Final Fantasy: Unlimited

Final Fantasy: Unlimited


Welcome to the night of Wonderland.
—Fabula

Final Fantasy: Unlimited is, as the name implies, an anime series produced as part of the mind-flayingly popular Final Fantasy franchise. It was produced by Gonzo, and brought to the United States by ADV; it's available to the Spanish-speaking audience in a subtitled version, and has also been dubbed in French and German. Like many Gonzo anime, Final Fantasy: Unlimited is often guilty of Conspicuous CG (though it uses said CG better than many other Gonzo productions) and varying art quality depending on which studio is working on each episode.

Originally planned as a two-season anime with an open-ended finale to allow for a third season if it was well-received, Final Fantasy: Unlimited did not receive enough attention to have its second season produced. The unanimated plotline was instead released in two voiced dramas, a book, and several short stories released on the official website--none of which were made available in a language other than Japanese. That didn't stop the non-Japanese fans from piecing the rest of the story together through unofficial translations and summaries anyway.

Final Fantasy: Unlimited tells the story of a pair of twins from the real world, Hayakawa Ai and Yu, who journey to a bizarre parallel dimension in search of their parents, a pair of scientists who've made a living off said parallel dimension and went there to investigate it... and never quite made it home. Along the way, they and the friends they find there discover a great deal about Wonderland's troubles, which might actually present a threat to the real world as well. Being a Final Fantasy story, the villains are affiliated with an Eldritch Abomination known as Chaos. And Chaos is battled by existences known as the Unlimited, who are said to be more powerful than gods.

What does this have to do with Ai and Yu, who just want to find their parents and go back home? Well, maybe more than anyone would like.

