| Final Fantasy VII Advent Children | |
|---|---|
DVD cover of the film featuring Cloud Strife and Sephiroth |
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| Directed by | Tetsuya Nomura Takeshi Nozue |
| Produced by | Yoshinori Kitase Shinji Hashimoto |
| Written by | Kazushige Nojima |
| Starring | Japanese: Takahiro Sakurai Showtaro Morikubo Maaya Sakamoto Ayumi Ito Toshiyuki Morikawa Shogo Suzuki English: Steve Burton Steve Staley Mena Suvari Rachael Leigh Cook George Newbern Wally Wingert Steven Blum |
| Music by | Nobuo Uematsu Keiji Kawamori Kenichiro Fukui Tsuyoshi Sekito |
| Cinematography | Yasuharu Yoshizawa |
| Editing by | Keiichi Kojima |
| Studio | Square Enix |
| Distributed by | Square Enix (Japan) Sony Pictures (International) |
| Release date(s) | September 14, 2005 |
| Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (ファイナルファンタジーVII アドベントチルドレン Fainaru Fantajī Sebun Adobento Chirudoren) is a 2005 Japanese computer-animated science fiction film directed by both Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue and produced by Yoshinori Kitase and Shinji Hashimoto. It was written by Kazushige Nojima and the music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Developed by Visual Works and Square Enix, Advent Children was the first announced title in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, which is composed of titles related to the highly successful 1997 console role-playing game Final Fantasy VII.
It takes place two years after the events of the game and set in a new city named Edge. It focuses on Cloud Strife who—now living as a delivery boy alongside Tifa Lockhart and taking care of two kids—is summoned to find the cause of "Geostigma", a mysterious disease that proves dangerous to the city's population. The film was released on DVD on September 14, 2005 in Japan and a year later in North America and Europe. Special editions of the film contain official tie-ins which depicts events happening before and after the film's plot. On April 16, 2009, Square Enix released a director's cut version titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete for the Blu-ray Disc format which was also released overseas.
The idea of the film was originally conceived when Kitase wrote a script focused on Cloud's and Tifa's story. Visual Works picked Final Fantasy VII as a the theme for their next film and was aided by the Square staff in order to develop it. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children received positive and mixed review by websites' writers for its battles, the characters and the animation. In 2005, the film received the "Maria Award" at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya, and at the 2007 American Anime Awards it was awarded "best anime feature". As of 2006, the DVD and Universal Media Disc releases of Advent Children have sold over 10.5 million copies worldwide. Advent Children Complete got relatively better reviews due to its changes and new features.
Contents |
Two years have passed since Cloud Strife defeated Sephiroth, who summoned a meteor that attempted to deeply damage the planet, but only destroyed the city of Midgar. Cloud has been living with Tifa Lockhart in a city called Edge and both have been taking care of Marlene, their friend Barret Wallace's daughter, and the orphan Denzel. A strange disease known as "Geostigma" has arisen, infecting various citizens including Cloud. While going to meet the Turks, a group that performs operations with the megacorporation Shinra, who have a job for him, Cloud is attacked by three men, Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo, who believe that he has hidden their "mother". Kadaj ends the battle as he discovers that Cloud does not have her. At the meeting place, Cloud discovers that Shinra's president, Rufus Shinra, survived to the events of the original title. Rufus attempts to enlist Cloud's help to stop the trio, but fails as he refuses and leaves. Kadaj arrives and demands that Rufus tell him where to find his mother. It is revealed that his mother are the remains Jenova, an extraterrestrial lifeform whose cells were injected in Sephiroth's body and helped him in his actions in Final Fantasy VII, and is connected to the cause of the Geostigma. The trio are planning a new reunion that will culminate in an assault on the Planet.
