Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (idea)

With the plethora of references (or perhaps I should say blatant rip-offs) within the Final Fantasy Movie, including the obvious ones mentioned above (Mononoke Hime, Evangelion), I couldn’t help but picture further ones in different places. I kept expecting them to try and decapitate the “head” of the big anti-gaia and put it in a box or for all the explosions to end in a cross shape flaring in the sky.

One, that I didn’t think of at the time, but that a friend related to me later, could have happened at the end, as Aki and Gray are being raised up on that platform. My friend spoke of similarities he saw between that scene and finale of The End of Evangelion. He said that he was waiting for the moment when Aki would lean over Gray and begin strangling him. Now if you haven’t seen End of Eva then you wont get the reference, but it fits, and now I can’t even think about it without bursting into a fit of giggles, the last line of that movie should have beenKimochi warui for sure.

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Ok don't get me wrong; though I knocked it above, I still really liked the movie. Visually it was stunning. I think the plot and character development left a lot to be desired, but I went into it with expectations that the movie would be of the same quality as the games. I was expecting to see the same depth of characters that you get in a Final Fantasy game which was a very unrealistic expectation on my part, you can't squeeze the level of character development from a fifty hour game into a two hour movie.

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Update October 30, 2001:

Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment’s DVD release of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within contains a number of cool Easter Eggs. Their descriptions and how to get to them is as follows:

• There is a 2:30 minute long adaptation of Michael Jackson's Thriller music video created using Square 's character animation technology. To get to it first insert the second disc of the set and from the Main Menu go to Highlights Menu. Once there press the 'Up' arrow key on your remote control, followed by the 'Right' key. This should highlight a symbol near bottom of the screen, which will take you to the second page of special features. At this page press the Up key and the Right key two times. This process will highlight a small fame in the right hand corner. Press Enter to view the Final Fantasy Thriller music video.
  
  
• To gain access to a slideshow of detailed renderings of many of the vehicles from the movie, insert the second disc and go to the Highlights Menu. Once there select Vehicle Scale Comparisons and then highlight the arrow at the bottom of the screen and press the Right arrow key on your remote control two times.
  
  
• To gain access to a storyboard scene of a romantic dinner between Gray and Aki, go to the Highlights Menu entry in the Main Menu of the second disc and press Right then Down on your remote.
  
  
• To view more storyboards in the Highlights Menu on the second disc select Character Files. Then highlight the arrow at the bottom and press Right then Left on your remote.
  
  
• If those storyboards weren't enough then you can access more if you go to the second page of the Highlights Menu on the second disc and select the DVD-Rom Content menu. Then highlight the arrow at the bottom of the screen and press Up and then Right on your remote.
  
  
• Now we get to the really interesting part. To gain access to character studies of Aki's 3D model simple go tot he main menu and highlight Play Documentary. Once it is highlighted press Left then Down on your remote.
  
  
• Finally the best one of them all. The boys at Square have provided us with a little fan service. To gain access to a gallery of images of Aki in a number of different bikinis and leather outfits insert the first disc and from the Main Menu go to the Special Features page and then to DVD-ROM content. Once there, press Up twice on your remote. Enjoy!