Final Fantasy: Unlimited

Final Fantasy: Unlimited is the second anime based off the popular video game series, Final Fantasy. It was originally scheduled for 52 weekly episodes (two seasons). Unfortunately, low budget due to The Spirits Within resulted in the production cut to 25 episodes, forcing the story to be quite condensed in the final episodes. But the story would later continue in web, manga & radio drama specials: Final Fantasy Unlimited: Before, Final Fantasy Unlimited: After, FFU: After Spiral and FFU: After 2.

Plot Summary
Final Fantasy: Unlimited is the story of Ai and Yu Hayakawa, two twelve year-old twins who travel into Wonderland, a mysterious parallel dimension, in search of their missing parents. Along the way they meet many strange new characters and travel to exotic lands in pursuit of their quest. All the while, the evil Earl Tyrant is holding the twins' parents hostage, and has had them brainwashed into working on his side to help him in the nourishing of himself and the entity Chaos. The Earl desires to consume every world outside Wonderland, other worlds like our own, in Chaos so he could rule universe.

However, there are two whose power challenge the Earl. The two known as "Black Wind" and "White Cloud". Known by the others as Kaze and Makenshi, they are Unlimited, the only threat to Chaos. But that is only if they put aside their own differences.

Episode List

 * 1) Wonderland: Journey into the Darkness
 * 2) Magun: Man of the Black Wind
 * 3) Fruit: The Town of Sweet Scent
 * 4) Makenshi: The White Etude
 * 5) Cid: The Adventure of the Underground Waterway
 * 6) Kigen Arts: The Saviour of Souls
 * 7) Subway: Enemy of the Dimensional Tunnel
 * 8) Soil: The Heart of the Magun
 * 9) Oscha: The Endless Project
 * 10) Mansion: The Memory of Sagiso
 * 11) Ciel: The Departure of Chocobo
 * 12) Fungus: Eternal Life
 * 13) Meteor: Abominable Memory
 * 14) Omega: Reunion and Departure
 * 15) Jane: The Moving Ocean Puzzle
 * 16) Kigen Summon: Behind the Smile
 * 17) Frog: The Smallest Great Adventure
 * 18) Madoushi: The Battle of Kiri and Kumo
 * 19) Ai: Meeting with Clear
 * 20) Yu: The Secret of Gaudium
 * 21) Cactus: The Wandering Ocean
 * 22) Moogle: Nostalgic Memories
 * 23) Teros: Long Lost Memories
 * 24) Chaos: The Earl Unveiled
 * 25) Kaze: The Glory of Life

Characters



 * Yu Hayakawa
 * Ai Hayakawa
 * Lisa Pacifist
 * Kaze
 * Makenshi

Comodin

 * Knave
 * Miles
 * Cid
 * Fungo

Villains

 * Earl Tyrant
 * Lords of Guadium
 * Herba
 * Oscha
 * Fungus
 * Pist Shaz XI
 * Soljashy
 * Madoushi

Others

 * Fabula
 * Joe & Marie Hayakawa
 * Chobi the Chocobo
 * Crux
 * Lou Lupus
 * Clear
 * Moogle
 * Aura

Continuation of ''Final Fantasy: Unlimited
The story of Final Fantasy: Unlimited, left incomplete by the television series, was continued in several other media and released only in Japan. These are listed below, ordered by the chronology of the events they cover.


 * Sou no Kizuna (双の絆) is a novel that explores a side-story that is set somewhere before episode 12 of the series.
 * Final Fantasy: Unlimited Before is a drama CD that features a flashback to the destruction of Kaze and Makenshi's worlds. The ending shows what becomes of Kaze and Makenshi after the final episode. Unlimited Before was awarded to competition winners in Japan.
 * Final Fantasy: Unlimited After is a book that contains a 32 page manga and 120 page script, released in 2002 by DigiCube. It depicts how the Hayakawa family and Lisa ends up back in their own world after the final battle. However, trouble stirs anew as the twins learn more of the mysterious organization that Lisa works for. It includes revelations of Lisa's past as well as featuring a new villain under Gaudium named Soljashy.
 * The After Spiral is a series of web novels published on the official Japanese Unlimited website (which has since gone down). The first of these short stories takes a quick plunge into Makenshi's past, while the rest describe an encounter between the show's heroes and Soljashy on the twins' childhood home of Sado Island, where Ai and Yu are briefly reunited with their old friend Touya Satomi.
 * Final Fantasy: Unlimited After 2 is another radio drama. It deals with Comodeen's final attack on Gaudium and brings a conclusion to the conflict between Lisa and Soljashy, however it leaves many questions yet unanswered.

Music
The music for Final Fantasy: Unlimited was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Shiro Hamaguchi and Akifumi Tada and released in two volumes-- Final Fantasy: Unlimited - Music Adventure Verse 1 and Final Fantasy: Unlimited - Music Adventure Verse 2. The following themes were used in the series:


 * Over the FANTASY (Opening Theme for Episodes 1-24, Closing Theme for Episode 25)
 * VIVID (Closing Theme for Episodes 1-13)
 * Romancing Train (Closing Theme for Episodes 14-24)

Connections to the games
Final Fantasy: Unlimited has been criticized for only having minimal connections to the main series (i.e. games). However, looking closely enough will reveal some more subtle correlations:


 * Earl Tyrant and the Four Lords of Gaudium are parallel to Chaos and the Four Fiends in Final Fantasy.
 * Despite Final Fantasy XII being created after Unlimited finished, Gaudium looks a lot like the Alexander.
 * In the first appearance of Earl Tyrant and the Four Lords of Gaudium (minus Pist) in the second episode, the Earl is enjoying a meal of steak with Sylkis Greens (mispronounced and misspelled in the English dub and subtitles respectively as "shilkiss"), which apparently complements the flavor of the meat, unlike Gizzard. The Earl is referring to two variants of Gysahl Greens. Also, the greens appear here as leaves rather than root vegetables.
 * The Earl Tyrant has also bee seen eating a soup with a small Malboro (mispronounced as Marbolo in the English dub) in it.
 * Dead Peppers, which appear in Final Fantasy IX, make their first appearance, and have the same basic effects on Chobi (a Chocobo) as it did on Final Fantasy IX's Chocobo.
 * Cactuars make an appearance in an episode.
 * Chaos, a recurring creature in the Final Fantasy series, is part of the Earl Tyrant's grand scheme.
 * Omega is also part of the Tyrant's scheme, and can obliterate things just by being near it. Which reflects it's role as a super boss in the games.
 * The summons used in the anime (minus Gun Dragon and Sword Dragon) are all from the games, including Phoenix, Typhon, Shiva, Ixion, Bismark, Ifrit, Odin, Tri-Disaster (Valigarmanda), Atomos, Titan, Hades, Knights of the Round, Raiden, Alexander, and Anima. All of the summons past Hades were used in Final Fantasy Unlimited - After. Additionally, a summon named Meteor Master appears in one episode, which is often referred to be a reference to Tonberry (due to it's similar looks).
 * Flare appears in the form of one of Madoushi's attacks, Flare Sword.
 * Cid is one of the main characters in the anime, and is once again creator of the airship. Additionally, in one of the episodes, Cid is transformed into a frog, mirroring Regent Cid from Final Fantasy IX, who was transformed into a frog by a set of potions after having been previously transformed into an oglop by his wife.