Loz arrives at the church of the late Aerith Gainsborough in Midgar in an attempt to find Jenova's remains, and is confronted by Tifa. After defeating Tifa, he captures Marlene under Kadaj's orders. Yazoo begins collecting children infected with Geostigma, including Denzel, telling them they will be healed and takes them to the Forgotten City. Cloud goes to the city to rescue them after getting the information from the Turks. In the Forgotten City, Cloud battles the gang, but when being overpowered, he is rescued by his former comrade Vincent Valentine. Vincent reveals to Cloud what the trio is seeking and that it could result in the return of Sephiroth. Cloud agrees to return to Edge face Kadaj's gang after finding Marlene. In Edge, the trio call forth several monsters including the enormous creature Bahamut SIN to attack the populace who want rescue the kidnapped children. Turks Reno and Rude try to deal with Yazoo and Loz who are searching for Jenova's remains. After rescuing Denzel, Cloud, Tifa and their old companions dispatch the monsters and then Bahamut SIN.
In a nearby building, Rufus reveals to Kadaj that he has been in possession of Jenova's remains all along. He throws the box containing it from the edge of the building. Kadaj recovers the remains shortly after Rufus shoots and damages them. The trio spots Cloud in pursuit of them, and are followed to the ruins of Midgar. In the pursuit, Yazoo and Laz are caught into a explosion of bombs brought by Reno and Rude, leaving Kadaj to Cloud. In Aerith's church, an outflow of water infused with Lifestream, the planet life force, cures Cloud's Geostigma. Vincent explains to the group Kadaj's gang are remnants of Sephiroth and decide to leave Kadaj to Cloud. Outmatched in battle, Kadaj absorbs Jenova's remains into his body, allowing Sephiroth to be reappear through his body. Sephiroth reveals to Cloud that once those who die from the Geostigma join the Lifestream, he will be able to control it and use the Planet as a vessel to travel space in search of a new planet for him to rule in the same way Jenova attempted. Cloud defeats Sephiroth who dissipates leaving a weakened Kadaj at Cloud's mercy. Aerith is then heard telling Kadaj to be at peace, who disappears with the Lifestream. A healing rain starts pouring across Edge, curing the people of their Geostigma. Cloud is then shot by Yazoo who is also succumbing to the healing rain alongside Loz. Both prepare one last attack at Cloud as he charges at them, resulting in a large explosion that engulfs all three.
Afterward, Cloud appears surrounded by a white light, and Aerith and his late friend Zack Fair are heard, telling Cloud that his place is not with them yet. Cloud awakens in a pool of Lifestream-infused water in Aerith's church, surrounded by his friends, and the citizens of Edge. After curing Denzel and the other infected children with the water, he turns and sees Aerith and Zack leaning against the doorway. As they step into white light, Aerith says "You see, everything's all right", and Cloud replies "I know... I'm not alone... not anymore".
The idea for Advent Children came about when script writer Kazushige Nojima wrote a script that was "just a story about Cloud and Tifa and the kids". Visual Works, a company that has developed CGI films for Square, picked Final Fantasy VII as the theme for a presentation that they were going to create.[1] Square's research and development department worked with them on its launch, and director Tetsuya Nomura joined the crew after producer Yoshinori Kitase called him. Advent Children was originally going to be a game sequel, but Nomura stated that it was not possible due to a number of factors such as the fact that Visual Works could not make a game. Therefore, the development team decided to stick with the original plan and work on it as a movie production. The creators of the film had no prior knowledge of how to make a movie, and it was based on their knowledge of in-game movies. They used motion capture in the film's battle scenes, but the parts that were not humanly possible had to be done by hand. By October 2003, Nomura mentioned that the film was 10% complete, stating that while the scenario was written, not all the characters were designed.[2] Nomura has stated a contrast between Advent Children and Hollywood films as in the latter the meanings from most scenes are explained. With Advent Children, the staff wanted viewers to interprete a scene in order to come to various conclusions as Nomura thinks comparing their own answers is another way to enjoy a film.[3]
