*update: "my boyfriend" in this post only refers to a now ex-boyfriend and current good buddy. all other references to "my boyfriend" refer to the true love of my life.* :)
I watched Final Fantasy VII Advent Children last night. :) It took a while, but my boyfriend and I promised each other we'd watch it together when he got home. Friday night was the night!
People had told me great things about this sequel to my favorite video game, but after the painful shock of Charlie's Angels Dress Up With Britney Spears -- er... I mean Final Fantasy X-2, -- I wasn't over the fear that Advent Children might not live up to my dreams.
So last night was a big night. We bought the DVD at a local anime store, ordered pizza, and sat down on the couch together, a little excited, a little nervous.
Jokingly, he and I say that our relationship is based on Final Fantasy. One of our first conversations was about Final Fantasy VII. One of the first things we did to spend time together was play Final Fantasy IX. One of our first arguments started when he played through a Final Fantasy movie sequence without waking me up. One of the saddest days we had together was the day we chose not to finish playing Final Fantasy X-2. We've given each other statues of Sephiroth and Aeris, and wall scrolls of Cloud on his bike.
Advent Children had the potential to be something really wonderful that we could share.
Heh, it had the potential to rock whether we shared it or not. ;)
Long story short, by the end of the film, I was lying face down, sobbing loudly into my boyfriend's T-shirt. (shhh... I thought I heard some sniffles from him, too.)
Why was I crying? Let me assure you it was nothing like my sobbing the day after I realized Final Fantasy X's sequel was exactly what I would never want in a Final Fantasy game. Those tears were the angry tears you'd cry if you'd been lied to by someone you loved.
Yeah. I really did feel that way about X-2.
Last night's tears were different. Just as Cloud did in the movie, I went through a cleansing. It was a final farewell, eight years later, to the story, to the characters, to Aeris. Not just that, but also to the things I was doing in 1997, to the friends I had, to the apartment I lived in.
When you play a great game that lasts around 60 hours, there's a lot of you attached to the story by the end. You identify with certain characters and plotlines. You remember your favorite scenes. You react to the music years later.
Man, that music. Even my boyfriend said after the movie, "It's because they kept playing that damn song for Aeris!" There's no getting around it, Aeris' theme is one of those themes. Like the music in Schindler's List or The English Patient. It brings you to a place so beautiful you can't help crying.
I'm making it sound like this was a sad movie. It's actually very uplifting. As I said, it's a cleansing. Be prepared to meet all of your favorite old characters (yes, even the one you killed in a tough battle at the end with that other rockin' theme), and be prepared to say goodbye to some of them. It's sad, yes. But it feels good.
Okay. Enough of the girlie stuff. Was there any fighting? ;)
Hell yes, there was! And it kicked ass!!! We're talking high-speed motorbike chases, flipping through the air, guns, swords, fists, magic, you name it!
Feh. We've seen all that before. Can't Final Fantasy pull out something more exciting than the same old fighting scenes we see in every anime?
Yeah. They used Bahamut.
And there you have it. This movie rules. :) The DVD comes with a second disc of extras, so be sure to buy this instead of just downloading it. Obviously my boyfriend and I will both need our own copies. :)
Oh, I promised I'd say how the JLPT went. Eh. I'm sure I failed. We don't get our results until February or March, so I'll give a more definitive update then. In the meantime, get shopping for the holidays (have happy ones!), and be sure to put Advent Children on your wishlist. :)
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