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Reno... (Advent Children and Final Fantasy VII spoilers)

posted 10 years ago by Captain_Wesker
5 replies | jump to latest

I finally watched someone play through Final Fantasy VII many years after I beat it.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Reno, the goofball harmless villain of Advent Children, being the one responsible for triggering the bomb that destroyed Sector 7 of Midgar.

Sector 7: chock full of civilians who get killed just because Shinra wants AVALANCHE dead.

What?

How, then, does this piece of excrement get so many fans? Fangirls, even?

How did Squaresoft get away with turning him into comic relief in the CGI movie sequel?

Hell, even Reeve, a man far less complicit in the evils of Shinra, basically remarks that he's atoning for his sins. Reno, on the other hand, never seems to openly acknowledge the monstrous act he is responsible for.

I'm sorry. I do still like Final Fantasy VII overall, but I can't help feeling sick in the pit of my stomach every time the Turks show up and they're treated as if they're funny/uneasy allies (at worst).

Is there some sort of (Japanese) cultural bias towards honor/loyalty that somehow excuses Reno from following orders? The Nuremberg Defense doesn't cut it any more.

P.S. Please don't start with the "AVALANCE are bad guys too" BS. Not only are their actions never portrayed (in FFVII) as being anywhere near as bad as the Turks, but their goals put them at least a cut above Shinra's suited lackeys.

[–] Jowston 10 years ago

Reno was an awesome character, but they destroyed all characters and canon storylines with Advent Children. It's like Kazushige Nojima had two different visions of his world separated by two different time eras - 1997 and 2005. (Or whenever the he wrote the story for both, probably earlier.)

Aesthetically, a cool film to watch, but I tend to ignore it when regarding the FFVII universe.

"I am surprised Stannis's fleet didn't sink under the weight of his own balls."

[–] Final_Hitokiri 10 years ago

I watched it once and I remembe saying... that's it??!

Yeah it was cool but seemed to destroy much of the history/canon of the story. On eof the reasons why it's nice when they just leave things alone, unless a sequel is planned from the start and they can actually integrate the stories.

[–] Captain_Wesker 10 years ago

"awesome" how?

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It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing .

[–] Captain_Wesker 8 years ago

Well?

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It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing .

[–] LostKiera 8 years ago

Advent Children was just silly pandering to fans. Reno is completely amoral in the game. The Turks are essentially a more colourful version of the Gestapo. They can be funny in the game, sure, but they're definitely bad guys. Most of the comedy comes from Elena, who is the new recruit who probably hasn't got her hands dirty yet.

They have a few moments where they don't seem so bad. They will not attack Cloud and co in Wutai, because they made a deal with them and seem to have some sense of honour. They will also be reluctant to fight in the Midgar Tunnels because Shinra is essentially dead and their heart isn't in it anymore. Tseng seems to show some repentance as he lies "dying" in the Temple of the Ancients. But ultimately these guys are murderers, torturers etc who will usually do whatever their bosses tell them to.