: The role of directing, as Nomura felt this would add depth to the film. In designing the battle scenes, they first discussed the setting and layout. They then went to the staff with their ideas, deciding which were the best and developing them further. The battle between Cloud's group and Bahamut was the most difficult to design due to the size of the area and the number of objects the staff had to add to
27448-486: The role than he did when he voiced Cloud for Kingdom Hearts . The Japanese voice actors remained the same, with Sakurai being surprised by this younger take on Cloud, having not voiced in the original PlayStation video game. Sakurai performed alongside Ayumi Ito , who voiced Tifa, for a few scenes. These recordings left him feeling "deflated", as the "exchanges he has with Tifa can be pretty painful", Sakurai commenting that Cloud—whom he empathized with as his voice actor—has
27636-440: The role. Nomura had originally asked Sakurai to play the protagonist of The Bouncer , Sion Barzahd, but found that his voice best suited Cloud after hearing him speak. Sakurai received the script without any accompanying visuals, and first arrived for recording under the impression that he would be voicing a character other than Cloud. As a sequel to the highly popular Final Fantasy VII , Sakurai felt greater pressure performing
27824-529: The same disease, goes to rescue the children. He discovers that the trio plan to resurrect Sephiroth using the remains of the extraterrestrial villain Jenova, and he and his compatriots from the game fight to stop them. The film's voice acting cast includes Takahiro Sakurai , Ayumi Ito , and Toshiyuki Morikawa in Japanese, and Steve Burton , Rachael Leigh Cook , and George Newbern in English. An extended version, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete ,
28012-416: The scene to keep it realistic. The alternating positions of the characters, including Bahamut itself, took the staff a long time to complete to give the scene a sense of flow. Nomura said that the team decided not to worry about making the fight sequences realistic, as they felt this would restrict their ability to give the film a "cool look". Therefore, they worked by creating their "own rules". Motion capture
28200-422: The script, the original Final Fantasy VII game, a strategy guidebook for the game, and a disc containing the original video animation (OVA) Last Order: Final Fantasy VII . Nomura stated that meaning of the name Advent Pieces was that "advent" means "the recognition and commemoration of something", while "pieces" was added to bring special meaning to the release. A special one-time-only theatrical screening of
28388-412: The series are: Sephiroth ( セフィロス , Sefirosu ) is the main antagonist of Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children . He was originally a member of Shinra's SOLDIER elite, but he went insane after learning his true origins. This prompts him to abandon his humanity and attempt to attain godhood by absorbing the Lifestream, the source of life on the planet. He, or rather JENOVA using his likeness since
28576-470: The shoulder. He asks Cloud to tell him what he most cherishes so that he can have the pleasure of taking it away. Cloud replies that he cherishes everything and then uses his Limit Break, Omnislash Ver. 5, to defeat Sephiroth. Sephiroth's spirit departs, leaving behind the mortally wounded Kadaj. As he lies dying in Cloud's arms, a healing rain starts falling across the land, curing the people of their Geostigma. Yazoo and Loz appear and confront Cloud; setting off
28764-454: The sick children celebrate by bathing in the rainwater. During the credits, Cloud is seen driving his motorcycle to parts unknown. Advent Children Complete adds a new post-credit scene where Zack's Buster Sword is seen in Aerith's church while flowers from the church are seen blooming at the location of Zack's last stand, having been placed there by Cloud. Advent Children was released with
28952-501: The staff of Electronic Gaming Monthly in their "Top 10 Video Game Bosses" list in October 2005. In late 2007, Dengeki PlayStation named Cloud Strife the best character of all time in their retrospective awards feature about the original PlayStation . Aerith placed fifth, Tifa placed eighth and three other characters placed in the top 50; Sephiroth at fourteenth, Reno at fifteenth, and Yuffie at forty-second. Cloud placed second in
29140-474: The stigma that animated works are strictly for children, especially since the industry was credited with sustaining the flow of Hollywood content and revenue during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic . An addition to the controversy was that the award for Best Animated Short Film (the nominees for which were mostly made up of shorts not aimed at children) was one of the eight categories that were omitted in
