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- FF Odyssey
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Cheap FFXI Gil |
By: Kenji Masaki
Warning: This writeup contains spoilers, view at your own risk!
Episode 2 - "Demon Gun: Man of the Black
Wind"
... As the odd mushroom
monster is destroyed, Yu, Ai, and Lisa look to the strange man (who looks
oddly like Vincent Valentine in FFVII) that Yu calls Kaze, equipped with a
Demon Gun using the magic summon powder called "Soil". Unfortunately, before
anyone is able to question or thank Kaze for defeating the monster, the man
walks off without a word... he is on his own quest, to find his rival from
twelve years ago (on the day of succession, consequently), known as White
Cloud, the Demon Swordsman.
Meanwhile, we learn of a
strange fortress, home to a boy known simply as the Count, where order in
the Inner World is his to control. With his four guardians, Hungus, the
metal plated general, Oscar (of which you met in ep. 1, FYI), the odd
magician, Helba, the flower-girl, and the Demon Swordsman White Cloud (of
which his affiliation to the Count is unknown), he plans to rule over all
the Inner Worlds with his "Divine Power", or so he says. Hungus volunteers
to be the first to exterminate the man with the demon gun, whom the Count
says "betrayed him", and leaves the flying fortress...
While this is happening, Yu and Ai get nowhere fast in trying to get Lisa to
reveal her past, trying to avoid the subject
of searching for her
"boyfriend". Along the way, they once again meet up with the hyperactive
chocobo who takes Ai's hair, tugs on it, and runs off into the forest.
With nothing better to do than to make chase to a giant yellow screaming
hyperactive flightless bird, Yu, Ai, and Lisa meet the owner of the chocobo,
of whom she calls herself "Choco-baba". Now things are definitely going
nowhere when Choco-baba starts every sentence with either "It never ends..."
or ends it with "or so the rumors say."
Note to those still
interested in FF:U: At this point I was ready to throw the mouse, give up on
this thing and try something else (Like Star Ocean EX... even Daa! Daa! Daa!
was starting to look more promising than this...). This has to be one of the
more boring parts in this episode... and it wasn't like the last one took my
breath away either, if you know what I mean...
... And then another
crystal bomb drops in front of the forest, scaring Choco-baba away (thank
god). Yes people, it's time for another battle scene!! And if you thought a
giant mushroom was annoying, wait, because there's more! Yes, you get three-
no, wait... four- ah, no, there's still more... seven? Oh great, now there's
too many to count, and Lisa's Genesis powers are pretty useless against
huge, numerous enemies- which these mushrooms fit the descriptions
perfectly. Ai and Yu are once again left helpless until the hyperactive
chocobo comes to the rescue, kicking a giant mushroom repeatedly until it
falls over and dies. All seems well, right? Not when this chocobo has the
courage of a mouse and runs away for no apparant reason... leaving our
heroes (or lack thereof) back where they started- surrounded by giant
mushrooms. All hope appears to be lost...
When Kaze appears out of
nowhere, and starts blasting the mushrooms to shreds with his secondary gun,
and finally defeating the psycho mushroom. Thankfully, that's the last
you'll have to see of them, folks...
Finally Hungus appears at
the entryway of the forest, ready to take on Kaze. As with all bad guy
cronies, they have an overinflated ego, and Hungus is no exception. Kaze is
unable to destroy him using regular bullets, so it's time to pull out his
Demon Gun and see what summon he has in store for us this time...
"I have chosen Soil for the likes of you!
More infinite than the open sky... Sky Blue!
Perfection that pierces the earth... Grand Brown!
And finally, a deception to twist reality... Magic Violet!
Appear! Summon Creature! Typhon!"
And with a single
compression of space, Hungus is crushed to a tiny pulp, and is defeated.
*Victory Fanfare*. As Kaze asks Yu and Ai if they have met White Cloud
before, Yu, now equipped with the Choco feather that Choco-baba dropped,
reads the mind of our hyperactive chocobo and realizes that the subway is
about to depart from this Inner World...
... To be continued...
Okay, let's start off
with some of this episode's bad points: REALLY slow set up. Almost to the
point of "molasses on a cold day" slow. Tenchi Muyo! slow. It's really
stretching to keep up character development with an interesting plot, and
unfortunately for this episode, it suffers greatly from lack of both. If you
break FF:U into its simplest components for the first three to five
episodes, it's really like our dear departed Sailor Moon. Monster attacks
Inner World, Lisa tries to keep them away with her weak Genesis power,
fails, Kaze comes in to save the day with his summoned creature, defeats
monster. Stick in some side plots and you pretty much have the formula down.
I guess that a random battle engine doesn't fit real good into a game, does
it?
Now for its pluses: Where the CG does come in, it is done really well.
Despite some issues with the actual anime drawing itself (kinda mushy,
doncha think?), it's done quite nicely. And if you're willing to dive a
little further into the supposed shallow plot, you can see something that
could be worked like something of another Square masterpiece...
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
For instance, Kaze and White Cloud have been enemies since the end of time.
However, White Cloud is a character who isn't for nor against the ideals of
the Count. And for whatever reason, Kaze hates White Cloud: "To see the end
of this man, no matter how much blood is shed, how many lives are lost, how
many ideals are destroyed... I don't care!" - Kaze, Ep. 4. What is the
connection with him, White Cloud, and the Count? Then there is the strange
powers of "The Unlimited", as Oscar says, that will bring down the Count
once and for all. What exactly is the Unlimited, and who are they? Thirdly,
you've got the strange past of Lisa, searching for her "boyfriend" lost in
the Inner World. Her history could be as deep as that of White Cloud...
**SPOILERS END**
... given that Square can
follow through with it and make it all connect nicely. This is the sole
reason I am have hope for this anime, as it has been with all Final
Fantasies. The animation might be a little dated, the setup god awful, and
character development being rough in the beginning, but I still have hope
that the plot will be the saving grace for FF:U, hopefully putting itself in
a different category than the failure, FF:Legend of the Crystals. Oh yeah,
and the ending song "Vivid" is shweet!!!
All in all, a pretty less
than average episode for what could be a considerably above mediocre
series... if the plot stays intact.
Kenji's Score: 5/10
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