One of the main concepts of the film was to focus in the characters of Cloud and Tifa in a similar way to how other titles from Compilation of Final Fantasy VII centers on other characters.[4] According to Nomura, the original movie was only supposed to be 20 minutes. The details of the original story is that it featured someone requesting a message to be sent to Cloud. The message is then relayed to Cloud through several children and, when the message finally reaches Cloud, it is revealed who the messenger is. Although Nomura insisted that he very much liked the original script, as it became the foundation for the theme of the final result of the movie, he decided to make the project more grand in scope because early word of this movie generated so much interest that a demand for the film to be feature length eventually became so great that Nomura complied.[5] The film was then decided to be 60 minutes long, but after development, it came to be 100 minutes long. Nojima described the theme of the film as "survival" with Nomura commenting it would not be soft.[2] Other themes of the film are Cloud's feelings of guilt and regret for not being able to save his friends Zack and Aerith which are symbolized through a grey wolf that appears in scenes in which Cloud thinks about them. The wolf disappears in the film's end as Cloud comes in terms with his feelings.[6] The word "children" was used in the title to refer a general overview of the film's children, as they represent the "next generation".[7]
Takeshi Nozue and Nomura split the role of directing having first worked together in the video game Kingdom Hearts. One of Nomura's purposes for this was how he wanted to add more depth to the movie's scenes. Nozue stated that when he started working, he was also already used to working with 3D graphics, thinking that drawing in 2D was relatively plain. Therefore, there was a small amount of conceptual arts but also brought difficulties using the positioning and directions. In the making of the fight scenes, Nozue and Nomura first discussed the setting, the layout and then came with ideas with the staff. Then they decided which were the most predominant and inferior ideas to continue working. The battle between Cloud's group against Bahamut was the most difficult to make due to the area's size and the fact the staff had to add various objects to keep it realistic. The change of places of the characters as well as Bahamut's movements also took the staff too much time in order to give the scene a fine flow.[3] Nomura stated that the team decided not to care about making fighting sequences unrealistic as they did not want to have restrictions as well as to give them "cool look". Therefore, they worked by creating their "own rules."[7]
The staff had trouble designing the characters as it was impossible for them to give their Final Fantasy VII designs a directly realistic look, leaving behind some identifying characteristics from them.[2] Cloud's redesign was a combination of a total of 8 designs the staff made which were from deformed to realistic designs. The difficulties in making Sephiroth caused the staff reduced his appearances in the film as it took them two years to develop.[3] Additionally, Nozue had difficulty developing a framework for Tifa's body that was "balanced, yet showed off her feminine qualities".[8] In April 2003, the three antagonists Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo were decided to be manifestations of Sephiroth's spirit—his cruelty, strength, and allure respectively.[9] In contrast to Sephiroth, the trio was meant younger than Cloud in order to focus in the "next generation" theme.[7] The staff realized that Aerith was not mentioned by the characters within their original script. As a result, the staff decided that they would have the characters wear ribbons to express that they had not forgotten her.[6]
Advent Children feature various famous Japanese and English voice actors. Takahiro Sakurai once again voiced Cloud, having first voiced him in the video game Kingdom Hearts.[10] Nomura wanted Cloud and Vincent's voices to contrast with each other due to their similarities. He felt Vincent was older and more mature than Cloud, and as a result he casted Shogo Suzuki due to his very low voice.[11] Toshiyuki Morikawa, Sephiroth's Japanese voice actor, was aided by the staff to make Sephiroth's lines so that his words would mean how superior the character feels. The voice director and Morikawa agreed to make Sephiroth's voice sound calm to the point he would not have been defeated by Cloud. With Aerith's voice actor, Maaya Sakamoto, decided already, Nomura requested Ayumi Ito take on the role of Tifa for the film, feeling her "husky voice" would offer a good contrast to Aerith.[12] Shotaro Morikubo had troubles voicing Kadaj due to the character's unstable personality and needed time to adjust to the role.[9] Kenji Nomura was told by the staff to voice Loz as an "idiot" character, while Yūji Kishi voiced Yazoo, whose long hair, similar to Sephiroth, was very difficult to animate.[13] For Advent Children Complete, Nomura stated there were no problems with the re-recording noting that Sakurai and Morikawa were already used to their characters. However, due to the growth of various young voice actors, various child characters, most notably the ones from Denzel and Marlene, were replaced.[14]
The official English casting was announced in February 2006. The announcent was delayed various times due to various last minute signings such as Mena Suvari who voiced Aerith after debuting in Kingdom Hearts II.[15] Steve Burton voiced Cloud, making his debut in a feature film.[16] Rachael Leigh Cook debuted as Tifa's English voice actress, expressing pressure due to the fans' reactions towards her work.[17] Other voice actors include George Newbern as Sephiroth, Steve Staley as Kadaj, Dave Wittenberg as Yazoo, Fred Tatasciore as Loz, Wally Wingert as Rufus Shinra, Quinton Flynn as Reno, Crispin Freeman as Rude.[15] The English release of Advent Children Complete retained most of its original voice cast.[18]
