| Last Order: Final Fantasy VII | |
 Promotional artwork featuring Zack (front), Sephiroth (middle), and Jenova (back) | |
| ラストオーダー -ファイナルファンタジーVII- (Rasuto Ōdā -Fainaru Fantajī Sebun-) | |
|---|---|
| Original video animation | |
| Directed by | Morio Asaka |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by |
|
| Music by | Takeharu Ishimoto |
| Studio | Madhouse |
| Licensed by | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment |
| Released | September 14, 2005 |
| Runtime | 25 minutes |
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII,[a] also abbreviated asLast Order orLO, is a 2005 Japaneseoriginal video animation (OVA) produced byMadhouse and released bySquare Enix. It was directed byMorio Asaka, and produced byMasao Maruyama, Jungo Maruta and Akio Ofuji.Tetsuya Nomura served as supervising director. The OVA is an alternate rendition of two flashbacks which were first seen in the video gameFinal Fantasy VII.Last Order was released in Japan withAdvent Pieces: Limited, aspecial edition release of the filmFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and as a bonus feature in the North American "Limited Edition Collector's Set" release.
Last Order is associated with theCompilation of Final Fantasy VII, a series of prequels and sequels to the originalFinal Fantasy VII. Although not an officialCompilation installment,Last Order has nonetheless been included in official guidebooks. The OVA's soundtrack was released with the music ofBefore Crisis, and select songs were later remixed forCrisis Core.Last Order was created due to the success of promotional commercials forBefore Crisis, with production lasting six months. The plot encompasses two events occurring before the events ofFinal Fantasy VII. One followsSephiroth destroying a village, and the other followsZack Fair andCloud Strife escaping from the Shinra Electric Power Company. These flashbacks are narrated byTurk leader Tseng. Originally meant to focus on Zack,Last Order highlighted Tseng's feelings and position in the Shinra company.Last Order received negative fan response due to differences from the original game's content, and theCrisis Core game designers avoided recreating certain scenes fromLast Order.
Last Order explores situations shown and referenced withinFinal Fantasy VII and otherCompilation titles.[1] The world ofFinal Fantasy VII, referred to as "thePlanet", is dependent for its survival on a flow of spirit energy called the Lifestream.[2][3] The megacorporation Shinra eventually rises to power and begins extracting the Lifestream through mako reactors, killing the Planet.[4] Shinra uses Mako as an energy source[5] and to manipulate the strength and abilities of theirparamilitary organization, SOLDIER.[6] Sephiroth, considered the strongest member of SOLDIER, is sent to investigate a Mako reactor in the secluded town of Nibelheim and is accompanied by the SOLDIER Zack and twogrunts, one of whom is Cloud.[7][8] While there, Sephiroth spends most of his time reading in the Shinra Mansion, which had previously been used by the Shinra scientistHojo to conduct experiments. Through Hojo's log books, Sephiroth comes to learn of his past, in which he was injected withJenova's cells. The Planet had once been inhabited by the Cetra (or "Ancients"), who were almost completely destroyed by Jenova, anextraterrestrial lifeform that crashed onto the Planet 2,000 years previously, and began infecting the Cetra with avirus.[9] When Jenova was unearthed by a Shinra science team, it was mistakenly identified as a Cetra. This caused Sephiroth to believe he was also a Cetra, and that humans had betrayed his ancestors.[10][11]
After killing the villagers of Nibelheim, Sephiroth goes to the mako reactor facility, and incapacitates Tifa and Zack. As Sephiroth reunites with Jenova, Cloud ambushes him. Sephiroth impales Cloud and escapes with Jenova. Hojo and the soldiers arrive, and take Zack and Cloud for science experimentation, during which Cloud succumbs to mako poisoning.[14] Zack later escapes with the unconscious Cloud and is ambushed by the Shinra military en route to Midgar.
