Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (Redirected from Advent children) Jump to: navigation, search Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Directed by Tetsuya Nomura Takeshi Nozue Produced by Yoshinori Kitase Shinji Hashimoto Written by Kazushige Nojima Starring Takahiro Sakurai as Cloud Strife (voice) Music by Nobuo Uematsu Cinematography Editing by Distributed by Square Enix Released September 14, 2005 January 10, 2006 February 20, 2006 TBA for Australia and elsewhere Running time 101 min Language Japanese, English (dubbed) Budget Preceded by Followed by  IMDb profile Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Japanese: ファイナルファンタジーVII アドベントチルドレン) is a CGI-anime movie based on the successful PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII that is set two years after the events of the game. It is slated to be released on DVD and on a UMD disc for the PSP handheld console. Its official theatrical release date was on September 10, 2005 as the grand public opening. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2005, and is slated to be released in North America on 10 January 2006 and the UK on February 20, 2006. The Australian release is yet to be determined. The movie received the Honorary Maria Award at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Cataluña on October 15, 2005.

The official Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children website placed a countdown, showing the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until the final release. However, due to the release date being pushed back several times, it was cancelled. Special Editions of this movie have been released, including the Ultimate Edition "Advent Pieces: Limited", which includes the OVA Last Order: Final Fantasy VII. This was the first announced title in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. The film's soundtrack, scored by Nobuo Uematsu, was released on September 28, 2005.

Contents [hide] 1 Plot summary 2 Bonus ending 3 On the Way to a Smile 4 Release information 5 Credits 5.1 Characters and Voice actors 5.2 Voice actors (English) 5.3 Developers 5.4 Motion Actors 5.5 Battle Motion Actors 6 External links

[edit] Plot summary Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The information below was compiled using various sources such as the FF7:AC IMDB Page, trailers and the Japanese release.

Two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, the Planet has begun healing itself from the devastating attack from Meteor, but a strange disease known as "Geostigma" ("Seikon-Shoukougun" or Star Scar Syndrome in Japanese version) has arisen. It is proving to be fatal, and children seem to be at greater risk. Cloud Strife, who is also infected with the disease, has secluded himself from the world, haunted by Aerith Gainsborough's death. However, he has established a delivery service with Tifa Lockhart and once lived in the bar with her and Barret Wallace. Tifa's bar, 7th Heaven, is now an orphanage for the infected children. Marlene Wallace, Barrett's adopted daughter, is entrusted to the care of Tifa. With them is a boy named Denzel, who Cloud, Tifa, and Marlene have taken in as their own.

The survivors of Midgar have begun to build a new home on the edge of the city, aptly named 'Edge'. In the center is a monument to Midgar's destruction - Meteor. The president of the former Shin-Ra company, Rufus Shinra, is confined to a wheelchair, due to the energy draining effects of geostigma. He is coordinating searches by the Turks for the effects that Sephiroth had on the planet.

Three unknown figures appear who begin searching for Jenova's remains to complete the Reunion. The leader of the trio, Kadaj, claims that Geostigma is due to the Jenova cells corrupting the Lifestream and somewhat knows Cloud, referring to him as "brother" and "traitor," most likely due to the fact that, though they are both "bound" by Geostigma, Cloud is trying to stop Kadaj and his crew rather than embrace their efforts to further the virus. Vincent Valentine suspects that the trio is seeking to obtain the remains of Jenova to create another Sephiroth, and suggests that Geostigma is the result of Lifestream inside one's body battling the Jenova cells within it.

Tifa and Marlene wait for Cloud at a church, where he has apparently been living. It is here they discover that Cloud has Geostigma and does not have the will to fight it. Loz arrives at the church, attacking Tifa while searching for the location of Jenova. After a hard fought battle Tifa is knocked unconscious, and Loz kidnaps Marlene and steals Cloud's materia. Cloud returns to the church where he discovers Tifa unconscious and his materia stolen, and collapses next to Tifa due to the effects of Geostigma. They are found by the Turks Reno and Rude who bring them back to 7th Heaven.