The music of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Keiji Kawamori, Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito, and arranged by Fukui, Sekito, Kawamori, Shiro Hamaguchi, and Kazuhiko Toyama. Uematsu was originally offered the job of creating the full score, but Sakimoto was eventually assigned as the main composer instead.[19] Nomura was careful to refine songs and had the composers make several revisions. Uematsu chose to have Kawamori, Fukui, and Sekito arrange his songs, resulting in a sound closer to rock.[20] Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Original Soundtrack was released on September 28, 2005 containing new material created specifically for the movie, as well as arrangements of tunes from the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack. Both the original tracks and the arrangements cover a variety of musical styles, including orchestral, choral, classical piano, and rock music; Variety noted that the styles vary between "sparse piano noodlings, pop metal thrashings and cloying power ballads".[21] The ending theme "Calling" was written and performed by former Boøwy vocalist Kyosuke Himuro. The album spans 26 tracks on two discs, covers a duration of 1:21:41. In addition to the regular release, a limited edition was produced. It contained alternate cover art displaying the Advent Children renditions of the characters Cloud Strife and Sephiroth and a booklet containing credits and lyrics.[22]
A mini-album titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete Mini Album was released on April 10, 2009 to coincide with the release of the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete version of the movie.[23] The new release of the movie included a new ending theme, "Safe and Sound", by Kyosuke Himuro and My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way, and replaced "Water" with a new song, "Anxious Heart".[23] The mini-album was five tracks and 29:17 long. The included tracks on the album were new versions of "The Chase of Highway", "Those Who Fight Further", "Sign", "Advent: One-Winged Angel", and "On the Way to a Smile", a piece from the Final Fantasy VII-based anime On the Way to a Smile.[24]
Advent Children was the first title announced in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, having been unveiled in September 2003 at the Tokyo Game Show.[25][26] Its first trailer was first featured in an updated version of the video game Final Fantasy X-2.[27] It was originally scheduled for a September 14, 2005 release in Japan and a September 13, 2005 release in North America, with Japan obtaining a special release of the DVD with more bonus material and collectible offers than the US release.[28][29] However, days before the release, Square Enix changed the US release date to a tentative November 2005, a move many felt indicated an attempt by Square Enix to release the film during the lucrative holiday sales times.[30][31] The estimate for release was changed once again in early November to a January release, and due to the release date being pushed back several times, the timer was removed from the official North American site. When fans noted that the E3 2005 trailer had confirmed the simultaneous September release, Square Enix stated that the trailer was not the real E3 trailer and possibly a fake trailer.[32]
In an article for the website The Digital Bits, it was eventually mentioned that the delays were due to the extra time required to complete the bonus supplements. Finally, in an IGN article on February 13, 2006, it was revealed that April 25, 2006 was the new official North American release date.[33] Later the same day, on an article on 1UP.com, the release date was confirmed yet again, along with the entire English voice cast.[15] Square Enix confirmed the info on their US website, indicating that the film was on track for a certain US release.[34]
A limited edition of the film titled Advent Pieces was released in Japan at the same time of Advent Children. Only 77,777 sets were produced. The edition contains includes a various types of merchandising, a copy of the script, the original Final Fantasy VII and a strategy guidebook of the game. Another disc was included in Advent Pieces, containing the original video animation Last Order: Final Fantasy VII.[27] Nomura stated that the reason for the naming of it being Advent Pieces due to advent meaning "the recognition and commemoration of something", while pieces was added in order to bring it a special meaning to the release.[35]
A special one-time only theatrical screening of the English version of the film took place on April 3, 2006 at the ArcLight movie theatre in Los Angeles. The event was promoted via e-mail to those who subscribed to the Square Enix mailing list.[36] The screening featured trailers of Kingdom Hearts II and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and was highlighted by appearances of the English language cast and the Japanese developers. The film was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sequences of intense action violence.[37]
