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Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
File:Final Fantasy VII- Advent Children DVD Cover.jpg
Directed by	Tetsuya Nomura Takeshi Nozue
Written by	Kazushige Nojima
Produced by	Yoshinori Kitase Shinji Hashimoto
Starring	Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese voice)/Steve Burton (English voice) as Cloud Strife
Music by	Nobuo Uematsu
Distributed by	Square Enix, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (International)
Release dates	September 14, 2005 April 25, 2006 April 242006 May 3, 2006
Running time	101 min
Languages	Japanese (Japan) English (International)

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (ファイナルファンタジーVII アドベントチルドレン, Fainaru Fantajī VII Adobento Chirudoren) is a computer animated film based on the successful PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. The film is set two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, in a post-apocalyptic world, and follows an ex-SOLDIER named Cloud Strife as he unravels the cause of a mysterious plague that has beset itself on the population. The initial DVD and UMD release of the film in 2005 was voiced in Japanese. The English-dubbed NTSC and PAL versions were released on April 25, 2006. The film's soundtrack, scored by Nobuo Uematsu, Kenichiro Fukui, Keiji Kawamori, and Tsuyoshi Sekito, was released on September 28, 2005.

Two special editions of the Japanese version were released, including the "Ultimate Edition," Advent Pieces: Limited, which includes the OVA Last Order: Final Fantasy VII. Advent Children was the first announced title in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and received the Honorary Maria Award at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Cataluña on October 15 2005.

Story

Two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, the planet has begun healing from the devastating attack from Meteor, while the survivors of Midgar have begun to build a new city — aptly named "Edge" — on the outskirts of the old one. However, a strange disease known as Geostigma (星痕症侯群, Seikon Shōkōgun; Planet Scar Syndrome) has arisen. It is proving to be fatal in one hundred percent of cases, and children seem to be at greatest risk.

Template:Spoiler After his showdown with Sephiroth, Cloud Strife established his own delivery service with the aid of Tifa Lockhart, with whom he has been living in Edge. Marlene Wallace (adopted daughter of Barret Wallace) has been entrusted to their care, and also with them is an orphaned boy named "Denzel." Unfortunately, Cloud and Denzel are two of many suffering from Geostigma's effects. As a result of this, and believing that he is unable to protect those he cares about, Cloud has now secluded himself from the world, as he doesn't wish to be a burden on those he loves and feels helpless to protect.

Cloud is attacked by three mysterious young men who believe that he knows location of their missing mother — however, the battle is cut short and he escapes. Hoping to gain information on the mysterious attackers, Cloud responds to the summons of Rufus Shinra, the leader of the now defunct Shin-Ra Company. Rufus, claiming that he wishes to make up for the decay his father's company brought to the world, can only give the name of trio's leader: "Kadaj." After their meeting, Kadaj breaks into Rufus' lodge, dispatching Rufus' bodyguards (the Turks known as "Reno" and "Rude") with ease. Kadaj demands that Rufus himself tell him where to find his mother, revealing that "she" is, in fact, the remains of Jenova, and is somehow connected to the cause of Geostigma. He also announces that he and his "brothers," Yazoo and Loz — whom he identifies as "remnants" of Sephiroth's will and spirit — are planning a new Reunion that will culminate in an assault on the Planet itself.

Kadaj and his "brothers" begin collecting children infected with Geostigma (including Denzel and the uninfected Marlene), and take them to the Forgotten Capital of the Ancients. Cloud attempts to rescue them, but fails and must be rescued himself by Vincent Valentine. Vincent reveals to Cloud what the trio are seeking and that it could result in the return of Sephiroth. He also reveals that Geostigma is the result of one's immune system working excessively to fight off an infection of Jenova cells. After some soul-searching and a lecture from Marlene — who managed to escape from Kadaj's group — the reluctant Cloud agrees to return to Edge and face Kadaj in direct battle, now with renewed confidence in himself.

Shortly thereafter, in Edge, the villainous trio call forth several monsters to attack the populace, including the dragon summon known as "Bahamut SIN." With the aid of the other Final Fantasy VII party members (Tifa, Barrett, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Yuffie Kisaragi, Cid Highwind and Vincent), Reno and Rude attempt to defuse the situation until Cloud arrives, simultaneously engaging Yazoo, Loz and the manifested creatures in battle. Through their teamwork, Cloud and his friends soon dispatch all the monsters.