Tifa fighting Loz in Aerith's church.The three members of Kadaj's gang begin kidnapping the children who are infected with Geostigma, including Denzel, and they take them to the Forgotten Capital, where Kadaj tries to persuade the children that the planet is inflicting this disease upon them and that they should rally together against the planet. He then walks into the very lake where Aerith was laid to rest two years prior, and as he does so, corrupts it, turning it black. He takes a drink and tells the children to follow suit. They do, entering a trance-like state, the pupils of their eyes becoming narrow slits like those of Kadaj.

As it gets late, Tifa wakes up, finding Cloud staring out the window. She confronts him about his Geostigma, asking him if he wants to die alone. Cloud does not answer, which clearly frustrates Tifa. Reno and Rude return, telling Cloud and Tifa that Kadaj has taken the children to The Forgotten City of Ajit. On his way, riding on his motorcycle Fenrir, Cloud has a vision of Aerith, standing back-to-back with him in a flower field. She puts a hand gently on his arm, asking him why exactly he came. Cloud hangs his head and asks to be forgiven, but Aerith just giggles and asks "By whom?" Cloud tries to turn around to face her, but the vision ends. Suddenly, he is confronted by a shower of bullets. Kadaj "mind controls" the children using them as a human shield, making them surround Cloud, ensuring that he cannot escape.

Kadaj begins calling him a "traitor" and is about to execute him when Marlene calls out Cloud's name, distracting Kadaj and allowing Cloud to grab his sword. This leads to a battle, in which Cloud is defeated but saved by Vincent. After having a discussion about their current situation, Marlene comes and yells at Cloud when he wants to back down from fighting again. It is here Cloud has a another flashback of what happened prior to arriving to the Forgotten Capital. Rude tells them that the children have been taken to the Forgotten Capital. Hesitating, Cloud decides instead to go talk to Rufus. Tifa then lectures Cloud, speaking her thoughts of how he is pained by past failures, and how he wants to be alone. She pauses, and says "Have we lost to a memory?" Cloud just hangs his head, and says, "But...we just let her die." Aerith's voice is then heard, suggesting to Cloud that he should forgive himself instead of drifting away. As the flashback ends, he asks Vincent if his sin can be forgiven. Vincent just replies that he had never tried. This slightly confuses Cloud, but he says he'll give it a try. Hand in hand with Marlene, they head back.

The two return back to Midgar, where they find it in havoc. Kadaj has unleashed numerous Shadow Creeper monsters to attack the people, and is seen in an incomplete building with the wheelchair bound Rufus. Loz and Yazoo have used the children as human shields while they search for Jenova's head. To add to the confusion, Kadaj then summons Bahamut Sin.

All the other Final Fantasy VII party members show up at this point to battle Bahamut as Tifa protects the possessed Denzel. Denzel awakens from his possessed state after Tifa is knocked unconscious. The members each protect them in turn, finally with the arrival of Cloud on Fenrir. Cloud tells Tifa that he returned Marlene to the bar, and that the sin feels lighter, to which she smiles. Denzel then says he'll go back to the bar too, asking Cloud if he'll return. Cloud nods as the boy turns to run back to the bar.

Bahamut wreaks havoc on the newly constructed Edge until Cloud joins to put an end to it. But even with the help of the entire party boosting Cloud up toward Bahamut, it just isn't enough. Struggling to get through Bahamut's most powerful blast yet, Cloud sees Aerith reaching out to him. He takes her hand, and she gives him the strength he needs. With that, he goes through Bahamut's Mega Flare and finally takes it down using his Limit Break Climhazzard. Meanwhile, Rufus reveals to Kadaj that he really isn't as weak as he was leading everyone to believe, and that he also has remains of Jenova in a sealed black box. He tosses it off the edge of a building, and Kadaj then fires a materia blast at Rufus. Surprisingly, Rufus easily dodges it, and in the process allows himself to fall of the ledge. He then quickly pulls out his shotgun, and begins to fire at the gas pipe above Kadaj's head. This forces Kadaj to jump, and seconds after he jumps, the top part of the building blows up. Rufus then changes his target to the falling Jenova box. After a few failed attempts, he manages to hit the box, causing its contents to spill. Kadaj still manages to retrieve it. Rufus is then saved by Tseng and Elena, who shoot nets to break Rufus' fall. Before Kadaj can celebrate, he notices Cloud hot on his tail. There is a chase scene on an under-construction highway, where Loz and Yazoo both try and stall Cloud, which fails due to a timely arrival of Reno and Rude, and some fireworks, thought to be explosives by Rude.

