Final Fantasy VII is an American/Japanese animated series created by Craig McCracken and based on Square (now Square Enix)'s popular 1997 RPG videogame of the same name. Premiering in 2000, the show met widespread acclaim for its thematic complexity, darker tone, artistic quality and postive comparisons to Batman: The Animated Series.
The show was produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons for the first season and by Cartoon Network Studios for the rest of its run, in partnership with Square Pictures. It ended its successful run in 2004 after 4 seasons and 65 episodes.
Production[]
The show was produced by Craig McCracken and employs a similar animation style to his most famous creation The Powerpuff Girls.
Animation[]
Originally, Hanna-Barbera contracted a huge variety of overseas animation studios. They were Mook Co. Ltd., Rough Draft Studios, Wang Film Productions, Saerom Animation Company, Milimetros Dibujos Animados, Hong Ying Animation and Hanho Heung Up. Due to the death of H-B co-founder William Hanna in 2001, Hanna-Barbera was shut down by Warner Bros. Animation as animation studio itself and all of its Cartoon Network product was shifted to the channel's in-house production arm Cartoon Network Studios who later introduced CGI animated portions on the show. These CGI animations were produced using the cel-shading technology. Rough Draft also animated the opening main titles.
Legacy[]
The show is also notable for lauching the careers of several cartoon creators such as Butch Hartman (The Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy and Bunsen's a Beast), Rob Renzetti (My Life as a Teenage Robot), Brian Konietzko and Michael Dante diMartino (Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra), Jhonen Vasquez (Invader Zim), Chris Savino (The Loud House), Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua (El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera), Carlos Ramos (The X's), David Cooper and Johnny Ryan (Pig Goat Banana Cricket), Dave Wasson (Time Squad), Greg Miller (Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?), Maxwell Atoms (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy/Evil Con Carne), C.H. Greenblatt (Chowder and Harvey Beaks), Tom Warburton (Codename: Kids Next Door), Thurop Van Orman (The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack), Man of Action (Ben 10 and Generator Rex), Judd Winick (The Life and Times of Juniper Lee), Jody Schaffer and George Krstic (Megas XLR), Scott M. Gimple (Fillmore!), Jeff Goode (American Dragon: Jake Long), Dan Povenmire (Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law), Sandro Corsaro (Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil) and Paul Rudish (Mickey Mouse).
Voice Cast Members[]
- James Arnold Taylor as Cloud Strife (voice)
- Cindy Robinson as Tifa Lockhart (voice)
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Barrett Wallace (voice)
- Kate Higgins as Aeris Gainsborough (voice)
- Colleen Villard as Yuffie (voice)
- John DiMaggio as Sephiroth (voice)
- Josh Keaton as Cid (voice)
- Frank Welker as Red XIII/Nanaki (creature sound effects)
Quotes in the show based on the video game's disc 1[]
Aeris looks right up from her praying with a smiling face and Sephiroth leaps right down from above to kill her off. Just as he pulls the Masamune outta her, the white Materia comes right from her hair and it bounces right down the steps and right into the water. Cloud moves around to take Aeris' deceased body right in his arms and catches it.
Cloud: "Aeris! (he gently shakes her deceased body.) this can't be real!"
Sephiroth: "Do not worry, soon the girl will become part of the planet's energy, all that is left is to go north, the promised land waits for me over snowy fields, there I will become a new being by uniting with the planet, as will this girl-"
Cloud: "Shut up! the cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing, Aeris is gone, Aeris will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry or get angry, what about us? what are we supposed to do? what about my pain? my fingers are tingling, my mouth is dry, my eyes are burning."
Sephiroth: "What are you saying? are you trying to tell me you have feelings too?"
Cloud: "Of course! who do you think I am?!?"
Sephiroth: [Evil Chuckle] "Stop acting as if you were sad, there's no need to act as though you're angry either, because, Cloud, you are."
Jenova: "Because you are......a puppet."
Cloud: "I'm....... a puppet?"
Aeris' deceased body is resting right against one wall of the shrine. Cid stands right before her. He looks skyward just as if in praise, then turns and leaves. Tifa kneels right next to Aeris. She reaches right up and touches her face and her hair, then she covers her mouth in shock and keeps her eyes closed and runs off. Cloud walks right over to Aeris' deceased body. He gently picks it up and carries it right over to the secluded pool. Cloud slowly lowers Aeris' deceased body right into the clear blue water. He releases her and slowly backs away. Her deceased body floats right on the water for one brief second, then her deceased face begins sinking right beneath the water. Her hair fans out around her deceased body just as she descends into the deep blue peaceful waters below.