While overlooking these events in a nearby building, Rufus reveals to Kadaj that he has been in possession of the remains of Jenova all along, tossing the box containing them from the edge of the building. Kadaj dives after the box and recovers it, but before he can celebrate, he notices Cloud now in pursuit of him. An intense motorcycle chase carries them into the ruins of Midgar, first through Aerith's old church — where Cloud is healed of his Geostigma by Aerith's spirit — and then to the derelict skyscrapers at the center of the city. Now healed of his debilitating condition, Cloud is able to match Kadaj blow for blow and soon defeats him. However, before the battle can come to a complete close, Kadaj tricks Cloud into slicing open the box containing Jenova's remains, which are then absorbed into Kadaj's body. Before Cloud can interfere, Kadaj transforms into his arch-enemy, Sephiroth.

After a fierce battle, Sephiroth defeats Cloud and taunts him with the threat of taking away all he holds dear. This proves to be a fatal mistake, as an enraged Cloud declares that there is nothing that isn't important to him, and leaps towards Sephiroth while separating his sword, the First Tsurugi, into six pieces. Taking Sephiroth by surprise, Cloud is able to perform a new Limit Break (identified as "Omnislash Version Five," a variation of Cloud's ultimate Limit Break from Final Fantasy VII), which soundly defeats Sephiroth at last.

Sephiroth dissipates, leaving Kadaj's severely weakened body behind, while Aerith's spirit begins to pour healing rain across Edge, curing the sick children — as well as the reformed Rufus Shinra — of their Geostigma. Speaking softly to Kadaj, who now lays dying, Aerith tells him to be at rest. Believing Aerith's voice to be that of his "mother," he complies and is joyfully taken by the Lifestream. Before a full-scale celebration can begin, however, Cloud is shot through the back by Yazoo, who, along with Loz, is now being taken by the healing rain. Yazoo and Loz prepare one final blast for Cloud, resulting in an explosion that disintegrates them and engulfs Cloud.

Cloud awakens in Aerith's old church, now surrounded by his friends and the citizens of Edge. A celebration follows as the healed children surround Cloud and shower him with adoration. He then looks up and sees Aerith crouching by some children. As she stands and walks to the doorway, she turns back to assure Cloud that he's alright now, and then steps into a white light with Zack. With a smile, Cloud agrees with her, stating that he isn't alone anymore.

Bonus ending

A small cutscene is shown after the main credits, featuring images of Cloud traveling on his motorcycle, Fenrir, through various landscapes. As the closing song reaches its climax, a flower field is shown that Cloud appears to be approaching. As the camera pans out to show more of the field, Aerith can be seen standing within it, smiling. Cloud rides further into the horizon beyond the flower field, smiling as well.

After the credits, a close-up of Cloud's desk at his home is shown, now covered with various photographs of the places he has visited, and with a small bouquet of flowers from the field shown earlier laid on top of it. Additionally, a new photograph of himself standing with the AVALANCHE crew — including Marlene and Denzel, the latter of whom Cloud proudly rests his hand on — sits on the desk. The original picture next to it (which had shown only Tifa, Marlene, Denzel and himself) depicted him distancing himself off to the side, but the newer photograph — in which Cloud happily stands in the middle of the group — implies that Cloud is holding on to his happiness and believing in himself at last.

Marketing and release

Originally, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was scheduled for a September, 2005 dual-release in both Japan and North America, with Japan obtaining a special release of the DVD with more extras and collectible offers than the U.S. release. The official website for the English version of Advent Children even had a countdown clock, displaying the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds until this release date.

However, days before the release, Square-Enix changed the US release date to a tentative "November 2005," a move many felt indicated an attempt by Square-Enix to release the film during the lucrative holiday sales times. The estimate for release was changed once again in early November to a January release, and due to the release date being pushed back several times, the timer was removed from the official North American site. Due to the delays, many fans resorted to downloading fansubs over BitTorrent and importing the Japanese R2 version in order to watch the film.

In an article for the website The Digital Bits, it was eventually mentioned that the delays were due to the extra time required to complete the bonus supplements. Finally, in a February 13, 2006 IGN.com article, it was revealed that April 25, 2006 was the new official North American release date . Later that day, on another article on 1UP.com, the release date was confirmed yet again, along with the entire English voice cast. Later, Square Enix confirmed the info on their U.S. website , indicating that the film was on track for a certain U.S. release. The official movie website was updated with the info and a new countdown timer was implemented.