Tropes used in Final Fantasy: Unlimited include:
  • Abnormal Ammo: Kaze's summon-firing gun that turns out to be using souls as bullets.
  • Action Girl: Miles.
  • Afterlife Express: Good ol' Elizabeth, which is a Shout-Out to the phantom train of Final Fantasy VI.
  • A God Am I: "I'm the only god in this world!"
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Despite what he does, Lisa seems to have a very strong love interest for Kaze from the very beginning. Lou too.
  • Animation Bump: Ho boy.
  • Anti-Villain: Kumo
  • Bad Boss: Though of course playing as the Big Bad, the Earl is mean to everyone whenever he's in a bad mood.
  • Balance of Good and Evil: Or rather, the balance between order and chaos--what Kumo aims to restore.
  • Baleful Polymorph: The hilarious Shout-Out episode 17.
  • Berserk Button: You don't damage any of Cid's mechanical creations. You just don't.
  • BFG: The Magun.
  • BFS: Both Kiri and Kumo's Maken.
  • Big Bad: Chaos.
  • Big Good: Fabula. Maybe.
  • Body Horror: Poor, poor Dolk...
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Fabula often addresses the viewers directly, as the series is presented as though it's a story she is telling them.
    • Chocoimo gets to do the intro once and directly addresses the viewer. Cid gets the pleasure of doing the intro twice, cheerily providing the viewer with details about Wonderland physics.
  • Break the Cutie: The entirety of After is based on the forces of Chaos putting Lisa through as much emotional turmoil as possible.
    • This is also just Chaos' favorite game, seeing as how it feeds on negative emotions and all.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Kumo in season two. This is also the cause of Kaze's Magun problems in season one; it was damaged when he contained Chaos twelve years ago.
  • Burikko: Herba.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Regularly.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: The whole misunderstanding between Yu and Touya in After Spiral.
  • Can't Catch Up: Due to Kumo's status as Unlimited, whenever he and Kiri got into the same hobby--say, swordsmanship or summoning--Kumo would always wind up leaving Kiri in the dust; as the older brother (and one with considerable Pride), Kiri had a lot of trouble dealing with this. Especially as, like most younger siblings, Kumo wanted to emulate everything his brother was good at out of innocent admiration. This (and Oscha being an asshole) is the eventual cause of all the Cain and Abel in episode 18.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: Yikes.
  • The Chessmaster: Oscha.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: It's kinda stupid how even the Earl didn't see that coming from Kumo, even after saving the good guys/Kaze a few times.
  • Clip Show: Episode 14.
  • Conspicuous CG: The Magun loading sequence and the summons.
  • Cry Cute: Kumo.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Kumo beats the living crap out of Kaze in episode 4, which is quite a change from Kaze's previous I-Win Button status. Chaos to everyone in episode 24, too.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Oscha, Soljashy, and possibly Fabula.
  • Dark-Skinned Blond: Cid.
  • Dead Little Sister: Kaze's little sister Aura sacrificed herself to let him fight Chaos twelve years ago. Kumo points out several times that she'd kick his ass for the cockeyed way he's going at defeating Chaos, to limited effect.
  • Death Trap: Ocean puzzle.
  • Deus Ex Machina: Twice a season, Fabula finds some loophole (once a Pun on her role as a Guide) that allows her to assist Lisa and the twins. The first time, it's by giving Ai a few words of encouragement and Poshepocket; the second time, she pulls our heroes out of the dimensional tunnel when it looks like Omega will destroy them. And then, in After, she sends Ai, Yu, Lisa, and Chobi back to their own world when Chaos attacks the Comodeen.
    • Tends to be of the Fridge Brilliance variety, especially considering all the hints that are dropped about how Fabula really feels about her job.
  • Domestic Abuse: Though not really, what kind of parents like their elementary level kids at home alone?
  • Dramatic Irony: Possibly true with Lou Lupus. She leaves the party to go looking for Kaze, which is pretty amusing to the audience, given that we know that Kaze always seems to show up wherever Lisa, the twins Ai and Yu and Chobi are.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Omega and Chaos.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Sort of. About who's with them- no one cares when Fungus dies because he never did anything noteworthy.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Earl and his flunkies call Kumo "Makenshi" because he never reveals his name around them. In After, even though they know his name is Shiroi Kumo, everyone still calls him Makenshi out of habit. It causes some, uh, consternation when Touya freaks out about what kind of person might actually be named Makenshi.
  • Evil Laugh: Earl Tyrant eventually shows himself to be quite capable of this.
  • Expy: The cast has got plenty in Samurai Champloo and Tales of Legendia thanks to the designer liking to recycle his designs; Fabula also has Cosmos in Final Fantasy Dissidia.
    • Perhaps tellingly, her expy character in Legendia also happens to be a god. Hmm.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Fungo.
  • Fan Service: Lisa gets some shots that show off her apparent abundance of breasts... And from the looks of it, without a bra on.
