Final Fantasy VII: Last Order

Let me begin with saying that if you are reading this review, you probably have played Final Fantasy VII or at least know the basic story of the game as Last Order is not a show that you will randomly watch. You really need to know the story behind the game in order to fully appreciate what the people at Square-Enix did with Last Order.

Last Order basically gives the gamer what they have wondered since seeing the flashback in the basement of the Nibelheim Mansion - what exactly is the history behind Zack and how does he fit into the grand scheme of things. ... If you paid attention to all of the minute details in the game, you can get a decent idea of who Zack exactly is and what his role is. Last Order tells us that story and Zack's relationship with Cloud and Sephiroth and how Cloud ended up with Zack's buster sword.

The animation is flawless when you consider that they needed to convert all of the Final Fantasy VII world into an animation. It's a completely different project that what Advent Children was about because that was computer graphics, not anime. Cloud, Zack, Sephiroth and the members of ShinRa are all drawn very well, pretty much to perfection.

The music is done very well and the voice actors they gave to each of the main characters seem to fit them quite well. My only qualm with it is the music selection. Don't get me wrong, the music was great. But I feel they should have used some of the music from the game to capture the real essence of FFVII.

Because its approximately only a 30-minute show, its hard to judge anything about character development. BUT, it does do a great job showing the relationship between Zack and Cloud and exactly the closeness of their friendship. The show also does well in portraying how the ShinRa wanted to capture Zack and Cloud at all costs.

Overall, this 30-minute show will answer many questions and leave viewers with a satisfied feeling as they witness the background story of Zack and his relationship with everyone. The big battle scene between Zack and Sephiroth is amazing and showcases Zack's skills very well. This is especially the case when Zack and Cloud are on the run and its Zack vs. the entire ShinRa soldiers at one point.

Definitely a 10/10 worthy show and if you've played Final Fantasy VII and liked the game, chances are you probably already seen this because most avid Final Fantasy gamers are simply on top of everything that is Final Fantasy. Ah, what the heck. It's a nice way to spend 30 minutes or your day. ^_^

Title: Final Fantasy VII: Last Order

Manga or Anime or Both?: Anime alone, as far as I'm aware, released with the Collector's Edition in the US, and the Ultimate Edition in Japan.

Story: Last Order cuts between flashbacks to the Nibelheim Incident, Zack's escape from the lab with Cloud five years later, and ShinRa and the Turks' pursuit of the former.

Story Critique: ...Honestly, it's not what I was expecting. I knew that it covered the Nibelheim Incident and it's aftermath, but still. They didn't even cover anything before Sephiroth goes crazy and burns down/slaughters Nibelheim. I was really looking forward to that. ... (pouts) Decent rehash of things already covered in the game, for the most part. As for the Zack/Cloud escape... for the most part, it's gratuitous action scenes, peppered with Zack conversing with a comatose Cloud. The only part I really liked about that part of the plot was the last five minutes, and anything to do with the Turks. Tseng was mostly used as a plot device in that he prefaced all the flashbacks with a mini-monologue about it. That was about the best transitioning that they did; for the most part, the transitions are abrupt, and disorienting.

Art Style: Studio Madhouse did the animation for Last Order; I'm not sure what other series they've done. EDIT: Madhouse's credits include Paranoia Agent and, as of late, Death Note. All in all, I'm happy with the art style for this. Beautiful 2D animation, and decent CG. The CG seems awkward when it's in the same scene as 2D, though; it has to be either one or the other.

Music: Your typical rock soundtrack, with some techno and strings thrown in the background. Not all that impressed.

Voice Seiyuu: I was too lazy to check the credits, but, from what I heard, I'm pretty sure that any voices that S-E's used in previous VII titles (Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, possibly Before Crisis) were used in this title as well.

Voice Actors: N/A

Dub: N/A

Length: Last Order clocks in at just under a half-hour, including credits; about the length of your typical anime episode. I'm not all that satisfied with it; I was expecting something a little... I don't know, longer than this. Fourty-five minutes at the least, maybe closer to an hour.

Overall: Beautiful animation, excellent seiyuu. They still need work on the story, music, and run time though. It's worth a watch on YouTube; I wouldn't go and buy the Japanese special edition of AC just to get this, though.

Story: 6/10
Art Style: 8/10
Music: 6/10
Voice Seiyuu: 7/10
Length: 6/10

Overall: 33/50; 66% (F)

Let me start off by saying: If you've played Final Fantasy VII extensively, or have just taken in all necessary information from playing it through once then this will have a drastic effect on your opinion of this anime. I'll explain what I mean by this and review it in full:

First off I have given this anime a 5 due to it being (for the most part) a recap of a portion of the FFVII storyline. Just to reiterate: if you have played FFVII and remember all information relating to the whole 5 years ago incidents at Nibelheim then I think you will agree with ... me when I say this anime is (to an extent) Square Enix's attempt at milking FFVII.

