Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals

A Parent's Guide to Anime
Rated: PG

Parental Guidance Advised

Reviewed by Clair Whittet:

Based on Japanese video game, Final Fantasy V (which was not released in America), this two video set takes us on a journey with the "nice girl" Linaly and her argumentative friend, Pretz. When Linaly and Pretz get word that three of the the four elemental crystals have been stolen, they immediately go to protect the last one, the Crystal of the Wind. Unfortunately, they are mistaken for bandits and followed by the royal soldiers and eventually kidnapped by a gang of female pirates. While in the pirate's dungeon, the duo are visited upon by Mead, the spirit of a little boy murdered by DEATHGYUNOS, the monster who really stole the other crystals. To finally defeat DEATHGYUNOS, Pretz, Linaly, and Mead must find a legendary dragon and fly all the way to the moon! While the animation of this series isn't too bad, the music and English dubbed voices really leave something to be desired. The music is more Japanese sounding that most found in anime, and it is too loud and often just plain annoying. The voices fairly awful. Linaly sounds as though she has been sucking on helium and Pretz's voice is ridiculously over-exaggerated.

Discussion:

Linaly's grandfather is almost stereotypically Japanese. He rides in a wicker canoe and heals himself with herbs along with wearing traditional clothing. As I mentioned before, the music has an Asian feel to it.

Follow-up review by Colby Dunn:

For all you die hard Final fantasy fans, this Anime IS based on the Final Fantasy games but takes place 200 years after Final Fantasy 5.

The story takes place in a fantasy world where four magic elemental crystals protect and keep the balance of the world; the crystals of earth, fire, wind, and water. World peace is tipped when three crystals are stolen by Ra Devil and his evil gang from the black moon and it is up to two teenagers named Pritz and Linally to stop them from getting the last and final Crystal. Pritz and Linally are direct descendants from the ancient warriors who saved the world long, long ago. (The heroes from FF5) They team up with a Tycoon general, a ghost from the past and a bunch of pirates in order to save the world from oblivion and destruction! I rather enjoyed this anime and it was the first one I ever saw. It is spread out over two VHS videos and is not yet available on DVD. The movie has a lot of action and has plenty of parts that made me chuckle. As much as I enjoyed it however, I personally feel that it should have been carried out over more tapes to leave room for more character.

Parent's Guide Rating:

yellow (parental guidance advised)

Offensive Language: Nothing more than a "gosh darn" or two

Sexual content/Nudity: Linaly wears a rather short dress. When she absorbs a crystal into her body, her rear end glows. Rouge, the pirate queen, wears a tight, somewhat revealing leather outfit. On Rouge's island, there is a three second shot of a bare breasted statue. Pretz runs around in swimming trunks.

Violence: In the beginning, Pretz chops a monster's head off and it spews goo all over the place. In a rather tense scene, Rouge whips a helpless Pretz and threatens to kill Linaly. We see DEATHGYUNOS kill Mead with a lazer through the heart. DEATHGYUNOS also takes Mead's gradfather's brain out of his dead body. Toward the end, Linaly beats Pretz to a pulp as she is under mind control. Everybody is fine in the end.

Warning: As far as content goes, I would give this movie a PG rating. Language is mild. There is some insulting but it is mostly mild and there are no actual cuss words. There is no sex or nudity although there are some revealing outfits. One of the main characters wears a bikini the entire movie but it is not shown in an offensive or revealing way and there are many shots of Linally's (the heroine) underwear. This is also not shown in a crude way but it's there. She wears a very short skirt and occasionally the wind will blow it up or something. And also, Linally carries the last crystal with her and for some very strange reason which I do not know, occasionally, it makes her rear end glow yellow.

It never really gets close to showing anything but there is some stuff you may want to watch. As for violence, it’s there. This is not a brutal show but there is some gun shooting and sword fighting. Blood is minimal and most of the killing is against robots with mechanical parts. In one scene a huge monster gets his head cut in half and rather than blood, it shows more like green ooze. I personally think that ALL of the content in this movie is equal or just above what you would see on a TV cartoon program. -C.D.