29328-510: The stolen Materia and continues working with the party. Yuffie is voiced in English by Christy Carlson Romano in Kingdom Hearts and Advent Children , Mae Whitman in Kingdom Hearts II , Dirge of Cerberus and Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind , Suzie Yeung in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series, and Brandilyn Cheah as a child in Crisis Core Reunion . She is voiced in Japanese by Yumi Kakazu . Cait Sith ( ケット・シー , Ketto Shī )
29516-404: The story came about after discussions between producer Hideki Imaizumi and the character's Japanese voice actor, Gackt . Imaizumi had been impressed with the characters' brief appearance in the secret ending to Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII , and felt there was potential to expand on the character. Sephiroth's role was specifically written to give him a more human side. Rather than using
29704-658: The story digests "Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII " and "Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII Compilation ". The Japanese and English voice actors returned to record additional dialogues for the new and expanded scenes. Nomura said that they had no major problems with this process, noting that Sakurai and Morikawa were already used to their characters from voicing them in other media. However, some child characters, most notably Denzel and Marlene, had to be recast and have all their lines re-recorded. The original performers' voices now sounded more mature in both languages. Nomura has stated that while Advent Children Complete did not represent
29892-451: The supporting characters also earned positive response such as the potential Barret was given to develop him in the sequel or Aerith's traits and some ambiguous scenes involving her. In the book The World of Final Fantasy VII: Essays on the Game and Its Legacy , Cloud is also seen as a Messiah with Tifa and Aerith being one of his main supporters to help progress and defeat Sephiroth, though
30080-539: The surface they certainly do appear to fit certain stereotypes, a second look will reveal that they transcend these qualities and are compelling and complex personalities underneath". While the mobile game Before Crisis , the first Compilation game title to be released, has received limited western commentary, writers at AnimeFringe felt that "the chance to reverse the good and bad guy roles should be welcomed by many". Advent Children received mixed views from critics. Carlo Santos of Anime News Network felt that, due to
30268-411: The theme of the film as "survival". Other themes Nomura and Nojima were concerned to include Cloud's feelings of guilt and regret for failing to save his friends Zack and Aerith. These feelings are symbolized by a grey wolf that appears whenever Cloud thinks about them. The wolf disappears at the end of the film as Cloud comes to terms with his feelings. The word "children" was used in the title to refer to
30456-452: The topics which the Compilation team paid close attention to. As Cloud and Vincent have similar personalities, care was taken to differentiate between them and their dialogue. The compilation was originally conceived as only one title ( Advent Children ), which focused on Tifa and Cloud, but they eventually expanded it into a collection which included games focusing on other characters, such as Zack and Vincent. Nomura requested Hajime Tabata,
30644-484: The trio was meant to be younger than Cloud, to focus on the "next generation" theme. By October 2003, the film was 10% complete; while the script was written, not all the characters were designed. Nomura felt that Advent Children differed from Hollywood films , where the meaning of most scenes tends to be explained. However, with Advent Children , the staff wanted viewers to interpret the scenes individually, allowing them to come to different conclusions. Nojima described
30832-410: The warriors with which players would already be familiar, primarily Vincent, Cloud and Sephiroth. Meanwhile, the prequel Crisis Core operated on the principle of dealing with these characters' "younger days", so that new elements could be added without changing them too much. One of the primary reasons Zack was chosen as the protagonist was because his fate was predetermined. The addition of Genesis to
31020-470: The water in Aerith's church. Denzel is voiced in English by Benjamin Bryan in Advent Children and Aaron Refvem in Advent Children Complete . He is voiced in Japanese by Kyosuke Ikeda in Advent Children and Kazumu Izawa in Advent Children Complete . The characters of VII received near-unanimous praise from critics for their original appearance. In an article on GameSpot , it was stated that, despite
31208-484: The way Nomura did the storyboarding for the cutscenes. Talking of his role as character designer, Nomura stated that when he was brought on, the main scenario was incomplete, but he "went along like, 'I guess first off you need a hero and a heroine', and from there drew the designs while thinking up details about the characters. After [he'd] done the hero and heroine, [he] carried on drawing by thinking what kind of characters would be interesting to have. When [he] handed over