Now I am huge fan of the Final Fantasy games having played them all through numerous times, VII included, but in all honesty all the new content you get from this anime is a couple of new scenes of Zack slicing through some members of Shinra, then get injured himself, you will also see Cloud get stabbed once more than I remember in the game, otherwise you will have already have got all of this anime has to offer by playing FFVII on the Playstation.

Story: Yes the story originally was excellent in FFVII, but I'll say again, this is more or less just a recap, hardly anything new other than some action scenes, it's not worth more than the 5 average rating I have given it.

Art: This anime looked nice enough, but in all honesty I have seen better and have come to expect something a little more from Square Enix. Just take a look at FFVII - AC, it came out the same year and the art and animation are MUCH better.

Sound: There's a few of Uematsu Nobuo's classics thrown in which, if you're a fan of the original game like me you'll find leave you with a slight feeling of nostalgia, prompting you to remember the awesome game. Other than the Uematsu stuff, the music isn't anything special but it's good enough.

Character: The anime's heavily focused on Zack, who yeah, if you like him could be an entertaining enough character, but we don't really get enough time to really develop any connection to the characters here. The appearance of Tifa and Cloud along with Tifa's mentor/ master will again leave you with that nostaligic feeling, but - here I go again - have you played FFVII you'll have seen this all before, so you know what to expect, the characters themselves are great but with so little time nothing has any real chance to develop.

Enjoyment: Average because I'd seen it all before.

In short: This is one for the fans, and even then it's not anything to scream and shout about. If you like action, want something quick to watch (20 mins without the credits) then go for, but don't expect too much.

This is kind of a let down, and a waste of money as well. This anime is basically most of the scenes we saw during the game, like when Sephiroth went to Jenova, and why Cloud lost his memory, etc. Plus extra scenes that were also shown in the game, but I think you had to do some stuff to unlock the extra scenes.. If I wanted to revisit those scenes I would just play the whole game. (But for those who don\'t have the game, well I guess this would be a good thing)

I bought the DVD cause I thought it was like FF7: ... Advent Children, thinking it was a new story or a continuation of FF7. Boy, was I wrong.. I was even excited to see them in anime form, but that too was a let down. It even ended on a \"cliff hanger\".. (I can\'t remember what happened after that scene)

A short OVA detailing part of the story concerning Cloud and Zak's entwined background from the infamous "Final Fantasy VII" game.

If you haven't played that game, there's no point watching "Final Fantasy VII: Last Order" - it's basically some background events told in a linear fashion (as opposed to having to put the bits and pieces together as you discover them in the game) and coupled with having proper animation (as opposed to the original "Final Fantasy VII" graphics that made the characters look like lego men).

Considering it's a 30 minute anime, there's not much to say about it. If you've played the game, you'll ... be familiar with the this segment of the story where Zak and a barely conscious cloud escape like labrats from the Shinra laboratory where scientists conduct experiments to create super soldiers. The story and characters are true to the game, and production values are sky high as you can tell from the blisteringly good animation and explosive action sequences. However, I'm disappointed that they did not choose to base the background music off the tracks from the original "Final Fantasy VII" games. Those simple but effective melodies from the game are waaaay better than the heavy music that they used in this OVA to try and make it more "cool".

For the average fan of the original game, "Final Fantasy VII: Last Order" provides some satisfying visualisation of certain events, and will no doubt invoke some fond memories of the game. If you've never played the game though, this won't make much sense to you, so just skip this. Or better yet, go play the game and then watch this, because the game is just incredible. [insert a few pages of gushing on the original game]

Final Fantasy VII: Last Order is something that you shouldn't watch before completing the video game, otherwise Last Order probably won't make a lot of sense. Despite that you won't miss out on much if you don't see it, it's essentially a short re-telling of the events of the Nibelheim incident found in the Final Fantasy VII video game.

Story - 5/10

Last Order tells the story of what happened in the town of Nibelheim a few years before the events of Final Fantasy VII took place, in the game itself it was shown as a flashback sequence. It also touches upon Shin-Ra's and The ... Turks pursuit of Zack and Cloud leading up to that, and ends with a brief conversation on the back of a truck presumably a few months or years later after the aftermath of the Nibelheim incident; it's not explained in the OAV and it's been a while since I played the video game so my memory is a little hazy.
Overall I was disappointed with the story of Last Order, you're simply thrown into a key event of the Final Fantasy VII story arc and just as quickly as it starts it... ends. It's an above average recalling of the event itself but I was hoping for more, and at under 25 minutes in total there simply isn't enough time to explain everything and the transition from one part of the story to the next is confusing. Final Fantasy VII: Last Order should have been at least 45 minutes long or perhaps even an hour, it's a major plot point that deserved more effort devoted to it.

Art - 7/10

Good but nothing outstanding, in a nutshell. The brief battle scene between Zack and Sephiroth looks nice, but the OAV seemed to be a little too dark in places. The characters themselves looked suitably detailed so there are no complaints there.

