I hope this isn't way too long for people...

Sooooo.... I just finished watching Advent Children Complete, and I must say, if you didn't like the original AC, there's a good chance you'll like this version. ACC is 100% better than AC in almost every way.

I actually pre-ordered ACC (with the FFXIII demo) back in January, despite not having a PS3 or blu-ray player (yes, I'm that obsessed), but since it hasn't arrived yet (and I wouldn't be able to play it anyway), I downloaded it. Unfortunately, I could only get the Japanese version (without English subtitles, since there weren't any on the disk from what I've heard), so I only understood bits of the new parts, though I sort of knew what they were saying anyway, since I've been reading spoilers since the 15th XD. I've heard bits of the English from bad-quality clips on youtube, but I'll get into that later.

That's about it for the intro, now for the review! I'll try not to spoil anything big in case people don't want to be spoiled.


First of all, almost everything has been changed in some way. I'd say 40-50% of it is either completely new, or has been obviously changed. Then at least 75% of the other 50-60% has been tweaked, either in the form of new lighting, different expressions, brighter eyes, more detail, etc. People get DIRTY in battles now, too 8D.

Geostigma is now depicted much more graphically. There's even a scene where someone with Geostigma in walking (or at least trying to) down an alley, dripping lots of black puss, covered in black-stuff and over-all acting a bit un-dead. He looks more like a zombie than a person with a disease. After watching ACC, Geostigma to me has gone from being a disease that hurts and gives you fevers,and eventually kills you, but isn't all that unpleasant, to something much more terrible. The movie also shows how terrified of Geostigma many people are.

And the BLOOD. People bleed now, though still not as much as would be realistic. It is very realistic in the end though, during the added Cloud-Sephiroth fight scenes. These scenes are very brutal. Sephiroth is sadistic. That's all I'll say. And the new Omnislash V.6 (Yes, that's the official name) is awesome. Lots and lots of COLORS!!! It makes me feel like they deprived us Dissidia-players of an amazing attack. It also makes me wonder what ever happened to Omnislash versions 2, 3, and 4.

Almost all of the music has been completely re-arranged to fit stuff better. And I mean MUCH better. They even switched out the 'water' song for a version of the Nibelheim theme, Anxious Heart, when Cloud finds Tifa in the church and collapses from his Geostigma. There's also a new theme song, which I quite like.

The story is told better, though you still won't understand all that much if you don't know much about the story. AC was even confusing after I'd played FFVII, and some things were never really explained. Much of that is clearer now, even without me understanding the Japanese XD. What I've seen of the English helps too. Also, Cloud isn't just an emo-dude anymore. In many of the new scenes he acts more like he did in FFVII. I'm so happy. *tear* Even though I never really minded him being all emo, since he did have a whole lot to be emo about, I like him even better now. He still doesn't act as cheerful as he did in the game, but I wouldn't' expect him too, since, as stated above, he has a whole lot to be emo about.

Since both Marlene and Denzel had many new lines, and their old voice-actors are now too old to do their voices, they were re-cast in both Japanese and English (though I'm actually only assuming for English Denzel, as I haven't heard him yet). I personally preferred both of Marlene's old voice actors. Both the new English and Japanese ones seem a little whiny to me, and Marlene doesn't seem the type to be very whiny at all. I might change my mind about the English Marlene though, since I haven't heard much of her yet, and what I have heard was bad-quality. The new Japanese Denzel seems to not be as good a voice-actor as the old one (there's a scene where his voice acting sounds really forced and not very good), but he fits the role just as well, so I'm neutral about him.

From what I've heard and read, the English voice acting is much better than it was before. I'm now REALLY liking Steve Burton as Cloud. It also seems they got better at matching the mouth-movements, since they didn't re-animate them for the English, sadly. In some places it looks like they did, though, so that part's not a complete let-down.

Also, MORE ZACK! YES! I am sooo happy about that. I'm sad about not anymore Aeris though (other than a really brief flash at one point, and some mysterious event near the end that probably involves her, but it's never confirmed). I was really hoping for more Aeris. *sigh*

I'd better stop before this journal becomes a book.

Well, overall, ACC is pure amazing, and I'm gonna go watch it again now. 8D


Also, I watched the Case of Denzel anime. As expected, it was great. Again, it didn't have English subtitles, but I knew what was going on since I've read the novella a few times. The rounded art style really fit, since it was a story about kids, and kids are rounded. 8D