Tentacle-Free Anime: "Final Fantasy Unlimited" (2001) Review
The Final Fantasy series of video games is very cherished by many. From what I’ve been told, not all of them are gems, but – and I’m about to lose like most of my readers after this revelation – I’ve never played one, so I don’t know how true that is. This doesn’t mean I have no experience with the worlds of FF though, and Square Enix in general. I have played and love Kingdom Hearts, and I do plan on playing some FF games eventually. I just really haven’t ever had a proper chance to. There is one more area though in which I do have history with the FF franchise, and that’s in its anime department. I’m curious how many of you are aware that Advent Children isn’t the only FF anime out there. So sit back, relax, and let me take you on a journey into Wonderland...
In the summary, the other world is called the Inner World, but because I watched the dub I’ll be referring to it as Wonderland.
Many years ago, I remember as a young one seeing the beautifully designed covers for the individual DVD cases aligning shelves for rent and to buy at my Hastings (back when it had a decent selection). I just never got around to it. And then one Christmas, also a few years back, but not so far that I could consider myself a young one, my Mom told me that I could get anything I wanted at Hastings – that is an entertainment store, for those who don’t know – with a max total placed at $50. Fantastic. So I perused the shelves looking at what was affordable or what combination of stuff I could get for that amount. I stumbled across the FFU complete collection box set that had beautiful box art and each individual disc case inside was adorned with those original cover designs I fell in love with as a kid. It was $50 and I just had to have it. Didn’t care that I had never played an FF game before. So I snatched it and it ended up sitting on my shelf for a couple years until last year I finally got around to watching it. Why is this, you ask? After I wanted it so badly? Simple: Like the games I just never made time for it. It’s the sad truth. But last year I ended up finally watching it and I did not enjoy it at all. I don’t want to sit here and simply bash it, so let’s get a few nice words out of the way beforehand. 
Yu, Lisa and Ai.
I like the premise of the story. It’s really simple and kind of cliché, but in my eyes it was all about how you present it, and this really felt fresh. Two kids are on their way to find their parents, along with their mysterious guardian Lisa they’re transported into Wonderland. There they uncover the plot to resurrect an ancient evil known as Omega, and must stop it while also searching for their parents. The world looked really lush and unique, the designs are really good, and I’d actually love to cosplay Makenshi. There were a few characters I really liked and I could see a lot of potential in the story. But in 25 episodes the creators were unable to tell a complete tale and satisfy me with any inkling of smart storytelling along the way. Personally I think 25-50 episodes is perfect to tell a long form story and still have breathing room, and I’ve heard that FFU was supposed to be 50 episodes, but it got cut short because the show just wasn’t that popular. Even at 25 episodes though, when your credits start rolling and the story suddenly just stops and I get a voice over from some character saying, “What happened to our heroes? Maybe someday I’ll tell you...” then we have a very, very serious problem. I did watch the dub, I could have switched to sub, but since I wasn’t enjoying the story, I highly doubt I would’ve enjoyed it even more subbed. The problem with the dub, and it is an ADV dub, is that most of the characters are monotone. With the exception of Lisa, basically, everyone there speaks at the same register. Maybe not at the same register as each other, but each character speaks their own way, the same way, throughout all 25 episodes and it’s like I’m watching emotionally sanitized dolls trying not to kill or not get killed. 
Makenshi the "White Cloud".
The story drags on at a monster-of-the-week pace for quite a long time, with the same villains being used over and over again, and the same deus ex machina being used every. single. episode. without ever being explained. Kaze and his magun – a gun that is mysteriously attached to his arm – always arrive to save the day out of nowhere and always we get a 5-minute transformation scene of his gun changing shape. I like Kaze’s magun though, and it’s use of “soil” bullets to transform into monsters and battle the evil monsters. It’s very unique, but never explained. In fact very few things in this anime are explained, and they just happen. One of the biggest dangling plot threads is Lisa’s background, which is constantly hinted at, but you never find out what it is. If you want to know though, there is a sequel to FFU in the form of a Japanese drama CD that was never released stateside. If you care more than I do, I say feel free to track it down. It’s called Final Fantasy: Unlimited After 2. Yui and Ai, our main protagonists, aren’t very interesting and are pretty one note. They don’t make any heavy sacrifices, or “grow up” from all this experience. They just simply try to avoid getting killed and generally just let Lisa or Kaze save them. From what I remember they never really do anything worthwhile and so it’s hard to want to root for them. The villains too, are basically all your standard generic caricatures: The evil child emperor who is just evil because why not, the right hand man general who is secretly scheming behind the main baddie’s back; the token sarcastic female general and the token bumbling buffoon general. None of them ever seem to die and so when they come back again and again there’s nothing new done with them and it’s really hard to care after a point. 
Kaze and his Magun.
The animation, too, isn’t that great. Gonzo’s use of 3D and 2D is on full display here and it’s really bad to watch. I personally am not a fan of 3D and 2D mixed together, I think it can look really bad when on a budget and I just don’t see a reason for it all the time. However, I seem to handle it better when the 3D pieces are in movement like in Samurai 7 of Vandread – two awesome anime we’ll eventually get to. I still don’t like the 3D in those shows, but here most of the 3D pieces are stationary. They pose a threat... but they never move. And it’s excrutiating; even the 2D animation isn’t really all that great but it does have its moments. If there is one actual saving grace for this show, and this is something that I feel was a really pick thing pushed by Square Enix (they obviously didn’t care how the story turned out) it’s the soundtrack. I have listened to my fair share of FF music from the games, and this here feels like an FF soundtrack full of haunting melodies and catching beats depending on the song. The music to this anime is actually really good and I would love to own the soundtrack to this. If you want to experience this show the right way, go with just the music and let you mind imagine what Wonderland should be like. In the end, I did feel cheated and this is one of my most hated shows of all time. I’m not really sure how anyone can enjoy this, but I have seen a few people claim it to be not all that bad, so if you do enjoy it already, or still want to give it a chance, go for it. Or just watch Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children instead. I think the art on the boxes are beautiful, and the soundtrack is wonderful, but I wish I could say the same for virtually everything else. I really do. Final Score: 1 Magun Transformation Scene out of 5 Have you seen "Final Fantasy Unlimited"? How did you enjoy the movie and the review? 
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