Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV

On the verge of marrying his beloved Lady Lunafreya, Prince Noctis of Lucius sets out on one last road trip with his best friends and royal guard: Gladius, Ignis and Prompto.  When word reaches them of Neffilheim’s attack on Insomnia, the quartet of friends find themselves pursued by the Empire.  As their journey takes an unexpected turn, Noctis and his friends reflect on the bonds of brotherhood that brought them together years ago.  It is that bond they will need to survive the coming days ahead.  Insomnia has fallen but the real battle is only getting started.

Wheras Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV extended a story, whose outcome we were well aware of from the game, with a protagonist no one really cared about, Brotherhood does what any real supplemental material for an established project should do…focus on what really matters.  And in this case, the focus is in the title.  Final Fantasy XV was always about brotherhood, right in from the opening cutscenes to the first shots of the quartet stranded by a broken down Regalia.  To me, the game never lost sight of this element and it carried the game even through the worst parts of it.  In truth, this Anime didn’t need to happen but I’m glad we got it anyway cause it is the best Final Fantasy Anime I have ever seen.

The (criminally) short segments all focus on Noctis meeting the three young men who would become his closest friends and his greatest family: Gladio, the muscle and his trainer; Ignis, his advisor and chef; and Prompto, photographer and heart.  Like I said, there was enough dialogue and well written characters in the game that I don’t think any of these were really necessary but theyre all fascinating all the same.  Of those three meetings, I liked Prompto and Gladio’s stories the best.  Prompto was a very different person before we meet him in Final Fantasy XV.  He loves his photos but is a big kid and doesn’t think he’d do good to be friends with a Prince like Noctis.  His journey to the man he becomes, who Noctis reunites with in high school, is pretty inspiring.  Likewise, Gladio’s change with Noctis from not being able to stand the kid to respecting the Prince when he covers for a mistake by his sister, Iris, had a lot of heart to it.  Ignis’ episode is…kind of just there.  He’s trying to make sure Noct is ok on his own while trying to recreate a pastry that Noct had once before but cant remember the exact taste. 

Actually, my favorite episode of this short series is the end.  Seeing King Regis in action, coming to the defense of his son and standing by his side tugged at all the heart strings and it’s perfectly mixed in with a present day battle between an old monster foe and Noctis’ group.  It’s easy for a lot of characters (especially in Kingsglaive) to say Regis doesn’t give a damn about anything.  In these few short minutes, however, I got and never doubted that Regis loved his son more than anything and would do equally anything to get him to his destiny, no matter what it would be.  That’s fatherhood right there, just as strong as Brotherhood.

Cudos to the look and design of the Anime, it feels so much like the actual game.  The locations, the soundtrack, the food porn, even the battles play out as I experienced them in the game.  Monsters clash with Magitek soldiers and it’s all Noctis and his friends can do to just survive.  Even a clash with a powerful monster plays out like much of my encounters (I still have a dungeon I need to return to so I can kick that bosses ass), with all hope seemingly lost until you get enough power to use Arminger and man does that technique look awesome in Anime.  The production team clearly paid more attention to what made Final Fantasy XV work beyond the core characters than Kingsglaive did and it shows.  I couldn’t wait for Kingsglaive to finally wrap up but I wanted a bit more time with Brotherhood.  Maybe not a full blown 26 episode series but…idk more and I don’t mean that in a negative way.

Kingsglaives visuals may kick a ton of ass but Brotherhood sacrifices being a CG epic for being a more intimate, true to the source expansion.  I already knew and liked Noctis, Gladio, Ignis and Prompto well enough from the time I spent with them on the road and in battle.  But these fives shorts just made me love them more.  Their bond is real and the beginnings of each feel natural.  If there was one story I would have wanted in addition, it would be when all four finally met for the first time.  It’s clear they all gel really well together but did they from the start?  I don’t really get why a lot of this couldn’t just been folded into the final game but I’m not going to knock a good thing either.  At the end of the day, Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV does what fancy CG fight scenes and nostalgia for older games couldn’t do…it gave me the best Final Fantasy anime I have ever seen.

8.5/10