Final Fantasy VII Advent Children

Set two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud now leads a solitary life traveling the Planet as a transporter. The office of Strife Delivery Service is located in 7th Heaven, which also functions as an orphanage for children stricken with Geostigma.

Three new enemies make an appearance in Advent Children. Kadaj, their leader, is in his teens, while Yazoo and Loz are known to be in their twenties. In them, Cloud sees shadows of FFVII’s fallen hero, Sephiroth. The three are after “Mother” and refer to Cloud as their “Brother”. Having obtained Jenova’s head, their purpose appears to be to start another Reunion. Vincent suspects that with Jenova’s cells, they may even be able to create another Sephiroth.

Reno and Rude arrive at 7th Heaven, Cloud having been hired by Rufus to be his “bodyguard” from the three new foes. The ShinRa President suffers from Geostigma as well and is wheelchair-bound. Rufus has been reconstructing Midgar and searching for any traces of influence that Sephiroth might have left on the Planet, to which he has found none. He now resides at the Healin Lodge, also known as the Geostigma Sanatorium. The Turks report that the three silver-haired youths have brought the children to their headquarters, the City of the Ancients.

Cloud still carries emotional scars from the last time we saw him. Weighed down by memories of loved ones he has lost and his physical condition, he now comes across as devoid of hope. Ever the reluctant hero, it takes much persuasion from Tifa after the children are captured for Cloud to decide to go after them. Perhaps it is only during his dream-like encounter with Aerith on the way to the City of the Ancients that he finally makes some progress. The two meet back-to-back in the flower field, beneath a pure white sky. Cloud struggles to voice his desire to seek forgiveness, to which Aerith says that she already has forgiven him. Consoled but still unconvinced, Cloud sets out on his path of redemption.

A non-contagious disease known as Geostigma is spreading across the Planet, with Kadaj claiming that it is due to Jenova’s cells working hard in the Lifestream. Children tend to show signs of Geostigma first, though adults are susceptible to the disease as well. Symptoms of Geostigma include mental weakness, pain and even death. Cloud is known to suffer from this disease though he hides his affected arm beneath his sleeve. He is heard coughing and clutching his arm in some parts of the trailers. Victims bandage affected regions and it was Cloud’s used bandage, which Marlene found in the Church, that gave away his condition.

According to the creators, the Church will feature prominently in the movie. Besides being the place Cloud calls home, it is also the stage for the fight between Tifa and Loz. Despite her valiant attempts, Tifa is ultimately defeated and Loz makes off with Marlene and the rest of the children. Cloud arrives late and brings the barely conscious Tifa back to 7th Heaven.

Kadaj speaks to the children by the shore of the lake in the City of the Ancients, rallying them to join forces with him against the Planet. They ambush Cloud and the children form a circle around him, preventing his escape. Kadaj calls Cloud a traitor and is about to execute him when Vincent swoops down and brings Cloud to safety. Marlene escapes and rejoins Cloud and Vincent in the woods. They then chase the silver-haired youths and the children back to Midgar.

Midgar is in chaos when they return. Kadaj has unleashed a swarm of Shadowcreepers which attack the townspeople while Cid, Barret, Vincent, Yuffie and Red XIII fight them off. Tifa is shown shielding Denzel, one of the orphans under her charge. Reno and Rude battle Yazoo and Loz respectively. Kadaj is seen looking down from a damaged building with Rufus, during which he summons Bahamut Sin. Cloud then practically flies towards the dragon, kamikaze-style, as it prepares to launch an attack on the city.

It should be noted that Tifa, Cid, Yuffie, Red XIII and Marlene have each been seen carrying a ribbon. Cloud, too, has been spotted with one tied around his left arm during what appears to be a flashback. Here, his arm is not covered by a sleeve, presumably before he contracted Geostigma, and he is seen fingering the ribbon in the rain. Whether the ribbons are simply a gesture of friendship or even a sign of mourning remains uncertain.

The scene then shifts to Cloud scaling up the side of a building with a sword in each hand while explosions go off. As the buildings collapse around him, he looks up and we see Sephiroth in all his former glory. The line, “I won’t remain just a memory.” is heard. From out of the debris, sword drawn, a familiar face is seen. None other than Sephiroth has returned.