The European, Australian, and North American DVD is a 2-disc set that includes several bonus features. Certain retailers offered a bonus disc to go with the DVD set. The disc contains a featurette on the English voice-over process, including interviews with voice actors Steve Burton (Cloud), Rachael Leigh Cook (Tifa) and Mena Suvari (Aerith). Sony later announced Final Fantasy VII Advent Children (Limited Edition Collector's Set) for release on February 20, 2007.[38] The set included more bonus material than the previous DVD releases, including printed materials.[39] The film spanned various types of action figures based on its characters.[40] Prior to the film's release in Japan, Panasonic produced a cellphone identical to the one Cloud uses in the film. The phone contained several features related to Advent Children such as wallpapers and ring-tones.[27] In the same date the film was released, Shueisha published a 118 paged guidebook titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Prologue Book.[41] In 2006, SoftBank Creative published a guidebook titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Reunion Files which contains interviews with the film's staff and information regarding development of the film.[42]
At the Tokyo Game Show 2006, Square Enix showed a trailer of a director's cut of the film, titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete, for release on the Blu-ray Disc format. The film also benefits from high-definition video and audio that the Blu-ray Disc format offers. The cut had formerly been expected to be released in mid 2007, but Square Enix announced at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 that they would postpone the product until 2008.[43] At the 2008 Square Enix DKΣ3713 Party, it was announced that Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete would be released in March 2009 in Japan, but it was delayed soon after and was released on April 16, 2009. A separate bundle was sold that included a demo of Final Fantasy XIII. Both editions included the first HD trailers of Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. The film features a 20-minute long extra movie on the disc, which is an animated version of the "Case of Denzel" chapter featured in the On the Way to a Smile short story, Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII and Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII Compilation. On April 11 and 12 from 2009, days before its release, Square Enix held four special screening of Advent Children Complete at the Ginza Sony Building in Tokyo. There were 800 open spots and the viewers had to have reserved the Blu-ray Disc or the PlayStation 3 bundle at the Square Enix e-store as well as to be members from Square Enix's online website.[44]
It contains a considerable amount of new footage that the original version lacks, as well as roughly a thousand revised scenes.[45] Themes expanded in Advent Children Complete are Cloud's development, Denzel's background and a more depth view towards the Turks and Rufus Shinra. As various titles from Compilation of Final Fantasy VII were released after the original film's release, the staff wanted to add links to the other titles of the metaseries. Additionally, there is more violence in this version in order to make battles more realistic, most notably in the one from Cloud and Sephiroth whose length was also expanded.[14] Another desire from the staff was to bring a "dirtier" look to the film with characters' faces and clothes getting darker or dirtier throughout the battles.[46]
Although Nomura stated that Advent Children Complete did not represent the end of Compilation of Final Fantasy VII as the staff still had ideas about what to work in, he still said it marked "the end of the Advent Children saga" as there would be no more rereleases or another extended version.[47] Advent Children Complete was released in North America on June 2, 2009,[48] July 27, 2009, in Europe and October 7, 2009, in Australia. However, both the North American and the European versions do not come with the playable demo of Final Fantasy XIII. Instead, it comes with a new trailer for Final Fantasy XIII.[49] The New York - Tokyo organization also held a special screening of the film in New York City.[50] Unlike the original version, which was rated PG-13, this version is unrated.[51]
The Japanese release of this edition features a new ending track from Kyosuke Himuro called "Safe and Sound," with additional lyrics from My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way. The track replaces Himuro's previous track "Calling" from the original cut of the film.[45] However, in the North American and European release, the song "Calling" remains, and "Safe and Sound" is absent.[52]
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII is an original video animation from 2005 directed by Morio Asaka, written by Kazuhiko Inukai, and animated by Madhouse.[53][54] It was originally released with the "Ultimate Edition" of the Advent Children movie, Advent Pieces: Limited, in Japan by Square Enix on September 14, 2005.[55][56] The collectors set was released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in the United States on February 20, 2007.[37] There is currently no English dub and the OVA is subtitled.[57]
