~ Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. ~Final Fantasy 7fans’ anticipation forRebirthwas next-level, especially when a supercharged remake of the Gold Saucer was on the horizon — a drastic change from the Mako smog and oppressive ruling inside the Midgar metropolis. However, my priorities lay elsewhere, stemming from one sun-kissed region in particular to relive the backstory of Red XIII, later revealed to be Nanaki, in gloriousPS5graphics.
Being my favorite character from the seventh installment in the JRPG franchise, the fiery beast already had a stellar, reimagined debut inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake— feathers, brandings, and scars included. Seeing his emotionally driven origin come to life in the crisp 2024 sequel was going to be a staple in my gameplay binge. What made my heart sink, however, was the mockery made of him, serving him up as comic relief in Rebirth when an unspoken duality lurked beneath his fur in the original game.
Mini Games In Final Fantasy Aren’t For Me, Even If Everyone Loves Them
Mini games and I never clicked, and that’s okay.
It’s Hard To Stand On Two Feet
Nanaki is a feline with wolf-like qualities, hailing from the warrior tribe dwelling in the pilgrimage site of Cosmo Canyon — a safe space for Bugenhagen’s observatory, the birthplace of the eco-terrorist group Avalanche, and home to a long history of rich culture. After being captured by Professor Hojo — who had vile plans in motion to produce a new species through the feline and Aerith — Nanaki was rescued as a wise 48-year-old. However, upon returning to Cosmo Canyon, he adopted a child-like way of speaking (Rebirth chose to de-age his voice) to match his true 15-16-year-old adolescence caused by his long-lived species.
[Nanaki’s] grief is extremely relatable and touching, which makes his various circus acts in Rebirth infuriating.
In the canon On the Way to a Smile novels, Nanaki is said to have struggled to carry the appearance of a feral beast while possessing the intelligence and conscience of a human, and later developed a void within himself which he named “Gilligan”. He later discovered that this void was a build-up of fear and anxiety over his long life span, frightened by the loss he would experience once those he cared for passed while he lived on, a theme which will likely be explored in the third installment of the remake project. In Final Fantasy 7 spin-off material, Nanaki befriended Vincent Valentine, seeking his counsel as the gothic gunslinger was also bestowed with long life, which is something I hope gets adapted. This is deep stuff, and his grief is extremely relatable and touching, which makes his various circus acts in Rebirth infuriating.
Let’s start with Nanakiriding a Chocoboin the sequel. Despite being able to talk and think like a bipedal human, there’s no logical reason I can think of to justify a quadrupedal beast riding a mount. Both Nanaki and Torgal fromFinal Fantasy 16are built similarly — one could argue that Nanaki is more athletic than Clive’s frost wolf — posing the question: Why could he not run alongside the Chocobo party? Was it to make the feline feel more included, or just lazy programming? Either way, the result was ghastly and unnatural, provoking a lot of laughs from players and indirectly cheapening his qualms about his unique race.
However, the main event that cemented Nanaki as a laughingstock in Rebirth occurred on the luxury cruise liner sailing to Costa del Sol, during the finale of aQueen’s Blood tournament. In the original 1997 game, Cloud and his party are disguised as Shinra Infantrymen on one of the company’s cargo ships sailing to the seaside resort, and Nanaki squeezes into a uniform to try and pass as a human. Performing a wonky walk as he tried to balance on two legs, he was confident he would make a “fine human being”, which is rather adorable, and that’s the extent of the disguise’s comedy — albeit slightly elevated by the brilliant but whimsical tune “It’s Hard to Stand on Two Feet” from Nobuo Uematsu’s score. Rebirth decided to dial this moment up to nightmarish levels and have Nanaki reveal himself as Cloud’s final Queen’s Blood opponent in uniform, accompanied by a dance designed to disturb even the most seasoned horror fans.
Tifa And Aerith Are The Heart And Soul Of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
The pair elevate the narrative into something more nuanced.
A Flame Followed The Fumble
What was once a scene encouraging empathy for our four-legged friend transformed into a skin-crawling show in Rebirth. Watching the wise and headstrong character entertain something akin to a furry audition felt incredibly forced, out of character, and just plain wrong. Scenes from possession-themed movies came to mind watching Nanaki spasmodically walk on two legs, and the creepy attitude, channeling the Honeybee’s very own Andrea, made the whole act virtually unwatchable.
Thankfully, Rebirth executed Nanaki’s Watcher of the Vale trial perfectly and recreated the reveal of his father’s heroism with heart-pulling potency…
Several gamers indulging in Rebirth likely forgot about this sequence as quickly as Nanaki’s voice changed on the approach to Cosmo Canyon, but as a devout fan of the character, this cheap and unjust comic relief had to be aired. Instead of turning the beast’s complexities into a joke, the original game expressed his hardship through the aforementioned cargo ship disguise that was done tastefully, and by showing him playing football with kids in the street, which inspired Rebirth’s Costa del Solmini-game Run Wild. This was echoed somewhat in the sequel when Nanaki was conflicted over letting the children pet him and eventually succumbed to it. Additionally, Cloud’s mate date with Nanaki on the Skywheel saw the beast rear up on his hind legs once again to give the protagonist a high five — still slightly weird, but also precious.
Thankfully, Rebirth executed Nanaki’s Watcher of the Vale trial perfectly and recreated the reveal of his father’s heroism with heart-pulling potency, captivating me once more. When it came down to the Cosmo Canyon chapter, Square Enix proved its capability to flesh out pre-existing themes and complexities within the fiery warrior when it mattered, turning the boat performance and the Chocobo riding into fleeting cheap shots of the sequel that Nanaki’s modernization could have done without — our eyes also didn’t have to suffer. Let’s hope the feline’s pantomime days are over.