A special one-time only theatrical screening of the English version of the movie took place on Monday, April 3, 2006 at the ArcLight movie theatre in Los Angeles. The event was promoted via e-mail to those who subscribed to the Square Enix mailing list. The screening featured trailers of Kingdom Hearts II and Dirge of Cerberus, and was highlighted by appearances of the American cast and Japanese film makers.

North American DVD release

The North American DVD is a 2-Disc set that includes the following bonus features:

• Disc 1
  • Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII (Story Digest)
• Disc 2
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Featurette: The Distance: The Making of Final Fantasy VII
  • Footage of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children at the Venice Film Festival
  • Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children trailer collection
    • Tokyo Game Show 2003 - Days 1, 2, and 3
    • Jump Fiesta 2003
    • E3 2004
    • Tokyo Game Show 2004
    • Jump Fiesta 2004
    • E3 2005
  • Compilation of Final Fantasy VII trailer collection
    • Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
    • Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
    • Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
    • Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
    • Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Certain retailers offered a bonus disc to go with the DVD set. The disc contains a featurette on the English voice-over process, including interviews with Steve Burton (Cloud), Rachael Leigh Cook (Tifa) and Mena Suvari (Aerith).

Product placement

The phone used by Cloud in the movie is the Panasonic FOMA P900iV Phone, which is not available in the US. Plans for bringing it to America and Europe have been taken into consideration, at least untill the "i mode" connection system becomes available outside Japan. Rumors say that it will be bundled with Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII, although no official word has been published. There are different colors for this phone, but Cloud owns the "Cloud Black" model, an obvious pun on his name.

Reception

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The DVD release of Advent Children sold over 420,000 copies in Japan (or by people who imported from Japan) in its first week, which was 93% of all published copies at the time.

Days before the North American DVD release, Advent Children achieved number one on Amazon.com's "Top Sellers" page.

Tie-ins

Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII

Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII is a story digest of Final Fantasy VII, as recalled by Cloud at a time set shortly after the events of Advent Children. It consists of edited scenes from the original Playstation game and live-action shots of locations seen in the bonus ending. Between flashbacks to the original game's sequences, it relates a short story about Cloud making deliveries while taking phone calls from other members of AVALANCHE. Yuffie plans a get-together for the old friends and sends a "Closed" sign to Cloud by way of Barret. Cloud then calls Tifa and asks her if she can close the bar for a day, so that Cloud, Tifa, Marlene and Denzel can spend the day together. The new photograph from the bonus ending was taken during the party Yuffie planned. Only the voices of Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, Vincent and Barret can be heard during the story digest, as there are no actual animated renderings of them featured in Reminiscence.

On the Way to a Smile

On the Way to a Smile is a small series of stories taking place between the time of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Written by Kazushige Nojima, half of this novella (Case of Denzel) was released in episodes on the official Japanese Advent Children website, while the novella was released in its entirety in V-Jump's Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Prologue book. The novella was released only in Japanese, though various English fan translations are available online.

Case of Denzel

These four chapters are told indirectly through the perspective of Denzel, the young orphan featured in Advent Children. Johnny, the bumbling regular of Tifa's 7th Heaven bar from the original game, has opened up his own bar in the newly built city of Edge. One day Denzel shows up in Johnny's store to have a private meeting with Reeve Tuetsi. He has requested an interview with him in the hopes that he may become part of Reeve's new World Restoration Order, an army devoted to rebuilding the planet. Denzel then goes on to tell his life story, including how he became an orphan, the events leading up to his becoming afflicted with Geostigma, and how he came into the care of Tifa and Cloud. He also offers a firsthand account of the events of that fateful day when the Lifestream emerged to save the planet from Meteor.

Case of Tifa

This half of the novella consists of Tifa's account of the events following Meteor's destruction, overlapping in part with Denzel's story. This half of On the Way to a Smile helps to uncover some of the mysteries surrounding the beginning of the movie, including identifying its setting and offering further insight into Cloud and Tifa's respective feelings for themselves and one another.

Credits

Characters and Voice actors

• 2005 films
• Computer-animated films
• Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
• Final Fantasy in film and television