The OVA is an anime rendition of two flashbacks that took place in the game: Nibelheim's rise by Sephiroth and Zack and Cloud on the run from Shinra. The anime cuts back and forth between these two flashbacks, linked by the Turk commander Tseng's reflection. The details from the game that were changed in the OVA received negative fan response causing the staff to avoid doing that in the video game prequel Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII which also revised such events.[58] The OVA was not included in Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete.[59]
Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII is a story digest of Final Fantasy VII, as recalled by Cloud at a time set shortly after the events of Advent Children. It consists of edited scenes from the original PlayStation game and live-action shots of locations seen in the bonus ending. Between flashbacks to the original game's sequences, it relates a short story about Cloud making deliveries while taking phone calls from other members of AVALANCHE. The only CGI in Reminisence is of Cloud's motorcycle parked on the side of the road as Barret gives him Yuffie's package. A similar version titled Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII Compilation was added to Final Fantasy Advent Children Complete covering all the titles from Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.[60]
On the Way to a Smile is a series of short stories taking place between the time of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. Written by Kazushige Nojima, the first story ("Case of Denzel") was released in episodes on the official Japanese Advent Children website, while the series was released in its entirety in V-Jump's Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Prologue book.[41][61] "Case of Denzel" was adapted into an OVA that was released with Advent Children Complete.[62]
The first four chapters are told indirectly through the perspective of Denzel. He has requested an interview with Reeve Tuesti in the hopes that he may become part of Reeve's newly formed World Regenesis Organization, an army devoted to rebuilding the planet. Denzel then goes on to tell his life story, including how he became an orphan, the events leading up to his becoming afflicted with Geostigma, and how he came into the care of Tifa and Cloud. The second short story consists of Tifa's account of the events following Meteor's destruction, overlapping in part with Denzel's story and her life with Cloud. A third On the Way to a Smile story was released with the North American limited edition box set of Advent Children. It involves Barret and his struggle with trying to find a new energy source for the people of the world. Advent Children Complete includes short stories in this series from the perspective of Yuffie Kisaragi, Red XIII, Shinra's members, Aerith and Sephiroth.[63] All the novels were also released together as a separate product from Advent Children Complete at the same time the film was released.[64]
The DVDs releases of Advent Children sold over 410,000 copies in Japan during its first week.[65] Combined with the UMD release, over 700,000 units were sold in the first three weeks.[66] The DVD ranked a "surprise" #2 during its first week in Nielsen VideoScan.[67] Nielsen later made a survey named "Top Selling Anime Releases of 2006" and Advent Children ranked at the top.[68] In an Oricon poll from 2005, the regular edition from the DVD ranked as the twelveth DVD best-selling from Japan with a total of 209,759 copies sold. The limited edition ranked fifteenth with 202,793 copies sold.[69] In a 2006 survey by the Japan External Trade Organization, the DVD ranked as the top best selling Japanese anime DVD in the United States. In the consecutive 2007 poll, the DVD stayed tenth.[70] The English DVD had sold 963,023 units which translated to $14,860,534 in revenue by the fifth week of release.[71] In 2006, Square Enix and Sony announced that the English language DVD and UMD releases combined had sold over 2.4 million units worldwide, with one million units sold in Japan, 1.3 million in North America, and 100,000 in Europe.[72] The English version of the film achieved various best-seller ranks in Amazon.com.[37] In ICv2's Top Ten Anime Properties from 2006, Advent Children was featured at the top.[73] and was one of the top three anime properties during 2007.[74] In its first day of release, over 100,000 copies of Advent Children's Blu-ray Discs were sold in Japan combining its three editions.[75] During its release week, the Blu-ray Disc format of the film was #2 bestselling Blu-ray Disc,[76] while during such period the versions reached a total of 274,774 units sold.[77] During 2009, the regular version of Advent Children Complete sold 49,000 units in Japan ranking second in the category "Animation/Special Effects Blu-ray Discs" from Oricon's survey "2009's Top-Selling Blu-ray Discs in Japan (Overall)".[78] It also ranked eighth in the category "Overall Blu-ray Discs, by Yen" with 310 million yen (US$3.4 million) sold in 2009.[79] Both gaming sites Gamasutra and Kotaku cited Advent Children Complete as one of the main reasons why the sales from the video game console PlayStation 3 radically increased during the film's first week of release.[80][77]
