Title: Final Fantasy: Unlimited
Published by: Section23/ADVFilms (North America), Madman Entertainment (Discontinued in Australia)
Based on: A unique story that makes use of elements from the Final Fantasy series
Genre: Adventure and Fantasy
Audio: English and Japanese Dubs
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Runtime: 625 Minutes
Cost: Contact your nearest seller of anime
Special Thanks: A copy of this series was purchased out of my own pocket
Despite the near-month wait for the second installment, I am bringing you the third installment of “Anime’s From the Past Review Series” much quicker. Unlike my last review of Love Hina which is still relatively easy to find from a number of companies, Final Fantasy Unlimited which I am reviewing today is on the other side of the scale – as Madman Entertainment discontinued it several years ago and going from RightStuf.com, the only edition available that I can find is the thinpack set distributed by Section23 Films (5 sets in stock as I write this). On a personal note, I remember watching Final Fantasy Unlimited as individual volume releases about six or so years ago, and as I didn’t have the funds to purchase individual volumes I rented them from a local video store and enjoyed them considerably. A couple of months back I managed to pick up a rather cheap version of ADV Film’s thinpack set and from there got to watch the series all over again. How did it fare? Read on to find out in my review of Final Fantasy Unlimited.
The gateway to another world appears suddenly one day and with its coming awakens two mysterious beasts of astonishing power. When the monsters appear to destroy each other, they vanish, leaving behind only the inexplicable pillar of darkness and the unanswered questions of the natural world. 12 years later, the twin children of two scientists who disappeared on the so-called Day of Conjunction go on a hazardous quest in search of their lost parents. Boarding a phantom subway, Ai and Yu travel to Wonderland, a chaotic world of amazing beauty and thrilling danger. Accompanied by Lisa, an enigmatic woman they meet on the train, and Kaze, a brooding stranger with a demon-summoning gun, the twins begin an incredible journey that will lead to the mysterious heart of Wonderland.
This was the first and from memory only full-length television series for the Final Fantasy franchise to date, and while they have released some well written films over the last few years including Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children they have never felt like releasing an anime series since Unlimited’s original release in 2001. The story felt like one that would belong in a Final Fantasy series, it has a male lead who can summon spirits with a gun, a plot based around saving a world and the search for ones parents, features plenty of not so subtle hints towards the game series from Chocobo’s to Airships piloted by a “Cid” and has a malevolent bad character who sends out her henchmen as the episodes continue.
The series surrounds two young children Ai and Yu, whose parents disappeared several years ago in order to research a pillar of darkness that leads directly to the fantasy world of Wonderland. They manage to make their way their by train to search for their parents along with a mysterious woman named Lisa who becomes a carer and mentor for the two children, but find that Wonderland is a hazardous place to reside in after being taken over by Earl Tyrant and her team at Gaudium. During their search they are attacked by her henchmen, and saved by a man known as Kaze who can summon beings using his Magun – a hint towards the commonly used summoning system of other Final Fantasy games.
Depending on the character, the character development really varies. The two children and other minor characters receive some sufficient development all the way through the plot, however other characters such as Lisa and Kaze really remain a mystery until later on in the series which is disappointing as I feel they could have planned the development out better – especially Kaze who only receives very vague development until the final episodes. In terms of the storyline itself, it was very episodic, with most of the time the characters being in a new locale with new minor characters each episode – some contributing to the plot and others not. The individual plots were actually thought out pretty well and did not linger in one area or on one issue too long… BUT!. The big issue however was how the conflicts of each episode were resolved…. almost the exact same way every time. While the summoning scene was pretty awesome and allowed the team to develop some very interesting summons, it was a very overused plot device and could have been resolved many other ways.
But overall, it was a decent storyline that was let down in a number of ways. They had much to work with considering the creativity of most other Final Fantasy titles and what they set themselves up with but having each story end with “and then they were destroyed by *Summon of the week* really ruined the experience even if the rest of the plot showed creativity with a number of different locales and characters they added to the mix. But I suppose this series was developed a bit further back than most anime series I follow so maybe it might have just been the trend at the time….
In terms of design you will either love it or you will dislike it. In terms of environment designs they do have a number of creative ideas and diversify the locations frequently, however with the exception of a handful of areas, I felt that even taking the series age into account, they were lacking in detail and very barren – especially after the first few episodes. In terms of character designs, they capture the designs you would expect of any installment in the Final Fantasy series and do suit the environment and theme of the show, but the 2D character designs suffered the same lack of detail as the environment, and only Ai received any form of design change throughout the series. The one thing they did do right however were the summon designs, which only merited one or two showings each during the series but were really well done. But overall, the animation and design quality waned from good to bad throughout the series, but should be at least average to most taking factors into account.
In terms of the series opening and closing themes, it came with a nice ensemble of one opening and two closings. The series opening theme is entitled Over the Fantasy by Kana Ueda and while I could not imagine what inspired the animation that accompanies it, I thought it was a pretty enjoyable song. The two ending sequences are first VIVID by Fairy Fore which is accompanied by a low-budget but pretty creative retro-style chocobo animation and the second being Romancing Train by Move, which also had pretty good animation and proved to be an enjoyable song. In terms of the actual series soundtrack, it had a mixture of tracks and while I would not personally listen to most of them outside of the series – did suit what they were trying to get across. Fans of the chocobo theme will be happy to know that it makes ample playtime throughout the episodes.
I personally enjoy most of ADV Films dub casts, even if they were not of top quality it is hard to deny in my books that their choices were well suited to the respective characters. James Brownlee voices Kaze, and it is a shame I haven’t really heard him in many if any roles since as while he remains the silent character with very few lines – does pull across the characters role well. Other main cast roles include Shawn Sides as Lisa who I have heard also in Happy Lesson as Fumitsuki and does a good job of her role along with Jessica Schwartz and Evan Slack as Ai and Yu respectively who pull off the role of children suitably and don’t give the impression of 12 year olds having the voice of an adult. All in all, voice acting is what I would expect from an ADV Films dub.
While it is unfortunate that Final Fantasy Unlimited does not live up to the potential it could have had, it is by no means a bad series and well worth giving a chance. If you were to compare it to the plot of most Final Fantasy games, FF:U would have very little chance of competing against them, but at the same time might appeal to fans of the franchise who are curious about what an FF anime would be like as it does in the end retain many of the same plot devices and characteristics used in the game – chocobo’s, a force threatening to destroy the world, moogles and a person who can summon spirits through one way or another. While I did enjoy this series more several years ago, I still enjoyed watching it again.
FOR THE RECORD, if you are interesting in picking this title up to watch, it might be better to purchase it sooner rather than later as availability (From my observations of online anime stores) seem to be depleting and who knows when this will go from being a reasonably priced Complete Series collection to a higher price collectors item?
Final Score
Storyline / Character Development: C-
Design: C-
Music/Voice Acting: B
Personal Preference: B-
Overall Score: C-
