Contrary to popular belief, Final Fantasy X was not the first Final Fantasy to have a direct sequel. That was Final Fantasy V. Sure, we didn’t get Final Fantasy V in the West until Final Fantasy Anthology. So most people didn’t know about either. Of course, if you liked anime and the Final Fantasy games, you might have come across it.
I never saw a DVD of Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals. That’s probably because we can only get it on VHS. Challenging, I know. Luckily, someone uploaded the entire OVA to YouTube. And like Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, that’s how I watched it.
After reading up on the lore, I found out this is several generations into Final Fantasy V’s future. That explains why I don’t recognize anything from Final Fantasy V. Prettz sounds like Bartz, Linay sounds like Lenna. Besides that, I don’t see too much connection. The musical theme is similar. Speaking of which, the CD and the episodes chapters are “Wind” and “Fire”…the “Dragon” and “Star”. Ok…
Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals has a dragon, but I though Krile’s Wyvern was the last one? Where did this one come from? I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk about fan service.
…Linay’s panties outnumber all of the Final Fantasy references. Seriously. They show Batz Bartz, Faris, Lenna, Galuf and Krile in a flashback. They show panties nearly five times more. This. This is creepy. Kind of just as creepy as the naked Chocobo summons. This isn’t at all Final Fantasy. But…what? We have an old man reminiscent of Galuf. We have lesbian dominatrix pirate, like reminiscent of Faris. We have non-descriptive characters. And Mid is the male version of Krile. Remember Mid? He was Cid’s grandson and he’s dead here. In fact, they’re all dead. This takes place 200 years into the future. They didn’t age though.
This is when I had to stop watching for a while. What is this I’m watching right now? Why are the Final Fantasy anime shows so strange? Well, it’s better than Final Fantasy: Unlimited, that’s for sure. And it doesn’t botch Final Fantasy VII’s story like Lost Order: Final Fantasy VII. But it still seems like a knockoff of another anime pretending to be a Final Fantasy. Why do I watch these things? Well, I’m a Final Fantasy fan. But these shows are so far away from the source material, I never quite know what to make of them.
Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals was special. What if you played Final Fantasy II and III for the SNES? If you saw Final Fantasy V on the back of the VHS, you’d look for IV. But you already played Final Fantasy IV. It was Final Fantasy II. Well, then what was Final Fantasy III? It was actually Final Fantasy VI. Where was Final Fantasy III and V?
Not much happens in this anime. Well, except for the fact that it’s a lot darker than Final Fantasy V. Exdeath was incorrigible, but like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. Ra Devil was scary in comparison. Stealing brains and killing children? That’s something I would have never expected from the game that gave Boku a wife.