A duel on the cycles gives Kadaj a head start, and slashes the cloth over Cloud's infected arm. He removes it, revealing the pink ribbon. Cloud manages to catch up to Kadaj in the Church, in which Kadaj tries to attack Cloud with magic. He misses, but hits the flower garden. Magic water wells up from beneath and rises into the air, both physically harming Kadaj and healing Cloud of his Geostigma. A drop of water falls and Aerith's voice is heard, softly encouraging him "Let's go, Cloud". Cloud continues to pursue Kadaj, and confronts Kadaj again in a one on one battle, which is almost cut short due to the rest of the party arriving in the Sierra, a new aircraft, named after Cid Highwind's assistant Sierra (Shera in English localisations). However, Tifa and Vincent manage to convince everyone not to interfere, because this is Cloud's fight. Vincent reveals that Kadaj is in fact a "Larva of Sephiroth." The Sierra flies off, which puts a small smile to Cloud's face, before he finally defeats Kadaj with his other Limit Break, Finishing Touch. Kadaj's sword falls from the building.

Kadaj hangs from a building with one hand, with Cloud standing above him. However, instead of admitting defeat, Kadaj throws the container with Jenova's remains in it at Cloud, who slices it open out of reaction, allwoing Kadaj to absorb it all as he falls. Cloud jumps down after him, and tries to finish him with one strike, but Kadaj stops him with his hands, at the same time transforming into Sephiroth while the Masamune forms in his grasp. (background music changes to Sairin: Kata Tsubasa no Tenshi, the rock-orchestra version of One-Winged Angel)

Sephiroth reveals to Cloud that the spirits of people who died with Geostigma would stain the planet thus allowing him to control it, and use it to travel the stars, until he finds another planet and crashes into it, just like Jenova did. Cloud battles Sephiroth for some time, Sephiroth commenting that Cloud has become stronger.

The scene follows Cloud's battle. Sephiroth defeats him, and stabs him below the shoulder. Sephiroth asks Cloud what is most important to him, so that he can have the pleasure of destroying it. Scenes of Aerith, Zack, Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel are flashed by. Cloud removes Sephiroth's blade from his shoulder, and states "I pity you who understand nothing." Sephiroth leaps into the air and Cloud declares "For there isn't anything that isn't important" right before he leaps into the air, separating his sword into six pieces and performs a new Limit Break (translates to "Omnislash Version 5" which is a variation of Cloud's infamous final Limit Break from Final Fantasy VII, consisting of him manifesting 5 swords and dashing through Sephiroth with each one) to defeat Sephiroth. Sephiroth floats over Cloud with a newly formed black-feathered wing, and says "I won't become a mere memory..." before his wing wraps around him and crumbles, revealing a near-death Kadaj.

Aerith and ZackKadaj, dying in Cloud's arms, hears the voice of Aerith, telling him to return home. Mistaking Aerith for "mother", he joyfully returns to the Lifestream, leaving Cloud behind, victorious. It begins raining. Scenes are shown throughout Edge of the sick children with Geostigma getting cured with this rain. Rufus also gets cured by the healing rain. The Avalanche crew jump for joy in Sierra. A drop of water distracts Tifa, and she looks up, smiling. She says (referring to Aerith) "You were with him all along, weren't you? Thank you."

As Cloud stands in the rain, he is hit from behind with a shot from Yazoo, who along with Loz has survived the Turks' blast (although they too are being taken by the purifying water). Cloud rises up again, ready for one last go. He turns, his lips distorted into a snarl as he charges them, scraping his sword on the roof of the building. They raise their hands, a blue aura surrounding both of their arms as he runs. Suddenly, just as Cloud jumps and swings, they unleash it, and the explosion covers the entire roof.

