Final Fantasy

Two hundred years have passed since the hero Bartz and his companions saved the inhabitants of Planet R—a world where crystals control the natural elements—from the threat of Exdeath. However, agents of the wizard Ra Devil steal the crystals of Earth, Fire, and Water. With three of the four crystals in his possession, Ra Devil seeks to claim the Wind Crystal, the final piece he needs to summon the destructive god Deathgyunos.

Novice summoner Linaly—a direct descendant of Bartz—lives with her grandfather Hassam. After receiving an ominous message about the Wind Crystal, Hassam travels to the Wind Temple. Concerned for his safety, Linaly suggests that they make the journey together. On their trip, they encounter Prettz, a rowdy yet amiable swordsman, who is captivated by the young girl and accompanies the duo for his own mysterious reasons.

During a battle, an antlion monster injures Hassam, leaving him bedridden. As a result, the responsibility of securing the Wind Crystal falls on Linaly, with Prettz assuming the role of her guardian as they continue their perilous adventure.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Klauser, Linaly Main

Minaguchi, Yuko Japanese

Prettz Main

Matsumoto, Rica Japanese

Ra Devil Supporting

Ogata, Kenichi Japanese

Valkus Supporting

Chiba, Shigeru Japanese

Rouge Supporting

Hirano, Fumi Japanese

Hassam Supporting

Tomiyama, Kei Japanese

Mid Supporting

Kozakura, Etsuko Japanese

Queen Lenna Supporting

Kasahara, Hiroko Japanese

Rintarou Director, Episode Director

Ookubo, Tomihiko Director, Key Animation

Sekijima, Mayori Script

Iso, Mitsuo Special Effects, Key Animation

Reviews

May 30, 2021

Uneducated_Revs

Recommended

Based on the universe of Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals is a 4 OVA anime episode that basically forms a 4 chapter movie (and I do think is the best way to experience it). It is set 200 years after the events that unfolded in the game with a new story and characters to maybe fall in love.

Starting with the good, character design, art direction and animation are amazing, it has a lot of charm and uniqueness of the 90s anime era with an original touch, many artistic choices made these OVAs stand out from other animations in that regard and ... it’s easy to see some kind of inspiration from Nausicaa. The animation has plenty of dynamic shots that also make great use of negative space and geography that give a good sense of scale, like making places massive or more condensed. It has a Sci-fi aesthetic of that era that hasn’t been replicated since then, so watching these OVAs gave me nostalgic feelings that I wasn’t aware that I needed, so overall at least visually it has a lot to praise and love.

In regards to the story while is based on FFV its ties are quite light, almost non-existent, it doesn’t feel like a sequel but more like a spin-off which allegedly it’s what they were looking for while making these OVAs, still, I like how it is connected but I can see how for someone else it would be a turn-off, and that is difficult to argue upon. The tone’s also messy, it is not that the Final Fantasy series doesn’t have comedy and lighthearted subplots but Legend of the Crystals takes this whimsicalness to the point of being distracting. For instance, there’s a lot of female sexualization, I don’t mind it that much but in some instances it went to the point of being too much, like panty shots and panty jokes left and right through all the chapters, again it goes with the whimsical line they went to but if even I noticed it’s because it can be too forced sometimes, FFV has some degree of sexualization so I guess this should not be a complete surprise.

It has a colorful cast that makes things more fun, in the vein of the more modern Final Fantasy XIII the party it’s composed of an unlikely bunch of characters that don't get along that well between them but they have a great dynamic nevertheless. Although our main character Prettz can be quite annoying sometimes and be as one-dimensional as they come, on the other hand, we have Linary which feels like a Ghibli character and she is easily the most interesting character but sadly, even when she’s a key character she is ever sent to the background, the other characters are quite solid and fun, if only the main antagonist has the same charm as them.

