I don’t know what it is with the voice-acting industry, but Japanese dubs are almost always better than English ones. It’s the same for the case of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Cloud just isn’t Cloud anymore, Kadaj isn’t Kadaj, Tifa isn’t Tifa, so on and so forth.
Heh, this is just my fourth time watching, which isn’t all that bad, considering there are people out there with thirty-over rewatches. Scary, considering that’s over fifty hours of life spent, but when you’re a fanboy/girl, it’s worth it.
Kaa-san~
In any case, here lies a quirky re-review of Final Fantasy VII.
Talk about insults. From:
Cloud seems like a carefree badass at the adventure’s beginning, a self-assured mercenary with a heart of ice and an oversized sword that appeared to have lived a former life as a jumbo jet tailfin. But he really wasn’t. On the contrary, he was a neurotic loser wracked with insecurity and incompetence; though he aspired to badassery, he was in truth a SOLDIER program reject who cravenly patterned his personality and mannerisms after his personal hero, Zack. Hell, he even went after sloppy seconds with Zack’s old girlfriend… it doesn’t get more pitiful than that.
To:
Cloud Strife is the everynerd — wrapped up in delusions of greatness when allowed to take things on his own carefully-selected terms until he sees the world for what it is and is forced to come to grips with the fact that he’s actually completely pathetic. That’s your average game-obsessed message board dork in a nutshell: the petty tyrant of a tiny little niche of the Internet but a failure in real life.
Oh here’s the kicker:
Kefka broke the world in his quest for raw power, then ruled over the ruined remains with divine fury; Sephiroth wanted a hug from mommy and babbled a lot.
Alas, it’s always a lack of knowledge and understanding of the differences between the Japanese and American role-playing game genres. Final Fantasy VII isn’t the only game with a so-called nerd-for-hero, or a villian who just wanted parental love.
I won’t claim to know role-playing inside out, since it’s something people notice after time and lots of playing different games. But yeah, check the re-review out. It’s worth a laugh… or cry if you’re a Final Fantasy VII fanboy/girl.