A scene is shown on Sierra. Seeing the area where Cloud was fighting explode, the crew react in shock and Tifa calls out to him. Another scene shows, in Midgar, at Tifa's bar. Denzel and Marlene are shown holding hands looking out the window, Denzel asking "Cloud is coming back.. right?"

Lying in a blank expanse, Aerith puts her hand on Cloud's forehead. Cloud calls out, "Mother?" Aerith then replies "Again! How many times must I be called that?" Zack, seeing this, asks Aerith "Isn't it nice to be yearned for?" Finally, he explains to Cloud that his place is not there yet, and that he must return.

He awakens in the slums church, surrounded by his friends and the children. He cures Denzel, the last child with Geostigma, using the water in the church. It is here Cloud begins smiling for the first time in the film. He then scans the church, and spots Aerith. Everything else stops. His eyes widen and his mouth falls open slightly. Knowing he is alright now, Aerith smiles at him, and she and Zack walk out the door and into the light. Cloud watches them leave, smiles and says "I'm not alone".

[edit] Bonus ending A small cutscene is shown after the main credits to "Calling" by Kyosuke Himuro. This scene features images of Cloud travelling on his motorcycle, the Fenrir through various landscapes. As the song reaches its climax, a flower field is shown that Cloud appears to be approaching and the camera pans out to show Aerith standing in this field. We see her at first from the side, but she turns her head eventually to face the camera, and, many speculate, to face Cloud. Cloud rides further into the horizon towards the flower field, smiling. The last scene shows Cloud's desk at 7th Heaven filled with postcards, letters and photographs of the places Cloud's visited. A close up on of his desk is shown with a photograph of him and the AVALANCHE crew together (notable because the picture that was originally shown, only showed Tifa, Marlene, Denzel, and on the side; the new picture implies that Cloud is holding on to his new happiness) and a small bouquet of the flowers (from the field shown earlier) laid in front of it.

[edit] On the Way to a Smile A series of stories taking place between Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Written by Kazushige Nojima, they are being released in episodes on the Japanese Advent Children site, and are currently only in Japanese. Various fan translations are available online.

Case of Denzel. Johnny, the bumbling regular of Tifa's 7th Heaven from the original game has opened up his own bar in a newly built town on the outskirts of Midgar called 'The Edge'. Tifa works there as a hostess, and is something of a feature attraction, but her attention is mostly focused on caring for the children orphaned by the many recent tragedies. These episodes are told indirectly through the perspective of Denzel, the young orphan featured in Advent Children. His backstory, as well as recounting the events of that fateful day in which Lifestream emerged to save the planet from Meteor. He tells his tale to Reeve, in hopes of becoming a member of the World Restoration Order, a new army devoted to rebuilding after the crisis.

Shortly after, Nomura and his team released a second story, Case Of Tifa, which consisted of Tifa's acount on what happened after meteor was destroyed, up to and including part of Denzels story. It helps to uncover some of the fog surrounding the beginning of the movie, and it's location. However, this story was never released in English, which led to many fan-based sites to do their translations.

[edit] Release information Originally, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was scheduled for a September dual-release in both Japan and North America, with Japan obtaining a special release of the DVD with more extras and collectable offers than the US release (which is the norm in Japan where rabid Otaku are known to pay more for collectables and there is a defined market for these items.) The official website for the English version of Advent Children even had a countdown clock to the release of the DVD.

But days before the United States release, Square Enix changed the date to November 2005, in a move that would indicate that Square Enix was trying to release the DVD during the lucrative holiday sales times. The time was changed again in early November to a January release date (with initial confusion given that many retail outlets got different release dates and information that didn't match), with a limited theatrical run before the release of the DVD. Fans have pointed out that the idea is a questionable one, given the track record of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which bankrupted Square Pictures after the movie made a substantial loss.

As of November 20, 2005, the release date for the film has changed again, according to a posting on animeondvd.com, which cited TRSI (The Right Stuf International, an anime catalog company and distributor of anime and hentai titles in the US) as putting the release date to March 28, 2006.

