Final Fantasy Unlimited Discussion

Started by SBaby December 21st, 2005 5:36 PM
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  • 11 replies
Seen April 8th, 2015
Posted July 8th, 2012
2,005 posts
18.7 Years
All I know about the story is that there's these two kids that get transported to another world (called Wonderland in the dub, apparently). They're searching for their parents, who are being held by this Earl Tyrant guy. I guess they just call him Tyrant for short.

Now, according to the site, Tyrant wants to 'consume every world outside Wonderland, other worlds like our own, to become the ultimate power in the universe'. When I read this, two words came to mind: Kingdom Hearts.

The pics I've seen make the series look really cutesy, especially when compared to the games, but that doesn't matter to me. (In fact, this is closer to what they looked like on the older systems, which is where they were aiming for anyway.)

Has anyone seen any of the series? If so, what did you think of it? Need feedback...
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you will never get it done.

- Bruce Lee

The worst thing you can do in a business is blame the customer.

- Willie 'Jack' Degel
Seen April 8th, 2015
Posted July 8th, 2012
2,005 posts
18.7 Years
So far, it doesn't seem like too bad of a series. Now, I'm going to be very tentative with reviewing this, since I know the series was cut from 56 episodes to 25 due to ratings in Japan. I'll have the full review once I've seen all the episodes.
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you will never get it done.

- Bruce Lee

The worst thing you can do in a business is blame the customer.

- Willie 'Jack' Degel

EmeraldSky

Make the Colors in the Sky!

At the arcade, playing DDR with Ash
Seen 52 Minutes Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
6,203 posts
18.6 Years
I've only seen up to episode 5...

Of the summons I've seen Ixion and Shiva look beautiful...
The Saga of the Kagayou Theater

The First Sparkling Stage (Waku)
The Stage of Crystal (Paldea)/The Stage of Light (Kalos)/The Royal Stage (Galar)/The Stage of Victory (Talie)
The Global Stage (Unova)/The Stage of Paradise (Alola)
The Shimmering Stage (Waku)
Seen April 8th, 2015
Posted July 8th, 2012
2,005 posts
18.7 Years
Yeah. Shiva was as far as I got to, since I have Vol. 1 and Vol. 4.

As far as the Animation goes, it isn't too bad. They do mix CG with hand-drawn cell-style animation, but it's a pretty good transition between the two. Especially when Bahamut and Leviathan are shown in the beginning. They almost look like two CG Pokemon going at it (but it looks really cool).

As for the Voices, the Japanese version is once again better in this department. I will say that the US VAs are pretty good, but the kids' voices could really be improved. They've shown very little emotion throughout the series, except for a bit of whining. I did notice that toward the end of the first four episodes, their quality of voice acting seems to have improved somewhat, so maybe it's just those first couple episodes.

The music is one of the big deals in the show, and at first I was a bit worried seeing three different composers in the credits (even with the reassuring Uematsu doing a few tracks). However, these fears were quickly snuffed out when I heard the music. It all fits, even though they go from orchestrated to synth music several times. The transition is seamless and fits the scenario. They even have the Chocobo and classic Victory music a la the games.

As for the story, it is once again different, as to be expected from Square-Enix (and Yes, their name is on the movie's credits). Two kids, Ai and Yu (sounds like a pun on I and You the way they're pronounced) take a train (Digimon?) to this parallel world that was code-named Wonderland by their missing parents. Now of course, while they search for their parents, there are bad guys.

You have this child-like emperor (who's a whiny brat) that controls four fiends (gee, where have we heard this before). Their goal is to take over each world in Wonderland (Regions probably) and feed them to this unknown monster called Chaos. So far, each episode has consisted of either one of the four fiends attacking our heroes, or their security ninja taking a crack at them. Since the fourth episode had a bit of a cliffhanger of an ending, that's really as far as I can go here.

As far as characters go, there's alot of them. You have the two kids (they're like 11 and 12) that are searching for their parents. Their parents disappeared into Wonderland a few years back (at least, I'm assuming; they never really tell you how long it's been) and haven't been seen since. But there are several that join up rather quickly.

You have Lisa, who is basically a Mage (I think White, although she hasn't used enough spells to be sure). She gets on the train with the kids, pointing out that people from Wonderland can interact with Tokyo. Knowing Square-Enix, this may come into play later.

Then there's Kaze. He's basically Auron, Yuna, and Gene Starwind all rolled into one, if that makes any sense. He is the party summoner, and often the one to finish off the opposing enemy. His antisocial attitude isolates him from the group though, and he really doesn't seem to care about who gets between him and his adversary. Did I mention he has no memory of his past?