Advent Children received the Honorary Maria Award at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya on October 15, 2005.[81] The film was also awarded for "best anime feature" at the 2007 American Anime Awards.[82] IGN also put it second in the "Top 10 Straight-to-DVD Animated Movies."[83] On the other hand, Kotaku writer AJ Glasser spoofed the director's cut version in an article called "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete in 15 Minutes" for the lack explanation of mysteries in the film that were not explained in the original version.[59] In 2007 music video for the song "유혹의 소나타" ("Sonata of Temptation") by Korean singer Ivy recreated the fight between Tifa and Loz. Its director stated that the video was just a parody of the film but could not get in contact with Square Enix to get permission.[84] The video was banned from airing on Korean television after a copyright lawsuit by Square Enix citing plagiarism.[85] OverClocked ReMix's four disc tribute album, Voices of the Lifestream, has a disc entitled Advent. The name was chosen to coincide with Advent Children, and the music is themed after it.[86] Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama stated Final Fantasy VII Advent Children showed "battles that have not been achievable in FF so far" and made the battles of Final Fantasy XIII to be similar to the ones of the film.[87]
Advent Children has received mixed and positive reviews by critics. 1UP.com's James Mielke, who scored it an "A-", commented on the quality and clarity of the CG visuals as "genuinely amazing". Mielke called it "the real Final Fantasy movie", finding it more appealing than the first CGI film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. He did, however, criticize the film's music, and called it "a bit sappy".[88] Although Anime News Network writer Carlo Santos praised the animation calling it "outstanding", he criticized the film's plot due to the fact that non-players from Final Fantasy VII would not understand the story. The feature Reminiscence of Final Fantasy VII was found by Santos to be "just as confusing as the movie and is more of a refresher for those who have played Final Fantasy VII."[89] A similar response was given by Mania Entertainment's John Eriani who commented that anybody who has not played Final Fantasy VII should search for information about the game to understand the film's storyline.[90] Fellow writer Dani Moure agreed with Eriani and added that he liked how the characters were further explored in the film.[91] Chris Carle from IGN shared similar opinions, giving the section "The Movie" a seven, the lowest number he gave it. He also praised the sound and the English voice acting, but criticized the lack of commentary in the DVDs extras.[92] He gave the film an overall "Outstanding" score of nine out of ten.[93] On the other hand, Todd Douglass Jr. from DVD Talk commented that Advent Children "is pretty much the film that fans all over the world have been waiting for." Besides the animation and the appearances from various characters being praised, Cloud's development in the film was commented to be one of the best parts by Douglass.[94] RPGamer's Michael Beckett gave it a 4 out of 5 with comments on the plot's tone, the characters' redesigns and the setting. He particularly gave praise to the film's fighting scenes stating that in such aspect "the film feels very much like a love letter to the fans of Final Fantasy VII."[95] Variety had a negative opinion regarding the narrative, calling some battle sequences "irritating", finding that the last battles have a more ferocious antagonists than previous.[21] About.com's Roger Altizer gave it a more negative review, giving it 2 and a half stars out of 5, citing its plot and dialogues "weak" and finding the visuals as one of its few pros.[96]
Advent Children Complete has also been reviewed by various sites. It received an overall 4.5 out of 5 by Blu-ray's Dustin Somner who also enjoyed its quality, and commented on the film's aspects, mentioning that the "plot is emotionally dense, the action is explosively over-the-top, and the world in which the story enfolds is rich with creativity." In concluding his review, Somner highly recommended the blu-ray to people who have viewed Advent Children or fans of Final Fantasy VII, while non-viewers would like to rent it first "I'd remind you to consider the near-perfect audio/video quality and perhaps take a leap of faith in adding the disc to your collection."[60] In contrast to the original release, Joystiq's Andrew Yoon found Advent Children Complete as a better film as it is more accesible to non-gamers from Final Fantasy VII, while the new scenes helped in giving more depth in Cloud's development to the point of "humanizing [him]." Nevertheless, he still found that it contained some flaws from Advent Children such as the pacing of scenes which made the plot difficult to follow.[97] Douglass also reviewed Advent Children Complete, considering "the best version of the film" due to its audio quality, the new scenes, as well as the expansion of Cloud's battle against Sephiroth. He still called the bonus features disappointing, citing the fact its titled "Complete". However, he found the new OVA and the trailer of Final Fantasy XIII as "welcome additions."[51]
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