Amazon.com, EB Games, and FYE (For Your Entertainment) have all stated the release date of the movie to be January 10th, 2006 for the R1 DVD and UMD. Gamestop, like TRSI, has the date listed as March 28th, 2006. Square Enix has yet to comment on the official release date. Many fans have resorted to downloading fansubs over BitTorrent and/or importing the Japanese R2 version in order to watch the film.

[edit] Credits [edit] Characters and Voice actors Character Japanese Japanese Voice Actor English Voice Actor Denzel 　（デンゼル） Kyousuke Ikeda Elena Megumi Toyoguchi Aerith Gainsborough 　（エアリス・ゲインズブール） Maaya Sakamoto Cid Highwind 　（シド・ハイウィンド） Kazuyuki Yama Infected Girl with moogle-doll Rina Mogami Kadaj 　（カダージュ） Shoutarou Morikubo Yuffie Kisaragi 　（ユフィ・キサラギ） Yumi Kakazu Tifa Lockhart 　（ティファ・ロックハート） Ayumi Ito Loz 　（ロッズ） Kenji Nomura Red XIII (Nanaki) 　（レッド・XIII） Masachika Ichimura Reno 　（レノ） Keiji Fujiwara Rude 　（ルード） Taiten Kusunoki Sephiroth 　（セフィロス） Toshiyuki Morikawa Rufus Shinra （ルーファウス神羅） Toru Ohkawa Wally Wingert Cait Sith 　（ケット・シー） Hideo Ishikawa Cloud Strife 　（クラウド・ストライフ） Takahiro Sakurai Reeve Tuesti Banjou Ginga Tseng Junichi Suwabe Vincent Valentine 　（ヴィンセント・ヴァレンタイン） Shougo Suzuki Barret Wallace 　（バレット・ウォーレス） Masahiro Kobayashi Marlene Wallace 　（マリン・ウォーレス） Miyu Tsuzurahara Yazoo 　（ヤズー） Yuuji Kishi Zack (ザックス） Kenichi Suzumura [edit] Voice actors (English) It is widely speculated by fans that the characters that appeared in Kingdom Hearts will be voiced by the actors who voiced them in that game.

It is also believed that a lack of appropriate English voice actors is the cause of the significant delay of the US and UK release of the movie. Square-Enix's reluctance to release the names of any voice actors is evidence of this.

Walter Roberts was the narrator in E3 2004 and Steamboy trailers (according to iMDB). Also Wally Wingert confirmed that he would play Rufus on his webpage.

[edit] Developers Director: Tetsuya Nomura Co-director: Takeshi Nozue Producer: Yoshinori Kitase Co-producer: Shinji Hashimoto Scenario Writer: Kazushige Nojima Original music composed by: Nobuo Uematsu Art Direction by: Yusuke Naora Mechanical & Creature Designer: Takayuki Takeya [edit] Motion Actors Akihiko Kikuma Isamu Tachihara Jun Ishii Mayuko Aoki Masakazu Morita Tesshin Murata Yukiko Nakamura [edit] Battle Motion Actors Kenji Arai Masahiro Watanabe Miwa Hashiguchi Riichi [edit] External links Official Square-Enix Advent Children English site Official Advent Children Japanese site Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children at the Internet Movie Database Advent Children DMOZ Directory Advent Children trailers direct download, searchable image gallery, and fan works

Final Fantasy series[ Hide ] Main series: I – II – III – IV – V – VI – VII – VIII – IX – X – XI – XII Compilations and collections: I-II – Collection – Anthology – Chronicles – Origins – Dawn of Souls - Compilation of Final Fantasy VII Spinoffs and related titles: Before Crisis – Crisis Core – Dirge of Cerberus – X-2 – Rise of the Zilart – Chains of Promathia – Treasures of Aht Urhgan – Crystal Chronicles – Mystic Quest – Tactics – Tactics Advance – Kingdom Hearts – Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories – Kingdom Hearts II Film and television: Advent Children – Last Order – Legend of the Crystals – The Spirits Within – Unlimited More info: Creatures – Characters – Designers – Items – Magic – Minigames – Music – Places – Races – Weapons

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