| Final Fantasy VII chronology |
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Other roles includeDaisuke Namikawa as Turk (Rod),Ginpei Sato as Turk (Two Guns),Hōchū Ōtsuka as Turk (Martial Arts),Mayuko Aoki as Turk (Shotgun), andMegumi Toyoguchi as Turk (Gun);[15] together, they are group of agents under Tseng's command who previously appeared inBefore Crisis. Keiji Okuda,Atsushi Imaruoka,Ryuji Mizuno, and Daisuke Kirii voice members of Shinra's military unit, who attempt to apprehend Cloud and Zack.Yōhei Tadano andKatsuhisa Hōki voice villagers of Nibelheim.[15]
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII was produced and scripted by Square Enix collaboration withMadhouse[16] and directed byMorio Asaka.[19] The decision to createLast Order arose from the positive reaction towards a popular promotional clip created by Madhouse for the gameBefore Crisis. Madhouse was chosen to produce the OVA partly because of their success with the clip and because the president of Madhouse was very enthusiastic about the project.[16] However, the main reason for choosing Madhouse was that the company "understood the significance" of making aFinal Fantasy VII animation, as it was considered a large responsibility to animate "the most popular game" in theFinal Fantasy series.[16]Tetsuya Nomura, the character designer for theFinal Fantasy VII series and co-director ofAdvent Children,[20][21][22] acted as the supervising director.[16] He had the right to reject or accept concept drawings forLast Order. As a result, Nomura had a large quantity of images redrawn, to the extent that "the entire production was in jeopardy".[16]
Production lasted six months. The production crew considered the most challenging part of creating the OVA to be making "Nomura's drawings move on screen".[16] BecauseLast Order was hand-drawn, the crew faced difficulties creating uniform lines. Another issue was the overall feel of each scene; original drawings were done by several artists, resulting in various scenes having different styles.[16] Producer Akio Ofuji explained that they "wanted to make sure the final product was of very high quality, so [they] worked with the production company day and night, straight through to the deadline".[15][16] Nomura and Ofuji agreed that many scenes showing important events and feelings inFinal Fantasy VII had been fragmented and disjointed, and so they had decided that those scenes would be the subject ofLast Order, giving the audience ofAdvent Children (the filmLast Order was released with) a "more enjoyable understanding".[16] They used the film as an opportunity to portray Zack "properly" as a "handsome, light-hearted man [who] was in everyone's memory".[16]Last Order also details Tseng's growth and his feelings towards his both job and events depicted, wherein he attempts to "get his own ideas of justice heard" but later abandons his moral values "in order to carry out a cruel mission". Ofuji commented that "those are the kind of scenes we wanted people to be more aware of".[16]
Last Order was originally released in Japan with the "Ultimate Edition" of theAdvent Children film,Advent Pieces: Limited, on September 14, 2005.[23] The OVA was included in theNorth American "Limited Edition Collector's Set" ofAdvent Children, released bySony Pictures Home Entertainment on February 20, 2007.[18][24] The North America release did not come with an Englishdub and the OVA is subtitled.[15]Last Order was not included in the release ofFinal Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, a 2009director's cut ofAdvent Children with extra footage.[25]
TheCompilation of Final Fantasy VII is a series of prequels and sequels to the originalFinal Fantasy VII game.Last Order is not part of theCompilation of Final Fantasy VII and is considered an outside work.[26] However, it has been associated with theFinal Fantasy VII series since its creation,[27] and is mentioned alongside official installments in official guidebooks andcompanion books.[16][26] LikeLast Order,Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode: Final Fantasy VII (a mobile phone spin-off ofDirge of Cerberus) is an outside work associated with theCompilation.[26]
Last Order's score was composed, arranged, and produced byTakeharu Ishimoto, including the ending theme "Last Order".[15] The music was combined with the music fromBefore Crisis on a single soundtrack and released in Japan on December 19, 2007.[28] The soundtrack was later made available in North America by Square Enix.[29] Tracks 13 through 27 on the disc contain the score fromLast Order, while tracks 1 through 12 contain music fromBefore Crisis.[28] Select tracks on thesoundtrack ofCrisis Core contain music and remixes of music from the OVA.[30]
OverClocked ReMix's four-disctribute album,Voices of the Lifestream, has a disc entitledOrder. The name was chosen to coincide withLast Order, and the music is themed after it.[31]
Only 77,777 copies ofAdvent Pieces: Limited were produced in Japan, and they are no longer available, having been sold out months in advance of its release.[32] They retailed for¥29,500, orUS$300, each[32] while the North American collector's edition retailed for $49.95.[33]
Overall,Last Order garnered positive feedback from Western critics. Chris Carle ofIGN noted thatLast Order was "the true meat of the new extras [in theAdvent Children collector's set]… a traditionally animated chapter forFinal Fantasy fans that centers on the story of Zack and Cloud" and that "it adds even more dimension to the story [ofFinal Fantasy VII]".[18] Todd Douglass Jr. fromDVD Talk calledLast Order "the real reason to check out the Limited Edition release forAdvent Children" and commented that as "a long-time anime fan and lover ofFinal Fantasy", he "was enthralled by every minute to be had inLast Order".[34] However, Hideki Imaizumi, the producer ofCrisis Core, stated that they had received "considerable negative feedback" from fans, who were displeased with changes made to the Nibelheim event inLast Order. Due to this, the scene was redone forCrisis Core, and the production crew was careful to avoid making the same decisions.[1]
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