Post 16 and I'm back to normal service following my research into pink, time for a major player in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.
Now I've mentioned before that my relationship with Final Fantasy is very much love/hate, with no consistency so I'll do my best with this review to make it fair.
Advent Children takes place two years after the events of the game and Cloud has become even more emo as he continues to blame himself for Aeris' death, then a group of Sephiroth wannabes show up constantly looking for mother which we discover later as Jenova although if you played the games it's a simple plot to work out.
Where the children element comes in, Kadaj the leader of this group have abducted children carrying an unknown illness known as Geostigma, I don't know, this part is pretty pointless, they were made to drink something which gave them weird eyes but we don't actually know why this actually happens but it doesn't really do much for the plot anyway.
After a failed attempt to rescue the children, Cloud does some soul searching before returning for the final battle where his team defeat Bahamut SIN and Cloud gets a rematch against Sephiroth who is revived thanks to Kadaj absorbing the remains of Jenova. After claiming victory once again, Cloud cures all the children of the Geostigma as well as himself, afterwards the credits roll and were treated to a beautiful scene of Cloud riding through the hills on his awesome motorcycle.
The first half of this film didn't need to exist at all and at one point I even considered stopping the film and writing it off but the second half made up for it even if it boiled down to Square Enix saying "Were sorry that the final battle in Final Fantasy VII was so underwhelming so here's the fight we wanted to do" and it's actually a pretty good climax.
Dubbing was good for the most part but the villains were dreadful, the art style boiled down to how much black leather the characters can get away with without it being a funeral, again the first half of the film was pointless and pretty terrible, but on the other hand I can get invested in Cloud's team and the fighting was really good.
What that leaves you is basically half a film so here's how I rate it.
Final Verdict: If you were disappointed by Final Fantasy VII's climax then this film will make up for that. If your a fan of Final Fantasy in general this isn't really going to add anything to your experience but it's at least good in general. If you don't like Final Fantasy then you'll hate this. I can't really break it down any simpler than that; my verdict is that it was okay and I'm not a fan of Final Fantasy.
Post number 2, and this one is a top ten on popular franchises everyone loves but I hate; now to clarify, this doesn’t mean these franchises are bad just for whatever reason I just never got on with them.
Dishonourable mentions
Frozen: It’s outstayed its welcome for a good year and we need to move on but doesn’t make this list as it does look like Disney can move on from it.
Haruhi Suzumiya: I’ve always hated Haruhi Suzumiya and the impact to the fandom it brought with it; thankfully it’s faded out of Otaku culture.
Star Wars: Over saturating the market right now but I don’t hate it enough to be on this list.
10. Sword Art Online
Accel World was better and I hated the direction this show went after season 1.
9. Berserk/Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni/Elfen Lied
Having started my anime career in the ultra violence of the 80s, I feel that shows that showcase high violence and gore are only popular because of said gore not some of the deeper meanings these anime shows have which is a shame.
8. Bobs Burgers
I encourage any show that can take on the big three of South Park, Family Guy and the Simpsons and succeed, but not when the art style constantly makes all the characters look stoned.
7. Madoka Magica
I had a hard time warming up to this show and while yes it is very compelling and completely re-writes the genre but then so did Sailor Moon and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. And while it was very successful in its run, it doesn’t really change the current line up of sparkles, colours and optimism that most current generation Magical Girl shows are known for.
6. Steven Universe
I’ve brought this up before and try as I might, there are too many characters I don’t like in Steven Universe for me to really enjoy the show, again I stress that this isn’t the cartoon’s fault it’s just my taste in characters and the fact that I still think you can have a compelling story with just the Crystal Gems and not Steven Universe himself.
5. Grand Theft Auto
When I play open sandbox crime games I’d rather things weren’t taken so seriously which is why I stuck with Saints Row instead, again its taste and the fact that this game is so overhyped that I just can’t stand it.
4. Love Live
My hatred for Love Live is quite well known, an idol show that is nothing new, nothing groundbreaking, does everything tried and tested and is far worst in quality than many of its contemporaries is somehow one of the most popular anime in the entire world. WHY!?!?!
3. Transformers
I tried my best with this franchise, when I was young, when I was a teenager and in the last couple of years and I still don’t like Transformers. I only found two out of the god knows how many series in this franchise that I can sit and watch, and my optimism for the franchise has long died since the live action Michael Bay movies.
2. Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts
My relationship with Final Fantasy is very much love/hate, I can see myself getting invested in the games but not so much the stories or the overly broody leads they insist on bringing into the games.
As for Kingdom Hearts, I’m not pulling any punches with this one, I hate Sora. I can’t stand Sora as a character and when he’s the main character in an RPG, that’s a problem. I have no problem with the Disney aspect but the Final Fantasy aspect leaves me with a bad taste, it’s not even just Sora, the others are just as bad, in fact the only character I can tolerate is Aqua.
1. Legend of Zelda
20 years I’ve been trying to like Legend of Zelda but every Zelda game I’ve played and I’ve played quite a lot of them, I feel the games are deliberately trying to piss me off; it’s not that I’m bad with them it’s just that whoever designed them has this idea in their head that you’re supposed to already know what to do when you do the numerous puzzles in every game and it can easily add the hours into a game that by the end of the first hour you’re already sick and tired of it and you just want to give up yet every game yields a near perfect score from critics and I don’t know why, it’s like trying to defeat Silver the Hedgehog for the first time, only you have to do that on every god damn quest.
I'm rewriting this to re-clarify some of the things I won't do on my blogs.
Anime Reviews
Android Ana Maico 2010: Again it's so boring there's nothing to pick from it that I can review.
Akira: I still won't review Akira as I have to invest a lot of time into the film.
Ghost in the Shell: Nor will I review this one for the same reasons.
Spirited Away: Or this one as well, again same reasons.
Video Game Reviews
Final Fantasy: I won't cover Final Fantasy as I don't have enough experience of the franchise to do it justice.
Kingdom Hearts: I hate Kingdom Hearts with a passion but I know a lot of people like it so to avoid a backlash I won't review it.
Video Game Politics: I want to avoid it like the plague so I won't mention anything to do with Gamergate or any other controversies.
Fantasy Zone
UAFC Battles: I will not use Bleach characters.
Hopefully that makes things a bit clearer although despite me not doing anything to review these shows, games or use characters, they are still all eligible for any top ten list.
