I was browsing in my local library and saw these dvds for borrowing. Because of the Final Fantasy title, I ended up snagging them, and watching the whole series during the next week. It really should not be called Final Fantasy anything - just maybe, "Final Fantasy Gaiden". It is literally a side story with a few FF elements sprinkled in. Some returning characters occur, like a chocobo with a timepiece, Cid as a mechanical genius and the victory music from the games...
The Characters: Bland, bland, bland. You know an anime isn't memorable when you can't remember any of the characters names a month after. I had to research some of these characters to write this review. Kaze = classic antisocial badass with a heart of gold. Lisa = mystical fighting user, stupid love interest for Kaze. The twins (main characters, Ai and Yu) = reckless idiots who don't know how to get scared. The Parents = dangling plot. Chobi = a chocobo that plays a main part in it. Makenshi = rival to Kaze, magic user. I think the anime suffers from too many characters being rushed into the plot. You have five main baddies, but they are generally played for comic relief, even when the story is getting good. There is little to no character development for the main characters, until the last few episodes...
The Story: It starts off in our world, with two scientists who are witnessing a rare event. A portal opens, and two dragons (one white, one black) come out and start fighting. We cut to several years later, and the main characters - the young twins are about to try to find their missing parents/the scientists. They board a mystical train which takes them to Wonderland, and they have adventures there. Along the way, they uncover a couple of monsters which have the capabilities to destroy the world, and they meet two other main characters. Lisa and Kaze who act like their guardians in the world of Wonderland.
What's Unique? Kaze has a weapon called the Magun. It's a tool for summoning large animals/spirits to have different effects on the environment. I think the Magun gets more screen time than anything else...because there is a "sailormoon-ese" transformation sequence that he goes through in order to use it. Also, one of the baddies has a pretty interesting way to delay the good guys.
Conclusion: Not a very satisfying anime, but still quite watchable for a younger audience. I kept watching because of the summons that Kaze would do. And to find out how they deal with the monster that's like a force of nature... The main problem here is that the ending and series itself feels rushed - and that's because it was. The series was supposed to be huge, but after the Advent Children (*shudders*) flop, the series was trimmed down into a dvd format, and the storyline pacing suffers. For instance, the final showdown happens, and the writers all kill off the baddies in one fell swoop. And they take away our two fighters (Kaze and Lisa) powers. This happens in one episode, and is resolved in the same one! They could have stretched it out to get some tension out of it...
The Characters: Bland, bland, bland. You know an anime isn't memorable when you can't remember any of the characters names a month after. I had to research some of these characters to write this review. Kaze = classic antisocial badass with a heart of gold. Lisa = mystical fighting user, stupid love interest for Kaze. The twins (main characters, Ai and Yu) = reckless idiots who don't know how to get scared. The Parents = dangling plot. Chobi = a chocobo that plays a main part in it. Makenshi = rival to Kaze, magic user. I think the anime suffers from too many characters being rushed into the plot. You have five main baddies, but they are generally played for comic relief, even when the story is getting good. There is little to no character development for the main characters, until the last few episodes...
The Story: It starts off in our world, with two scientists who are witnessing a rare event. A portal opens, and two dragons (one white, one black) come out and start fighting. We cut to several years later, and the main characters - the young twins are about to try to find their missing parents/the scientists. They board a mystical train which takes them to Wonderland, and they have adventures there. Along the way, they uncover a couple of monsters which have the capabilities to destroy the world, and they meet two other main characters. Lisa and Kaze who act like their guardians in the world of Wonderland.
What's Unique? Kaze has a weapon called the Magun. It's a tool for summoning large animals/spirits to have different effects on the environment. I think the Magun gets more screen time than anything else...because there is a "sailormoon-ese" transformation sequence that he goes through in order to use it. Also, one of the baddies has a pretty interesting way to delay the good guys.
Conclusion: Not a very satisfying anime, but still quite watchable for a younger audience. I kept watching because of the summons that Kaze would do. And to find out how they deal with the monster that's like a force of nature... The main problem here is that the ending and series itself feels rushed - and that's because it was. The series was supposed to be huge, but after the Advent Children (*shudders*) flop, the series was trimmed down into a dvd format, and the storyline pacing suffers. For instance, the final showdown happens, and the writers all kill off the baddies in one fell swoop. And they take away our two fighters (Kaze and Lisa) powers. This happens in one episode, and is resolved in the same one! They could have stretched it out to get some tension out of it...
