Moving Pictures: Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals

As part of my goal to watch every Final Fantasy adaptation, I’ve been watching the OVA (Original Video Animation), Legend of the Crystals. With a great evil threatening Planet R, Prittz — a headstrong adventurer — and Linally — a summoner descended from FINAL FANTASY V’s Bartz — go to the Temple of the Wind to find the Wind Crystal to protect it, as the other three crystals have already been stolen... Of course, they also have to deal with sky pirates such as Rouge and her gang, and any others who get in their way.

While I do like the animation style, which is very ‘90s, it’s also plagued with my least favourite thing: fanservice. The first episode had numerous panty shots that weren’t necessary, and I’m sorry, but the crystal goes inside of Linally, and after that, her ass glows. It’s not… I don’t understand why they would do this. It hurts me, in my soul, and that was only the first episode of the OVA. I would also note that the Chocobos in this don’t really look like Chocobos as we’re accustomed to them.

As it’s set 200 years in the future from Final Fantasy V, characters like Bartz don’t make an appearance. They’re only mentioned as passing legends who have already served their story. But because of that, it’s kind of hard to get attached to newly-established characters like Prittz and Linally. Prittz seems to fit the Shonen protagonist archetype, while Linally is quiet, subdued, and keen to follow her grandfather’s orders to get to the crystal.

In the second episode, we get a little bit more conflict between Rouge’s gang, Linally and Prittz, and Valkus, the chief of the Iron Wing who is also out to protect the crystals. Of course, we’re also re-introduced to Mid from the original game, who appears from the Wind Crystal inside of Linally to offer guidance in a spirit form. For some reason, Mid thinks Linally is in love with him, and because of this, Prittz hates his guts. Likewise, Valkus is now infatuated with Rouge and ends up working with the duo to protect the crystal.

There are still some odd bits of fanservice here, and at one point, I was more confused as to why Rouge has alarms on her airship that cover a naked statue. Yes, she has tit alarms on the ship, and I had to pause what I was doing to question every decision I’d ever made to start watching this. While we were able to find out about the antagonist, Deathgyunos, or rather, find out who’s stealing the crystals, it’s Rouge who is the main villain of the episode, as she’s trying to get the Wind Crystal for her collection, which involves capturing the other characters, tickling Prittz into submission, and giving Linally laxatives to get the crystal out of her.

It’s ridiculous, and this was only the halfway point of the OVA. Then, the third episode reveals that Deathgyunos stole Cid’s brain, and that Mid was killed by him. We also meet the queen, who has summoned everyone and bribed Rouge into helping them with treasure. We also know that Deathgyunos is hiding somewhere on the Black Moon, and they need to go to the Tower of the Dragon to find the Flying Dragon to get there. It’s the only way, but how do they get its help? Well, with the power of friendship and Linally getting kidnapped.

Honestly, it’s hard to feel anything for when the characters are forced to go through a situation, because they just feel like cookie cut-outs of different tropes. Linally is the damsel in distress, Rouge is the thief who cares for money, Valkus is the token adult who is weirdly in love with the thief, Prittz is the hero, and Mid is here for exposition.

Once I reached the final episode, I was underwhelmed. Although, I admit, the final episode was a lot better than the previous three. After Linally is kidnapped, they head to the Black Moon, with the Iron Wing and Rouge’s ship being dragged along by the Flying Dragon in its massive form. At this point, we see more of what Deathgyunos is planning with the crystals, and I have to admit, this was a pretty decent amount of body horror. Deathgyunos is a giant form of Cid, with a giant brain, and palpitating body parts that, truthfully, are horrific. He’s actually a pretty decent threat, and for that, I did appreciate it a lot more.

The fights in the final part of the OVA were a lot better than the previous, with more animation going into the fight scenes than before. We even dealt with Linally being more helpful, although I don’t understand why the Wind Crystal transferred itself over to Prittz. That did feel redundant, and didn’t make much of an impact, as Linally would still use the power of the Wind Crystal to significantly weaken Deathgyunos, while Prittz dealt with the finishing blow.

That’s not to say there weren’t any confusing moments that made me pause and go, but why? For example, some of the monsters on the Black Moon appeared to be orcs, or trolls, with tits. I don’t understand why. It wasn’t a huge impact, but it made me wonder, what was the point? Then, at the end, it’s revealed that Valkus and Rouge are together on his ship, (with an additional scantily-clad outfit for Valkus) and everything goes back to normal.

By all accounts, I don’t think Legend of the Crystals is particularly bad, but it was underwhelming for the most part. Albeit, Prittz and Linally did grow on me by the end (after four episodes, it’s hard not to admit those two had the most motivation), but I did think, admittedly, it was still a bit generic. It was one of those OVAs that was made in the ‘90s, and for the most part, it shows. But I suppose if you’re a fan of Final Fantasy V, it may be more up your alley. That, and at least all of it’s available on YouTube.