Although these OVAs never go the heights the game went before and it has issues that can’t be overlooked and it isn’t that interesting, it has a great rhythm and never a dull moment. Its sense of art serves as a patch that hides some of its problems but still, it’s hard to see for whom these episodes were aimed, for fans of the game? or for newcomers that don't know the lore of the game and just want to watch something cool? It certainly missed the mark for a good shot between the two of them. I think that it serves as a new side story of FFV but sadly it isn’t an obligated view for anybody, still, if you’re fixed to watch them you’ll likely have a good enough time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 17, 2022

Gsarthotegga

Mixed Feelings

The reputation for this OVA has always been all over the place. Fans of the game series appear to dislike it because it's not as well-rounded as they would hope and maybe too brief and rushed of a fantasy romp. It's loosely based on Final Fantasy 5, but there's not much to this connection other than a few references to the four crystals, the heroes, the curious fact of every spell the female main uses involves the comic relief beast of burden/horse-like (more like an ostrich or big bird, but they ride them, so...) creature known as the chocobo, and the villain with the ... most badass name ever—ExDeath (I'm kidding). The FF games, as far as I know, took their time to really flesh the world and story out, but... it's not like their longwinded stories were anything special, yet I guess fleshed-out mediocrity is better than a mediocrity formed by being seemingly thrown together because of budget or time constraints...

It's an okay little OVA. One of the better hard fantasy series of its type from the '90s OVA boom. The story is just a rough bastardization and revamping of the SNES games—essentially, it's like "Oh, no! Oh, wow! Someone has taken the four crystals and thrown the world out of balance for their own diabolical plans! Too bad we didn't bother to add security details... oops..." that actually might be the biggest of all fantasy cliches when it comes to the conception of the world. An old-fashioned notion about the way elements correspond to nature and how the heroes keep this balance and the villains throw it out of whack. Not very compelling. They don't get too heavy in rehashing the rehash, but I did space out during a few expository moments. At least it's really brief.

The coloring is as vivid as 1992's similarly themed Ellcia. The character design is... eh, a mixed bag: I think it's quirky and stands out, but the dominatrix pirate group is very stupid looking, and Valkus is maybe a bit funky with the proportion of his tiny head and bulbous body. The visual design is pretty solid, and the more wide-open driving scenes remind me slightly of obscure OVAs with a great sense of movement like Birth, and Yoshinori Kanada had a hand in animating the both of them (most of his FF segments are noticeable in the fourth episode, especially with the dog fights and explosions), though Birth remains far more notable in terms of animation. Other reference points might be another obscure OVA, Dragon's Heaven—a kind of Moebius-inspired sci-fi/fantasy mech piece with lots of stippling and texturing, though FF is decidedly much lighter on the shading. Other notable animators include Mitsuo Iso, who provided exceptional character animation and one of the motorcycle chase scenes. Being that this is a Rintaro directed anime, the story boarding is also very good, and it especially shows in the perspective and detail-packed ending sequence among the green ruins.

Where the series is a little less convincing is with the characters. They're often serviceable to lead the plot along. Some of the hijinks are humorous—other moments not as much. The characters have enough swagger to the point that you might not notice what little depth they have if you get caught up in the action and character acting.

Prettz has a big sword to represent how horny he is, and we get to watch him do nothing but hero things and simp the whole time. Linaly is... *flashes panties.* Oh, right. The most notable aspect about her character is that she eats one of the crystals, and it causes her bottom to light up like a firefly, and she can easily function as a lighthouse, as we see in one of the classiest scenes of all time. Rouge is a gold-digging dominatrix whose philosophy is like "I love money. I hate death." Valkus is an interesting case: you don't know what he'll be like as a character until he sees Rouge, and "falls in love" with her and will do anything for her. Ugh, well, he's partially redeemed by his line of dialogue when he's trying to avoid fighting: "W-wait! I'm not in the habit of fighting fat women." Pretty based, but then he ends up as an emasculated slave by the end in one of the worst send-offs for a character I've ever seen. I personally have a soft spot for ghost characters like Mid; he works well as a wise man archetype and guide, though his backstory is really ridiculous. Talk about a big-brained grandfather—it's like the size of a house!