  • Faux Action Girl: Lisa is supposed to be a secret agent with the ability to use Kigen Arts (defensive spiritual energy). She does toss around some foes to temporary effect, but in the end she ends up huddling with the twins while Kaze shoots the things with his Magun.
    • This becomes less and less true the longer the series goes on, culminating with her getting to fire the Magun in the final episode.
  • Finger-Poke of Doom: Kumo blasts his way into the Comodeen's Elaborate Underground Base using nothing but his breath and a twig he picked up outside.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Cid, of course.
  • Genki Girl: Lou Lupus.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: Kiri in episode 18, and Kumo in episode 24.
  • God Mode: It's heavily implied that both Oscha and Fabula have God Mode but are unable to use it to directly interfere in the story.
  • God's Hands Are Tied: Not that they don't occasionally find loopholes around this.
  • Gratuitous English: The colors of Kaze's Soil bullets.
    • Soljashy just loves to use this, too. And gratuitous French, and gratuitous Russian... At least this is revealed to be Surprisingly Good English in the drama CD After 2.
  • Green Thumb: Herba.
  • Heel Face Turn: Kumo's was spectacular in so very many ways.
  • Heroic Albino: Kumo.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Kumo's entire fight against Chaos is eventually revealed to be one. And then there's Kaze and Kumo's apparent deaths in episode 25, which are actually something of a subversion, as they turned out to be Not Quite Dead.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Akira Ishida as the voice of Kumo, and...
  • I Have the High Ground: Kumo just adores this trope. So did Lisa's mother, apparently.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Kumo and the twins, so very very much.
  • I'll Kill You!
  • Intimate Healing: Laughed at in episode 15, where Kaze is found drifting in the ocean by the Comodeen and brought aboard their submarine; when Lisa notes that he doesn't seem to be breathing, Yu prompts her to perform CPR. Although she had no problems using it to resuscitate Ai in the sixth episode, Lisa balks at the thought of having to kiss Kaze--so Knave volunteers. Cue a close-up of his puckered lips descending; luckily, Kaze wakes up just in time.
  • I Shall Taunt You: Depends on how you take it but the way Kumo talks DOES probably lead Kaze on.
  • It Has Been an Honor: Fungus.
  • Keigo: Oscha.
  • Kid with the Leash: Ai and Yu are eventually revealed to have an indirect leash on Kaze's Magun.
  • La Résistance: The Comodeen.
  • Large Ham: Every one of the Lords of Gaudium, but Pist and Soljashy definitely take the cake here.
  • Limited Wardrobe: In the first season, Ai gets a change of clothes twice, but no one else does; Yu lampshades this once she gets her winter duds in episode 14. Justified since all they came to Wonderland with was in Ai's backpack, which Fungo ate. Lisa and the twins get new costumes in the second season, though.
  • Lock and Load Montage: Kaze's Magun sequence. It takes a while and makes battle a bit inconvenient; there's a lot of Lampshade Hanging here from the heroes and villains.
  • Love Freak: Lou Lupus.
  • Love Triangle: Kaze/Lisa/Dolk.
  • MacGuffin Girl: Clear, arguably.
  • Magical Realism
  • Manipulative Bastard: Oscha and Soljashy.
  • Married to the Job: "Where is White Cloud?"
  • Meaningful Name: Lupus is the Latin word for "wolf". And Joe and Mary's names might be considered to be a biblical reference, considering Ai and Yu's eventual role in the story.
    • Oscha is an anagram for "Chaos."
  • The Messiah: Ai, Yu, and Kumo all display signs of having this role in the second season.
  • Mood Whiplash: Episode 17 is a silly little story about Cid coping poorly with a Baleful Polymorph. Episode 18 is an incredibly serious and depressing glimpse of Kumo's backstory and motivations. And then Episode 19--the most slapstick of the lot--is positively bipolar, swinging between over-the-top gags and Clear angsting.
  • Mysterious Past: We see very little, if not any of anyone's past in the first season. And when we do, it's mostly the same stuff over and over.
  • Narrator: Fabula. Subverted in that she turns out to be a story character who just can't interfere directly in the plot (unless she's sneaky about it).
  • No Export for You: Damn it, Square-Enix!
  • Not So Harmless: All the lords of Gaudium, but Soljashy especially.
  • Normally I Would Be Dead Now: In episode 25, after being run through on his own sword by Earl Tyrant, Kumo regains consciousness in time to bind Chaos in a show of truly Badass Heroic Willpower.
  • Not Quite Dead: Kaze is notoriously guilty of this. He never quite seems to die even if he is killed.
    • Kumo generally suffers more damage than Kaze does, but he regularly survives death all the same.
    • And Fungus is noted for being indestructible, surviving everything that gets thrown at him until he's betrayed by the Earl and infected with mould.
  • Odd Friendship: Ai and Clear, Ai and Kumo; Aura and Kumo in the backstory.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: watch as Kumo just lays there for a bit then does his ultimate summon after getting pierced though his abdomen.
  • Order Versus Chaos
  • Palette Swap: Kiri's summon is just a red version of Kumo's.
  • Parental Abandonment: Lisa is also revealed to have suffered from this, between her mother's death and her father's complete disinterest in her aside from her powers.
  • Playing with Fire: Despite being around for one episode, Kiri shows he does indeed like fire.