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 CG 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. However, the development team decided to stick with the original plan and work on it as a movie production.

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".[3] The tracks were composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Keiji Kawamori, Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito, and arranged by Fukui, Sekito, Kawamori, Shiro Hamaguchi, and Kazuhiko Toyama. 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.[4]

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.[5] The new release of the movie included a new ending theme, "Safe and Sound", Kyosuke Himuro and My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way, and replaced "Water" with a new song, "Anxious Heart".

According to Nomura in the DVD commentary, 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.

After Square and Enix merged to Square Enix in 2003, the production of the film started. As there was little time, Nomura began developing a textual storyboard instead of a visual storyboard. He made a timeline of the story and wrote down all the elements of the story from the beginning to the end as keywords. 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.

Two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII, the survivors of Midgar have begun to build a new city, Edge, on the outskirts of the old metropolis. A strange disease known as "Geostigma" has arisen. After Cloud's showdown with Sephiroth, he has been living with Tifa in Edge. Marlene and an orphaned boy named Denzel have been entrusted to their care. After receiving a message from Tifa, Cloud is attacked by three men, Kadaj (voiced by Showtaro Morikubo in the Japanese version and Steve Staley in the English version), Loz (voiced by Kenji Nomura in the Japanese version and Fred Tatasciore in the English version), and Yazoo (is voiced by Yūji Kishi in the Japanese version and Dave Wittenberg in the English version), who believe that he has hidden their "mother". The leader, Kadaj, ends the battle as he discovers that Cloud does not have their "mother". Cloud responds to a message from Tifa, who tells him that the Turks have a job for him. At the meeting place, Cloud discovers that Rufus Shinra is still alive. 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" is Jenova's remains, and is somehow 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 Aerith's church in Midgar in an attempt to find Jenova's remains, and is confronted by Tifa. After battling Tifa, he receives instructions on his cell phone to capture Marlene. Kadaj and the gang begin collecting children infected with Geostigma, including Denzel and the uninfected Marlene, and take them to the Forgotten City. Cloud attempts to rescue them but fails, and is quickly defeated, and is then rescued by Vincent Valentine, who reveals to Cloud what the trio is seeking and that it could result in the return of Sephiroth. Cloud agrees to return to Edge and face Kadaj in battle. In Edge, the trio call forth several monsters to attack the populace, including the summon "Bahamut SIN". While Cloud's companions deal with Bahamut SIN, Reno and Rude try to take care of Yazoo and Loz until Cloud arrives. Cloud and his friends are able to dispatch the monsters and Bahamut SIN.

Afterward, Cloud appears surrounded by a white light, and Aerith and Zack are heard. Aerith tells Cloud that his place is not with them yet, and sends him back. Cloud awakens in a pool of Lifestream-infused water in Aerith's church, surrounded by his friends, family and the citizens of Edge. After curing the Geostigma-infected Denzel, he turns and sees Aerith crouching by some children. As she stands and walks to the doorway, she turns back and says that everything's all right now, and steps into a white light with Zack. Cloud watches them go, and says that he knows that he's not alone.

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 dives after the remains and recovers them shortly after Rufus shoots the box and damaging its contents. Kadaj spots Cloud in pursuit of him, and is followed to the ruins of Midgar. They battle each other in Aerith's church. Kadaj destroys the flowerbed, which releases an outflow of Lifestream-infused water that cures Cloud's Geostigma. Kadaj flees to the ruins of Shinra Headquarters, where they continue their fight. Outmatched, Kadaj absorbs Jenova's remains into his body, allowing Sephiroth to be reborn through the Remnant's body. Revealing that once those who die from the Geostigma return to the Lifestream, Sephiroth 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. After a heated final battle, Cloud defeats Sephiroth who dissipates leaving a weakened Kadaj at Cloud's mercy. Aerith begins to pour healing rain across Edge, curing the people of their Geostigma. She tells Kadaj to be at peace, who believes her voice to be that of his "mother", and he is taken by the Lifestream. Cloud is then shot by Yazoo in the back. Also succumbing to the healing rain but bent on not going alone, Yazoo and Loz prepare one final blast at Cloud as he charges at them, resulting in a large explosion that engulfs all three.