The villain has absolutely 0 depth. I guess he wanted to rule the universe or something, and he has the equally cool name of Ra Devil (kidding again). His visual design is kind of cool and reminiscent of a more tech-infused body horror like you'd find in Akira, but that's about it. The action has some kind of weight and tension to it throughout most of the first three episodes, but it feels really thrown together and random by the end. Like the heroes have unimaginable plot armor, and the sense of world building for the final area is really non-existent. The final fight actually does feel oddly like a drawn-out turn-based JRPG game with how ridiculous it is. The ending is also unsatisfying and flat.

I feel like this was a fun... possible 6/10 for most of the series, but it loses direction to such an extent by the last episode that I settled for a 5/10. The whole thing about finding the dragon is a little tedious, and there are plenty of little things that bog it down, as well as some pacing issues due to the predictability of the script. There are a LOT of shoddy OVAs during that period, but this one is reasonably well-made and worth checking out. It just needed a better script, and the VGM tie-in probably didn't help, but I will say that as far as that kind of thing goes, this held up remarkably well, flawed as it may be.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Feb 1, 2014

WdaCdaShdaDid

Not Recommended

As most others have said, if you haven't played (or watched) "Final Fantasy V" the game, you will not get a lot out of this. I would not recommend it whatsoever for anyone who has not done that beforehand. It's not arrogance; it just loses any appeal if you don't have that background.

Even if you have played/watched the game, there is not much to recommend this set of OVAs, beyond adding to how much of the "Final Fantasy" series you have under your belt. If that is all you want to do, pick this up. It's pretty short and it's not hard to find. There ... are a couple flashbacks that might be showing anime versions of the FFV cast in heavy shadow and it does vaguely reference FFV as a legend from the past, but that's about it for connection to the game.

The story formula follows the average formula for the early FF games - crystals are being stolen and a band of disparate heroes comes together to deal with the problem. Someone absorbs a crystal and they all end up fighting the villain in a place full of evil. My main issue is that this story is even worse than most of the games in regards to sexism and objectification of women. For example, I suppose that in an attempt to be cute and have some of that usual 'aw shucks' FF humor, someone thought it would be a GREAT idea to have a plot point that involved the primary female protagonist's butt glowing, with an excuse for the primary male protagonist to stare at it whenever it did so. Hey, it's not perverted or fanservice if it's part of the plot, right? - probably something a crewmember said while writing this.

The characters are pathetic, at best. This story had the potential to be so cool and it just fails. There's an all-female pirate crew who seem to be pretty badass at first and don't fit your average female video game character model. Until you notice that they're all wearing stripper reject outfits, apparently have the intelligence of vegetables and are terrified of smiling smoke bombs. The primary protagonist in this story is also a woman (contrary to the advertising and other reviews), which is awesome, making her the first primary female protagonist in the FF world (other games focused on groups or a male protag - a solo woman didn't start the party builds until FFVI). She's also smart, creative, brave and strong. She's a great protagonist... until she gets damseled. Apparently three OVAs with a primary female protag was all the writers could take. Even then, we could have seen her attempting to break out of her prison. Nope. The story switches to the male protag, who is funny but also obnoxious, doesn't understand the word 'no' (consent, it's SO funny) and somewhat sexist, like most of the male characters in this story (I just love me some sexist remarks all over my anime mmhmm). For the overall cast make-up, it's interesting that in a world where pirates can be all female, a woman can rule a nation and women can carry on the teachings of mystics (like the female protag) but there are apparently no female soldiers or other officials.

Oddly enough, the only real saving grace this series had was in the dub. If you've watched the "Tenchi Muyo" dubs, you'll notice that a number of those voice actors show up here. I found that very amusing, especially since the characters they play are similar but also drastically different. So it's like the "Tenchi Muyo" cast is on drugs or something for this series.

This is 90s anime animation and it's nothing fantastic. The overall look reminds me a bit of "Dragon Ball Z". Even though the soundtracks from the games are beautiful, these OVAs had nothing remarkable.

I did not enjoy this and would not recommend it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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Five Figure Fridays: Final Fantasy

As we wait for the next installment in the acclaimed Final Fantasy series, there is no better time then to see what wonderful figures have been released during the franchise's long run.

by rinkya

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