31396-517: Was Flee , a PG-13 rated animated documentary about an Afghan refugee. Phil Lord , co-producer of one of the nominated films, The Mitchells vs. the Machines , tweeted that it was "super cool to position animation as something that kids watch and adults have to endure." The film's official social media account responded to the joke with an image reading: "Animation is cinema." A week later, Lord and his producing partner Christopher Miller wrote
31584-442: Was "Lost Name". Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo are respectively voiced by Shotaro Morikubo , Kenji Nomura and Yuji Kishi in Japanese and Steven Staley , Fred Tatasciore and Dave Wittenberg in English. Deepground ( ディープ グラウンド ソルジャー , Dīpu Guraundo Sorujā , Deepground Soldier) is a military force created by Shinra using genetic engineering to be a covert force, which acts as the antagonist of Dirge of Cerberus . They are led by
31772-431: Was a Turk assigned to protect her, and provided the maternal DNA for Sephiroth. Ridden with guilt over her actions, she seals herself inside a crystal, essentially becoming immortal and cut off from the outside world. Her memories are uploaded into Shelke, and through them and recordings left behind for him, she is able to communicate with Vincent, eventually leaving a final message that she is glad he survived. Lucrecia
31960-496: Was a coward who abandoned their home, Cosmo Canyon, during a war with the Gi Tribe. However, upon returning to Cosmo Canyon, his adoptive grandfather, Bugenhagen, brings Red XIII to Seto's petrified body and reveals that he sacrificed himself to save the village and fought against the invading army. After learning the truth, Red XIII gains the courage to permanently join Cloud's group. Red XIII makes additional appearances throughout
32148-476: Was also released. On April 11 and 12, days before Advent Children Complete ' s release, Square Enix held four special screenings of Advent Children Complete at the Ginza Sony Building in Tokyo. There were 800 seats available to those who reserved the Blu-ray or the PlayStation 3 bundle at the Square Enix e-store and were Square Enix's online website members. Advent Children Complete has
32336-420: Was developed as a part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII , a set of different media content intended to expand upon the world of Final Fantasy VII . Square's research and development department worked with Visual Works on the piece, and Tetsuya Nomura joined the crew after VII ' s director Yoshinori Kitase called him. Early in pre-production, the team thought about making Advent Children into
32524-462: Was done by Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima , who conceived Shinra, Cloud and Sephiroth's relationship, and Cloud's backstory. The Lifestream, the source of life for the Planet, was one of the earliest concepts created for VII , but its depiction and purpose changed drastically during development. The concepts behind the Lifestream and Aerith's iconic death scene were sparked in Sakaguchi by
32712-448: Was for the remnant to eat Jenova's remains. The disease caused by Jenova's presence in the Lifestream, Geostigma, was based on a discarded concept for Final Fantasy X . Rufus Shinra ( ルーファウス神羅 , Rūfausu Shinra ) is the former Vice President of Shinra, who is promoted to President after his father is killed by Sephiroth. He is depicted as callous, cunning and ruthless during much of Final Fantasy VII , and his attitude towards how
32900-407: Was generally cited as confusing or poor for newcomers to the series. The cast, along with side characters and villains, have remained popular among critics and series fans, with many lists and opinion polls citing them as some of the best characters in the Final Fantasy series. The original concept for Final Fantasy VII ' s world was for a modern setting, but after the project was moved from
33088-460: Was generally praised over the original version. Joystiq 's Andrew Yoon found Advent Children Complete a better film, feeling it was more accessible to people who had not played Final Fantasy VII . Blu-ray.com's Dustin Somner called it "a nice improvement on an entertaining film", and DVD Talk's Todd Douglass Jr. said it was "the best version of the film" due to its audio quality, the new scenes, and
33276-439: Was hindered by graphical limitations, and that as a result his designs were plain in comparison to his "true" style. Final Fantasy VII was the first game where Nomura was really involved in the character design, including the personalities, so the player side ended up being edgy as well. He wanted to include a unique character, resulting in a diverse party. The game's plot was created by Sakaguchi, although most scenario writing