  • Posthumous Character: Aura, who is very important to the motivations of a lot of characters, but has no development until Before.
  • The Power of Love: This is a big part of the final episode. Among other things, it's how Joe and Mary Hayakawa finally break free of Herba's Mind Control Device.
  • Puppy Dog Eyes: With ones that size, it's probably safe to say Crux has them on default.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Lords of Gaudium.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Lou to Kaze, for Aura; Ai to Kumo, for Kiri.
  • Ribbon of Asskicking: Kumo.
  • Riddle of the Sphinx: Parodied in episode 16.
  • Royal Brat: Just a little.
  • Rule of Cool: Arguably the entire point behind the show, going above plot and character development. Especially prevalent in the (egregiously long) summon sequences.
    • To some degree, they started getting better about it towards the end of the series, focusing more on plot and no longer having Kaze pull out his Magun and summon in every episode. It's possible the series might have lasted longer if they had focused more on plot right from the very beginning and not so much on cool.
  • Saving the World: Or in this case, several worlds.
  • Ship Tease: A lot of them. There's Kaze's strange tolerance for Lou, Lisa getting a bit further in making Kaze acknowledge her presence, Kaze and Kumo's obsession with each other, Kiri and Kumo and their copious Subtext, Ai being so very considerate of Clear, Miles and Cid apparently getting closer, and even hints that Kumo may have felt something for Aura...
    • An entire end credit sequence is based entirely around a ship tease between Lisa and Kaze.
  • Shoo the Dog: Attempted by Yu when Chobi makes friends with Chocoimo's chocobo herd. It doesn't stick for too long, though.
  • Shower Scene: Knave in Episode 17 and again in Episode 21.
  • Shout-Out: Episode 17 is a play on the traditional Final Fantasy Toad spell, and Kiri and Kumo both seem to use a lot of Final Fantasy spells during their battle in episode 18.
    • The Final Fantasy victory theme is also heard whenever the good guys win.
    • Episode 21 features cactuars.
    • Every summon that appears in the series also appears in the games.
  • Smitten Teenage Girl: Lou, full stop.
  • Smug Snake: Pist.
  • Stepford Smiler: Subverted with Lisa; whenever she tries to hide emotional distress with a smile, Ai promptly tells her to knock off the creepy laugh.
  • Stock Footage: Every time Kaze loads his Magun or Lisa uses one of her special abilities.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The radio tower in "Moogle: Nostalgic Memories," once Kaze and Moogle Kupo use Ixion Zero on it.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality: Kumo. Sort of. The coldness isn't a natural part of his personality, though; if he had his way, he'd be able to dere all the time.
  • Summon Magic: used by Kaze, Kiri, Kumo and Lisa.
  • Supporting Leader: Knave and the Comodeen eventually assume this role as the story becomes more serious, but they never quite outgrow being Plucky Comic Relief at the same time.
  • Talk to the Fist: Part of the lampshades the cast throws on Kaze's long, long, long summoning sequences. Both Pist and Kumo do it. Pist eventually has this trope turned on him by Kumo; the results were beautifully epic.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Kaze, Kumo, and Lisa are all prone to this. The Lords of Gaudium each have a villainous version.
    • Chobi's Ciel Chocobo transformation comes complete with a special theme as well.
    • Theme Naming: All three summoner boys have weather names.
  • These Questions Three
  • Third Person Person: Lou Lupus, in the Japanese. She speaks normally in the dubbed version, though.
  • This Is a Drill: The Magun. And Elizabeth the subway train. And Cid's electric-hammer-backpack-thing. Apparently to get the energy out of Soil you have to move it in a spiral motion, so any device that uses it will tend to feature a drill somewhere.
    • Also, the Cube-Ashura robot in episode 9, which (unlike the other examples) actually uses it as a weapon.
  • This Is Unforgivable!
  • Tomato in the Mirror: Ai and Yu are revealed to be parts of Chaos at the end of the first season. Soljashy spends most of the second season trying to convince them to accept their birthright.
  • Tomato Surprise: Lou Lupus, revealed as a werewolf in the middle of episode 7. Ai and Yu don't care that she's not human, though, and tell her that her transformations are cool.
  • Transformation Is a Free Action: played straight most of the time, but subverted by Pist, who seems to be the only one Dangerously Genre Savvy enough to realize you can interrupt the montage.
  • Verbal Tic: Moogle, of course.
  • We Could Have Avoided All This: "And when did you wake up?"
  • Weak but Skilled: After being useless bystanders for most of the early part of the story, the twins eventually become very good at using what they have to help out however they can.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy
  • White Shirt of Death: So he didn't stay dead, but that episode was quite a wince-worthy change to the show's previous Bloodless Carnage. The especially Egregious fact is that Kumo is one of two characters Impaled with Extreme Prejudice in that episode, and he's the only one who apparently bled at all--let alone so profusely.
  • You All Look Familiar: No one sees most of the faces of the Comodeen members.
  • You Are Not Alone
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