Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete is an extended cut of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children based on the successful PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. It was released on Blu-ray Disc, and includes over thirty minutes of new footage. Included along with the movie was the first playable demo for Final Fantasy XIII, however this was only released in Japan. Though much of the music generally remains the same, many tracks have been modified to accommodate the new scenes, as well as to sound more similar to music from Final Fantasy VII. In addition, a new ending song was written, titled "Safe and Sound", which is exclusive to Japanese version, English version plays Calling instead of "Safe and Sound".

Plot
Advent Children Complete follows the original plot and storyline of Advent Children - three young men arrived at the city of Edge and seek the remains of Jenova to revive Sephiroth. Cloud, having been infected with the fatal disease Geostigma and distancing himself from his friends and family, is pulled back into battle to stop them and eventually faces Sephiroth himself once again.

Compared to the original film, Advent Children Complete features a full twenty-six minutes of new footage. The various changes include more scenes with the children including how Cloud found Denzel, Denzel and the Moogle Girl, more dialogue with Kadaj and Rufus Shinra to better explain certain plot elements, and some restructured fight scenes. For example, Vincent is visible in his cloak when he saves Cloud, the scene with Tseng and Elena at the Northern Crater is expanded, and Tifa takes a more active role in fighting Bahamut SIN and she was rescued by Cloud. The film also has higher quality graphics due to the different format, allowing blood and dirt to be shown on the characters. The most obvious change in structure is the climax of Cloud's battle with Sephiroth, with Zack giving support to Cloud to finish Sephiroth with Omnislash Version 6. Due to new scenes involving Marlene and Denzel, their aged voice actors were replaced and their scenes entirely re-recorded.

Of particular note is the different ending, based on the original twenty-minute short film that Advent Children was based on. After the battle with Sephiroth (which also has a different climax), Cloud is attacked by Loz and Yazoo and apparently killed. Around Edge, phones ring and the unheard speaker tells the children to go the Sector 5 Church. There, as in the original film, Cloud is revived, and the children reveal they were told to go there by Aerith. After the end credits, the cliff where Zack died is shown to be covered in flowers. Denzel asks Cloud if the cliff was where someone died, but Cloud corrects him by telling him "it's where a hero began his journey", and the Buster Sword has been restored and placed in the Church among the flowers.

Development
At the Tokyo Game Show 2006, Square Enix showed a trailer of a movie titled Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete that is to be released on the Blu-ray Disc format. New scenes were be added to the movie so it could be called an extended version, however, Director Tetsuya Nomura says that "it's not meant to be just an update to the original, but rather a replacement." Nomura has stated that the new scenes could add up to as much as thirty minutes of new content. Though originally slated for a 2007 release, the movie was delayed until 2008 and then 2009. The film was released April 16th, 2009, for Japan, and in North America on June 2nd, 2009. Included is a new theme song, called "Safe and Sound", a joint-creation of Kyosuke Himuro and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, which was only included on the Japanese version.

The film was released in Japanese in three bundles. One included a limited edition 160GB "Cloud Black" PS3 bundle with the Final Fantasy XIII demo, another was the film with the demo, and the last was be the stand-alone film. The film also includes an OVA based on On the Way to a Smile: Case of Denzel, along with never-before-seen trailers for Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. Nomura also said that Complete may be the last installment of the Compilation for some time, but he and Nozue have other ideas and are contemplating another film project.

On the Way to a Smile
Continuing off from the original Advent Children several more Novellas for On the Way to a Smile are to be released for Advent Children Complete. They are Case of Yuffie, Case of Red XIII, Case of Shinra, and Case of the Lifestream. There is also a thirty minute OVA to be included, animating Case of Denzel.

Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII
A look back at the original Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation.

Reminiscence of FF VII Compilation
A look back at the sequels and spin-off titles of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Turbulence of FF VII Compilation
The fan reactions of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy XIII Trial Version
The first demo of Final Fantasy XIII. It was not released outside of Japan.

Trivia

 * Last Order -Final Fantasy VII- is not included with Advent Children Complete.