Sound - 6/10

Again, good but not outstanding pretty much sums up my opinion here. I liked the soundtrack as a rock fan and the sound effects were decent, but I didn't particularly enjoy the voice acting from the Japanese cast members. The guy who voices Sephiroth probably put in the best performance, but Tifa in particular was underwhelming.
I'm not sure if the voice cast are the same as those found in Advent Children, although that wasn't an aspect of that film I found to be all that good either.

Character - 6/10

Due to the length of the OAV very little time was devoted to any character development, although if you're a fan of the Final Fantasy VII franchise you should be all too familiar with most of the cast.

Enjoyment - 6/10

As I previously mentioned you shouldn't watch Final Fantasy VII: Last Order before completing the video game, otherwise you'll likely get absolutely no enjoyment out of this whatsoever. With that said as an avid fan with a slightly hazy memory I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped, it was far too short and only really rehashed a plot point I'm all too familiar with.

Overall - 6.0/10

First and foremost this is not for those that haven't played Final Fantasy 7. This is a prequel to the game, and it's pretty much a teaser for fans. If you haven't played the game but plan to, then this is a nice introduction to get the story started.

As far as OVAs go this isn't bad. It has a lot of interesting events and characters but no development. The action is good, the voice acting is good, the animation is ok, and the sound is ok. All in all it's a solid 7 for me. I liked it, but I am also a fan ... of the video game. It could have been better, and I say this based on the other material they have for the Final Fantasy 7 franchise. The video clips in the other prequel games were a little better, but this one isn't bad as a standalone OVA. Definitely worth watching if you're a fan (I cannot use that term enough when talking about this OVA), but this is for a target audience.

Too much like the game the only difference was the new guy Zack so it wasn't very interesting as most people who would watch this would've already have seen this in the game so the storyline was kind of predictable but i don't think Zack fitted in aswell as Square-Enix wanted him to,

But sound was perfect and the animation was very good.

When you watch this, you will probably feel dissastisfied. I´m no trying to say that "this is bullshit" no, this is good in a lot of ways, the OST is cool, the plot is the same as the prequel-game (good) and the animation is done by Madhouse (should i say more?).
My problem with the OVA is the duration of this, the 25 minutes are very enjoyable, but, when this ends, i feel like "is this all?" this should be more long. Anyways, i think they are just 25 minutes because this OVA encourages you to play the game (or buy it).
Oh, and I must ... admit, this OVA can be considered "fan service". Does not add anything to the plot we've had in both games, is more, anyone who has not played not possibly understand anything (although not think anyone who has not played the games, see this).

Finally, I think this is a 7/10 or 6.8/10. There are so many thing that the fans will love, the destruction of Nibelheim´s destruction, the fight with Sephiroth, the final scene with the "shot end". Still, like I wrote before, don't add nothing to the plot and is pretty short.

The last order? Ah who really knows, this anime follows the back story to my favorite game of all time. Final Fantasy 7, and Last Order didn't fail to keep up with the awesome story. As the back story, it tells the story of the ordeal, first-class SOLDIER, Zack Fair went through while carrying the unconscious Cloud while escaping the infamous Shinra Turks, and I can not lie, it was just wonderful to watch. The song that's name matches that of the title quickly became a favorite of mine, and everything down to the characters either filled me with blissful nostalgia or gave me other ... feelings of joy that can only be described as feeling pretty f***ing awesome. This is a must see if you are a fan of FF7. Well I think some punk ninja chick stole my materia, so I gotta go. See ya!

I think this little OVA/Anime got a lot of bad reviews it didn't deserve. I watched it for the first time before watching Final Fantasy Advent Children just to get a view into the plot. As far as I know, I learned a lot from it + videos from the games.

Story: 8 - The story is good, not the best, but good. It's exciting and you get to know more about Zack.
Art: 10! - The art is outstanding! I really like the drawings and the colors used looks good thinking of the situation.
Sound: 8 - The music isn't way to exciting, but sound effects and ... the voice actors are very good!
Character: 8 - The Characters are awesome, although you don't get a deep look into all of them, and the main characters like Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth are the ones in focus.
Enjoyment: 9 - I really enjoyed watching it, although I watched it with low quality and stuff, I really liked it!

Overall it gives a 8, and I think it's the rate it deserves.

If you have played Final Fantasy VII (mostly Crisis Core) and liked the game, you have to love this special piece of art from Square Enix. Otherwise you expected something else.

For me personaly, this is not anime at all. It is add-on to perfectly balanced game with complex storyline, which is not for everyone. If you wonder about confusing story part with Cloud/Zack amnesia thing, this Special can bring a little understanding into all the confusion.

The animation is really good and smooth, it is not computer graphic (like Advent Children), just old school anime style. I really like how all the characters were drawned, especially ... members of Turks.

The music is fair, well composed, but it would be perfect if Square would used the original music from the game. Nobuo Uematsu simply captured the atmosphere and essence of each character.

Definitely 9/10. Maybe we will see something more in FF VII Remake.