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Ok, I keep reading reveiws around the net about this manga and how it's unrealistic and therefore somehow sub-par. And I'll concede that a few of the mystery solving explanations are a bit more Scooby Doo than CSI, but I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

Lili Hoshizawa is an astrologer that moonlights as a private investigator (Spica) who solves mysteries with her partner, love interest, and childhood friend, Hiromi Oikawa. The characters are sweet, quirky, and sympathetic.

Where do I begin? A friend of mine recommended this to me and I was very skeptical. A brother in love with his sister and reincarnations of angels and such? I believed I would surely hate it.

But...

I didn't. The art was beautiful. The story was fair, although I believe there were a few plot holes in the whole angel reincarnation line, but on the whole, a good adaptation of a manga that was so very long. (I assume. I have yet to finish the books myself.)

All the extra footage in this really ties the game and the movie together. The added scenes with Reno and Rude were terrific and the extended fight with Sephiroth at the end was thrilling and beautiful. A definite must for all Final Fantasy fans!

I think that if I had seen this movie without noticing the 'Final Fantasy' attached to the beginning, I would have enjoyed it. But there was something about it, as I compared it in my mind to all the amazing and mindblowing games I had played, that could only fall short. I didn't find the characters very sympathetic or engaging. All in all, I would have been fine going my entire life without seeing this film.

I will start by saying I have been a fan of FFVII since it came out. I have played the game more times than I can count and I loved it. Thought Cloud was awesome, Tifa was sweet and beautiful, Vincent was the coolest secret character in gaming history, and Sephiroth was the baddest baddie in badtown. And Reno made me laugh. "We may be retreating...but we're still victorious." What the hell? Fantastic.

And I loved this movie. It was a visual delight the likes of which I had never before seen. The story was probably hard for people to follow if they weren't die-hard ... fans, but I really enjoyed it.

SPOILERS

That being said, this movie made me dislike Cloud and start to find Tifa...grating at best. Our hero became very emo and standoffish (more than usual) and was chasing something that no longer exists. I found that part irritating. Aeris is dead. Get over it. And Tifa is throwing herself at a man that is clearly not interested. She needs to move on.

Other than those two incredibly minor things, I thought the film was quite brilliant.