33464-473: Was killed by an attack from Shinra prior to the events of Final Fantasy VII , and Dyne assumes Marlene to be dead as well. Barret adopts her thinking Dyne is dead, but later encounters Dyne, who has gone insane. After fighting Barret, Dyne entrusts Marlene to Barret's care and commits suicide. For most of Final Fantasy VII , Marlene is left in the care of Elmyra, Aerith's adoptive mother. During Advent Children , she lives with Cloud, Tifa, and Denzel, while Barret
33652-409: Was not as stable as Sephiroth and began suffering from a degenerative process called "degradation" after being wounded during a sparring match with Sephiroth and Angeal. Allying with a rogue Shinra scientist named Hollander, Genesis fights against the company while seeking a way to stop his degradation using Sephiroth's stable cells. Eventually, Genesis is defeated by Zack, then cured of degradation by
33840-469: Was originally a minor character in VII . It was hard for the staff to recreate her for Dirge of Cerberus, as they needed to rely on low-detail concept art and in-game models. To create a new model for Lucrecia, the concept team used Sephiroth's appearance as a base, deciding that the latter would have a maternal rather than paternal resemblance. Lucrecia is voiced in English by April Stewart and in Japanese by Rio Natsuki . Denzel ( デンゼル , Denzeru )
34028-599: Was originally released in Japan on the Advent Pieces DVD, on September 14, 2005. It was released in North America in the Limited Edition Collector's Set on February 20, 2007 and in Europe on November 6, 2008. There is currently no English dub for the film, and the North America and Europe versions are subtitled. On the Way to a Smile is a series of short stories between Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children . Written by Kazushige Nojima,
34216-502: Was pushed back several times. It was first moved to November, then to January 2006, and finally scheduled for April 25 for release on DVD and Universal Media Discs for the PlayStation Portable . In 2004, Panasonic produced the Japanese exclusive FOMA P900iV cell phone identical to the one Cloud uses in the movie; the phone contained several features related to Advent Children such as wallpapers and ringtones . Before
34404-414: Was released on Blu-ray Disc in 2009, adding 26 minutes of new and expanded scenes to the 101-minute original. It has received mixed reviews; critics praised its animation and CGI , but criticized the plot as being incomprehensible to viewers who did not play Final Fantasy VII and having a thin connection between action scenes. The film received the "Maria Award" at the Sitges Film Festival in 2005 and
34592-519: Was released with 21 tracks on September 16 the same year. This album contains the tracks from the mini-album and several lengthened pieces for the Complete film version but not rearranged. Reunion Tracks appeared on the Oricon charts for a single week at position #108. Advent Children and the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series were first announced at the 2003 Tokyo Game Show in September,
34780-420: Was supervised by Visual Works , Square Enix's CGI development branch. Cloud's initial redesign for Final Fantasy VII Remake departed more dramatically from the original, but was later altered to more closely resemble Nomura's original concept. Tifa's original appearance was changed to make her look more realistic, as members from the staff realized her design would not fit fight scenes. Sephiroth appears during
34968-423: Was thought up by Nomura during the concept stage because he wanted something that did not sound like a normal name. The final name came from combining the character's hair color with the number 13, an unlucky number . His real name, Nanaki, was chosen by other staff members. The name Nanaki was chosen due to its Native American sound, which linked with Red XIII's theme and backstory. Nomura gave Red XIII tattoos and
35156-445: Was used for many of the film's battle scenes; maneuvers that were not physically possible for live actors to perform were constructed digitally. While designing the characters, the staff discovered that it was impossible to translate the Final Fantasy VII designs into the film. Thus some identifying characteristics had to be discarded. Cloud's redesign was a combination of eight different designs, from his super deformed appearance in
35344-407: Was written and performed by former Boøwy vocalist Kyosuke Himuro . The soundtrack includes both pieces original to the film and arrangements of works from Final Fantasy VII , originally composed by Uematsu. Some of the arrangements, including "Advent: One-Winged Angel", are performed by The Black Mages , a rock band formed by Uematsu, Fukui, and Sekito. Both the pieces are original to the film, and
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