Chobi is a Chocobo from Wonderland. Believe it or not, it takes two episodes for the kids to figure out that the yellow bird is actually a Chocobo. Afterward, Yu gets this feather from another Chocobo that enables him to understand Chobi. I was genuinely surprised when I heard the Chocobo theme play during this guy's introduction. More than that, it fit the scene.

Finally, we have Makenshi, Earl Tyrant's personal security ninja. He seems to have a past with Kaze, as they seem to fight blindly when they're near each other. In fact, when he's near, Kaze fights him with no regard for the safety of others, incluing the kids. Talk about obsession.

Overall, I can't really see anything wrong with the series yet. The English voices could be improved a bit, but there's always the Japanese version which is right there in the DVD too. Adults may be put off bu the overly cute look of the series, as it was aimed toward 12 years and younger. But there's definitely a Final Fantasy-type story developing in the show. Only time will tell if it pays off to see the whole series.

I'll have the full review once I see the entire series.
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you will never get it done.

- Bruce Lee

The worst thing you can do in a business is blame the customer.

- Willie 'Jack' Degel

EmeraldSky

Make the Colors in the Sky!

At the arcade, playing DDR with Ash
Seen 52 Minutes Ago
Posted 1 Week Ago
6,203 posts
18.6 Years
The Summon I'd LIKE to see in anime form is Ifrit right now...any pix of him?
The Saga of the Kagayou Theater

The First Sparkling Stage (Waku)
The Stage of Crystal (Paldea)/The Stage of Light (Kalos)/The Royal Stage (Galar)/The Stage of Victory (Talie)
The Global Stage (Unova)/The Stage of Paradise (Alola)
The Shimmering Stage (Waku)
Bittertown
Seen September 2nd, 2009
Posted December 28th, 2008
7,901 posts
19.7 Years
The whole thing is ... just bad. The storyline goes around in circles, which means that every episode is recycled plot. I don't like how they used stereotyped characters, such as: the hottie sidekick with large breasts, the mysterious and silent hero out for revenge, the bungling villain who keeps coming back every episode, etc... it's just a waste of your time. A disappointment to the FF franchise.

Pocket Monsters Special!
Seen April 8th, 2015
Posted July 8th, 2012
2,005 posts
18.7 Years
every episode is recycled plot. I don't like how they used stereotyped characters, such as: the hottie sidekick with large breasts, the mysterious and silent hero out for revenge, the bungling villain who keeps coming back every episode, etc...
Which isn't much different from alot of the Animes out there (Sailor Moon comes to mind), when you think about it. But that's all opinion anyway. I will say that I'll be reviewing this like any other Anime Series, not as a Final Fantasy series. I had to do that with Legend of the Crystals to avoid sounding like Sessler and Webb (didn't make the review any better, unfortunately). It was really the only way to give an accurate review. Don't worry. If it's bad, you'll hear about it. I'm not that way.

Like I said, once I see the whole series, I'll have the full review. And I realize that the aim was toward a younger audience, which is why it has a simpler plot than most FFs out there. That will be taken into consideration as well.

I will say I'm getting a bit irritated at Kaze constantly saying "The Magun has thawed.", and his constant fits of 'Sailor Moonitis', if you catch my drift. This is why I need to see the series before properly reviewing it though.
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you will never get it done.

- Bruce Lee

The worst thing you can do in a business is blame the customer.

- Willie 'Jack' Degel
Age 31
Male
Greece
Seen May 5th, 2014
Posted March 9th, 2010
801 posts
19.3 Years
FFU... One of the worst Anime series I've see in my life... Unfortunately I couldn't just stand it... I stopped watching it in Episode 18. Well, the first 4 episdodes were... ok somehow in my opinion. But from then on the series is becoming bad and bad. Kohei is right... except Kaze the other characters were not FF-like. The series was a dissapointment for me and it was sure in a VERY lower lever than Advent Children.
Seen April 8th, 2015
Posted July 8th, 2012
2,005 posts
18.7 Years
Yeah. The only thing is I'm the type of person that will watch something that everyone tells me is bad (even when it's 50 people). I don't know if it's psychological or what, but it's one of those 'it can't be THAT bad' complexes. So it's not that I don't believe you (actually, I'm pretty sure you're right), I just have to know.
If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you will never get it done.

- Bruce Lee

The worst thing you can do in a business is blame the customer.

- Willie 'Jack' Degel